IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bousquet, of No. 157, Fenchurch
Street, in the City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of
Sealed the 15th September 1853, and dated the 19th March 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bousquet at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th March 1853.
I, HENRY BOUSQUET, of Number 157, Fenchurch Street, in the City
of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE" to be as
follows, that is to say:
My said Invention consists of a new combination or new combi-
nations of materials, for the purpose of producing what may be termed
an artificial manure for agricultural and other similar purposes.
The materials which I combine for this purpose are sugar scum or
the refuse of sugar manufactories, calcined clay, and lime; and I form
combinations of these materials in equal proportions, or nearly so, and
cause them to be thoroughly intermingled and reduced to a state of

page_text: powder. In this state the manure may be used in the same proportions
or quantity as guano.
Before using the scum, I purify it from the extraneous matters (if
any) with which it may be mixed. Animal charcoal may be used with
or instead of calcined clay and lime, and any sweet matters may be used 5
in lieu of scum or refuse if they can be obtained sufficiently cheap.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Bousquet, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 19th September 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
HENRY BOUSQUET, of Number 157, Fenchurch Strect, in the City of
London, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Bousquet, Her special licence
that I, the said Henry Bousquet, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Bousquet, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Henry Bousquet, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be left at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents for Inventions, with my Petition, for the grant of
the said Letters Patent, and the declaration by law required to accom-
pany such Petition.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Bousquet, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say:
In France, and other Continental countries, animal charcoal is
employed for the clarification of sugar; and the refuse, after this pro-
cess (by which it is imbrued with treacle, molasses, or other sweet
matter), is used as manure, under the name of "noir animal." The
manure thus produced is known in those countries as being one of the
most powerful character, not only for the sugar and phosphate of lime
which the animal charcoal contains, but also for its black colour, which
last-named property has much influence in attracting the sun's rays,
and consequently a greater degree of warmth to the land to which the
manure is applied.
In England, the refiners of sugar put the animal charcoal through a
washing process, which partly disengages it from the treacle and
molasses, and enables them to use it again for the same purpose; but
this process leaves a residue or substance called "sugar scum," which
is extensively used as a manure by the English farmers. This sugar
scum, however, has combined with it a considerable quantity of rubbish,
such as particles of sugar tubs, portions of rag, saud, stones, and other
useless matter, so that a much larger quantity of the production so
called sugar scum is required to produce any beneficial result than
would be essential if this sugar scum were altogether free from these
non-fertilizing ingredients.
I propose a plan for purifying the sugar scum by the following
process: The scum is to be dissolved in water, and when so dissolved,
all the extraneous substances are extracted from it. My said Inven-
tion then consists of an admixture of the pure scum with animal
charcoal, lime, and burnt clay, or other calcined matter, and water,
in the following proportions:-
Black bone dust
50 per cent.

page_text: These ingredients, when mixed, form the manure, which is a heavy
powder, and is to be used in the same proportions as guano. By the
mixture before described the scum receives the black colour, which is
produced by the alloy of animal charcoal, and the mixture of lime and
burnt clay or other calcined substance, and acquires an increase of
fertilizing properties from the phosphate of lime which it contains,
which adds still more to its power, whilst it neutralizes the little
non-fertilizing matter which may remain in the scum; at the same time
the animal charcoal, and the mixture of lime with the burnt clay or
other calcined substance, (whichever may be used,) imbibes from the
scum all the treacle, inolasses, and other sweet matter therein, and thus
adds to its own fertilizing properties.
I do not claim the application of sugar scum, or other sweet matter,
generally to manuring purposes. But I claim, first, the purification
of the scum by its dissolution in water. Secondly, the mixture of the
scum with the black bones, lime, burnt clay, or other calcined sub-
And, lastly, the mixture of the whole (by which combination
an artificial manure is produced), and the use thereof for agricultural
and other similar purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bousquet, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
HENRI BOUSQUET. (LS.)