IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE- PARING PHOSPHATIC MINERALS FOR USE AS MANURE
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Way, of Eliot Place, Blackheath, in the
County of Kent, M.D., for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE-
PARING PHOSPHATIC MINERALS FOR USE AS MANURE."-Partly a communica-
tion from abroad by Cornwall Henwood, of Sombrero, West Indies.
Sealed the 28th June 1867, and dated the 7th January 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Way at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
January 1867.
I, WILLIAM WAY, of Eliot Place, Blackheath, in the County of Kent, M.D.
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREPARING PHOSPHATIC MINERALS FOR USE AS MANURE," to be as follows:-
In the island of Sombrero, and elsewhere, minerals are found containing
phosphate of lime in considerable quantity, but frequently it is mixed with so
large a proportion of carbonate of lime as to have little or no commercial
value, for frequently to bring it into a state suitable for use as manure more
acid would be required than it is commercially practicable to employ.
Now the object of my Invention is to remove the carbonate of lime from
the phosphatic mineral by inexpensive means. For this purpose I burn the
mineral in a similar manner to that in which limestone is commonly burnt,
and so the carbonate of lime is converted into quicklime; the burnt mineral
is then crushed and the lime separated from the phosphate by a process.
Price S1

page_text: of winnowing, or, which I prefer, the burnt rock may be slaked with water,
and the slaked lime separated from the phosphate either by washing or
winnowing with a current of air, as it is considerably lighter than the phosphate
of lime.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Way in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
July 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WAY, of Eliot Place, Blackheath, in the County of Kent, M.D., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Way, Her special license that I, the said William Way, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Way, 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 Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
PHOSPHATIC MINERALS FOR USE AS MANURE," (the result partly of a communica-
tion made to me from abroad by Cornwall Henwood, of Sombrero, West
Indies, and partly of Invention by myself,) upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Way, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Way, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
In the island of Sombrero, and elsewhere, minerals are found containing
phosphate of lime in considerable quantity, but frequently it is mixed with
so large a proportion of carbonate of lime as to have little or no commercial

page_text: value, to bring it into a state suitable for use as manure more acid would be
required than it is commercially practicable to employ.
Now the object of my Invention is to remove the carbonate of lime from the
phosphatic mineral by inexpensive means. For this purpose I burn the
mineral in a similar manner to that in which limestone is commonly burnt,
and so the carbonate of lime is converted into quicklime. The burnt rock
is then slaked with water, and the slaked lime separated from the phosphate
by sifting or winnowing with a current of air, or by washing with water, or
by these processes combined, according to the degree of fineness of division in
which the phosphatic material is found after slaking, and the consequently
greater or less difficulty of effecting its separation from the lime.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect I will proceed to describe the method in which I
prefer to operate.
I burn the mineral in a kiln as if it were ordinary limestone, and the lime
thus obtained I slake by throwing water on to it, which causes the lumps or
masses to break down more or less completely into a dry powder; the
phosphatic material will now be found, generally speaking, to be less finely
divided than the lime in lumps or nodules and grains of various sizes. I now
sift the material through a sieve with about twenty holes to the square inch,
and if there should be any lumps or nodules of so large a size as to be likely
to injure this comparatively fine sieve, I separate them first by means of a
stronger and coarser sieve. The material which does not pass the sieve
requires no further treatment, and is ready for the manufacture of super-
phosphate of lime to be used as manure. The finely divided material which
passes through the sieve I now wash with water, and for this purpose I prefer
to employ a running stream as when washing metallic ores; the water flows
through a long trough or channel of considerable width but shallow, and at
intervals across the trough are placed stop boards which act as weirs; the
material is thrown into the stream at the upper end of the trough or channel,
and as it is carried on the water and the matters it holds in suspension flow
over the stop boards, whilst the nodules or grains of phosphatic material as they
subside are stopped and accumulate against the stop boards and are removed
from time to time; at the end of the washing trough the water may be directed
into settling ponds to deposit the lime, or it may be allowed at once to flow away.
The washed grains are ready for the manufacture of superphosphate of lime for
use as manure, other methods of washing out the lime may be resorted to in
place of that above described. In cases where the phosphatic material exists
in the slaked lime for the most part in grains of appreciable size the lime

page_text: may conveniently be separated by winnowing in place of by washing. The
air blast produced by a fan or otherwise may be directed up a vertical trunk
or passage the material is then fed in a regular stream in at the top of the
trunk or passage and the heavier parts then descend and fall out at the bottom
whilst the lighter parts are carried up by the blast and escape with it at the
top. The strength of the blast is regulated by means of valves as the workman
sees to be necessary. Other methods of winnowing may be resorted in place
of that above described.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details described, but what I claim is, the separating carbonate
of lime from phosphatic minerals by calcining such minerals, then, slaking
the lime, and afterwards removing the slaked lime by washing or winnowing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Way, have hereunto set my hand
and scal, this Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.