IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the Firm of J. C. Robertson & Co., of 166, Fleet
Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of August, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my exors, adiiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
MANURE," communicated to me by a Foreigner residing abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Richard Archibald
Brooman, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, hereby declare that the nature of said

page_text: Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the present Specification hereof, that
is to say:
The most powerful of all known manures is Peruvian guano, and its strong
fertilizing qualities are attributable to the large quantities of azote and phos-
phate of lime which it contains. Guano is merely the result of the disinte
gration effected by time and atmospheric influences of marine animals and.
birds, to which is added the excrement of other birds which feed. on such
remains. Therefore it may be assumed that from the residua of the disor-
ganization of fish and marine animals guaño derives its fertilizing properties.
The analyses published by Messieurs Payen and Boussingault of the Institute
of France, tend to prove that the flesh of land animals contains in a dry state
14.25 per cent. of azote, dry soluble blood 15.70 per cent., while cod fish
dried and compressed contains 18-74 per cent. Thus of the substances above
mentioned the flesh of fish is the richest in azote. Now, the said Invention con-
sists in producing a manure in a state of powder by the disintegration, desiccation,
and pulverization of fish, or the remains of fish, as rich, if not richer than, and
perfectly analogous to, the best Peruvian guano. I take fish, or remains of fish,
and disintegrate them, that is to say, I disunite them, or separate their integral
parts, either by boiling in common boilers, or by steaming in vessels with double
sides. This latter method is preferable, inasmuch as it obviates the introduction
of water. The fish, or remains of fish, having been subjected to a preliminary
separation by one of these means, are deposited on strainers in order to drain;
they are then submitted to the action of circular-graters, which completés
the disintegration or division of the particles. In the minutely divided state in
which they leave the graters they are placed in bags or between cloths in
order to undergo hydraulic pressure, for the purpose of extracting the greatest
part of the liquid. On being withdrawn from the presses they are in the
form of cakes retaining a certain quantity of moisture. By pressure, and
according to the fish under treatment, a larger or smaller quantity of oil will
be expressed. The cakes on issuing from the presses are placed under
crushing rollers, which divide them preparatory to their desiccation by currents
of hot air. When dry, the mass is reduced to powder by means of crushing
mills or other machinery suitable for the purpose, and is then ready for use as
a manure or "fish guano." In order to prevent fermentation from the absorp-
tion of moisture to which the powder is susceptible, it should be beaten while
being stored away. If, notwithstanding this precaution, fermentation should
still take place, the powder should be sprinkled with acid chloride of manga-
nese, when its progress would be immediately checked.

page_text: Bones and skeletons of fish and marine animals contain 3.84 per cent. of
azote, and 60 per cent. of phosphate of lime. Now, for some soils the mixture
of these substances, after being ground with the fish guano in proportions varying
according to the nature of the soil, will in some cases give a manure preferable
to pure guano. When these bones and skeletons are compact, and offer too
great a resistance to the grinding or crushing mill, they should be previously
disintegrated by subjecting them for about an hour to the action of steam at
a pressure of 4 or 5 atmospheres; not only would they be softened, but all
fat and grease so prejudicial to vegetation would be separated from the phos-
phate and carbonate of lime, and withdrawn. When bones or skeletons are
added to the fish or remains of fish, the addition should be made before the
pulverizing process, in order that the action of the mills may effect a complete
mixture between the two substances.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not claim the
application of fish generally to manuring purposes. But I claim the manu-
facture of manure from fish and the remains of fish, treated in the manner
herein-before described, that is to say, disintegrated, desiccated, and reduced to
powder.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
R. A. (L.B.) BROOMAN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord 1853, the aforesaid Richard Archibald Brooman cane before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose..
Enrolled the Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.