MAKING A CONCENTRATED ANIMAL MANURE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Duncan Bruce, of Paspebiac, in the County of
Bonaventure, in the Province of Canada, for the Invention of "MAKING
A CONCENTRATED ANIMAL MANURE."
Sealed the 27th March 1857, and dated the 30th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Duncan Bruce at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
September 1856.
I, DUNCAN BRUCE, of Paspebiac, in the County of Bonaventure, in the
5 Province of Canada, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"MAKING A CONCENTRATED ANIMAL MANURE," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in preparing manure in the following manner :-
I take shale after the products have been extracted from it by distillation; or,
if it is not intended to save the products, 'prepare the shale for use by keeping"
at a red heat for two hours in a retort or other suitable vessel. Where shale
cannot be procured, any of the following preparations may be used in placo
of it: 1st, either hard' or 'soft' (bituminous) coal dust, or a mixture of both
kinds, ground into a fine powder and well mixed with an equal quantity of the
best clay that can be procured, or other good absorbent, and calcined in the

page_text: same way as is directed for the shale; 2nd, sawdust, or wood made sufficiently
small in any other way, with an equal weight or more of clay or other good
absorbent, kept heated in a retort or other suitable vessel until the sawdust
or wood is charred; 3rd, peat to be treated in the same way as sawdust. In
both cases they should be charred. in vessels that can be removed from the
furnace to cool before the air is admitted, or the mass will take fire.
The object in calcining or charring the coal dust, wood sawdust, and peat
with the clay or other absorbent is, that the absorbent becomes charged with
the carbon, &c. thrown off in the process by the coal, wood, and peat, and is
thereby rendered a purifier as well as absorbent, and acting in this double
capacity, it prevents the escape of any of the valuable properties of the animal
matter with which it is mixed, until it dries, when it is found charged with a
concentrated essence of animal juices in the form of a powder.
To prepare the animal matter to receive the powder, place the fish or
animal offal, whether it has been steamed or submitted to heat in any other
way, to extract the oil or fat, or not, in vats of sufficient size to contain the
accumulation of one day, cover the vats close to exclude the air as much
as possible, let the mass be heated by some convenient process to a tem-
perature of between 90 and 112 degrees of Fahrenheit, and kept at that
temperature until the juices become separated from the fibre or tissue, and
the fibre is dissolved, or nearly so. When fish is used, the bone must be
removed as soon as it separates from the flesh, dried quickly, and ground
fine, and return to the mixture; after the bone is removed, apply the pre-
pared powder, by sifting regularly over the whole surface, in the proportion
of about one pound of the powder to three pounds of the original weight of
the animal matter including bone; the mass must be frequently stirred. When
slaughter-house offal is used, as much bone as can be procured to the extent
of 30 per cent. of the whole weight should be added, it being first steamed to
extract the oil or fat, then ground fine and mixed with the mass, when the
powder is applied. Blood should be mixed with the powder, as soon as
it runs from the animal, at the rate of one pound of the powder. to
abont four pounds of the blood, and after being kept in a close vat at a
temperature of from 90 to 100 degrees for about two days, should be.
uncovered and evaporated; it should be frequently stirred to keep the powder
well mixed. At the time of removing the covers of the vats containing fish
or animal offal, and after the bone is removed, sulphuric acid may be added,
equal to one-third of one per cent. of the weight of the animal matter. If it
is conducted as above directed, the manure will, dry into a fine powder; but if

page_text: by any omission it should be lumpy, it inust be reduced to powder by grinding;
or otherwise charred sawdust or charcoal should be kept in flat dishes or boxes
around the vats to absorb any ammonia that might escape while the mixture
is being stirred...
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Duncan Bruce in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DUNCAN
BRUCE, of Paspebiac, in the County of Bonaventure, in the Province of
Canada, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Duncan Bruce, Her special licence that I, the said Duncan Bruce, my'
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Duncan
Bruce, 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 "MAKING A CONCENTRATED
ANIMAL MANURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Duncan Bruce, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their. hands and seals, should particularly
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 Duncan Bruce, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described. and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say.:-.
My Invention has reference to the preparation of nitrogenous manures from
animal matters, and has for its object so to fix the ammoniacal and other
gases that they may be ready, to act at once upon the crop without the

page_text: necessity of waiting for the decomposition of the ammoniacal compounds, as
in the case where they exist in the state of sulphates..
In soils abounding in carbonate of lime sulphate of ammonia is readily
decomposed, and given to the plants in the form of carbonate as required; but
there are many soils so deficient in lime as to be incapable of effecting this
decomposition, and upon such soils those nianures which owe their efficiency
to the presence of sulphate of ammonia produce comparatively little, effect,
while the sulphate of ammonia being readily soluble is carried off by filtration,
or is otherwise lost. To remedy this evil, and to producé à manure that shall
always be ready for use upon any character of soil, is the object of my present
Invention; the first part of which consists in the employment, in connection
with the animal matters, of a compound of carbonaceous and earthy substances,
so united by means of roasting the two in connection with each other, that
the carbon shall be disseminated through the whole body of the clay or other
substance employed, by which means I obtain a. complete absorbent of the
ammoniacal and other gases, and a powerful disinfector of the animal matters.
Various substances may be employed in the preparation of this carbonaceous
absorbent; that which I prefer is a species of bituminous shale, found at Port
Daniel, near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River,.as this mineral contains
the carbon and the requisite, earthy matter already most intimately united,
and requires only to be roasted and ground to fit it for use. Where this
substance is employed, it is subjected to a sufficient degree of heat in a
crucible or closed retort to carbonize the bituminous matter, and is then
finely pulverized. This forms a powder, which, when employed as hereafter
to be explained, acts as a powerful disinfector of putrescent animal matters,
and as an absorbent of the gases which result from their decomposition.
Where the bituminous shale cannot readily be procured, its place may be
supplied by a factitious disinfector, having all or nearly all the properties of
that made from the shale, produced by mixing certain carbonaceous matters
with clay and other earthy substances, the materials being first pulverized
and intimately mixed and then roasted, the latter operation driving the carbon
entirely through the body of the clay or other earthy substances, and pro-
ducing an intimate mechanical union of the two. As a source of carbon; the
following substances may be employed:-Finely pulverized bituminous or
anthracite coal, sawdust, peat in powder, or other suitable finely divided
carbonaceous matter. As a base through which to disseminate the carbon,. I
employ clay of the purest and best quality that may be procured, with this is
incorporated about an equal quantity.by weight of any of the before-mentioned

page_text: carbonaceous substances; when these are not at hand, the cheaper forms of
tar, either mineral or vegetable, may be employed.. These substances are to
be intimately incorporated with the clay, and the mixture is then subjected to a
sufficient degree of heat in a closed crucible, retort, or kiln to char the car
bonaceous matter, and drive it equally through the whole body of the clay, the
latter becoming.completely permeated with the carbon through the whole mass:
Care should be taken that the heat be not sufficiently intense. to vitrify the
clay, or to heat it beyond the point which shall develope its absorbent qualities.
When sawdust or peat is employed, the retort should be allowed to cook
before it is opened, otherwise the mixture may take fire, and the object to be
gained be defeated.
.)
The clay thus roasted has now become very porous and saturated with-the
carbon, as above stated, and in this state: is found.to. possess great powers for,
the absorption of ammoniacal and. other gases, and as a disinfectant of fecal
and other putrescent animal matters... Thus far. I. have spoken of clay as the
base employed in connection with the carbonaceous matters; other articles, as
coal ashes, garden, mould, and soils more or less argilaceous, may be, made.
to replace the clay, though the latter is the article which I prefer where the
bituminous shale is not to be had:
The second part of my. Invention has reference to the preparation of the
animal matters for the reception of the above-described powder. When
boiling is resorted to for the purpose of reducing animal matters, it is found
impossible, unless they are subjected to the action of strong alkalies, or to a
high pressure of steam within a closed boiler, to reduce them to a uniform-
pulpy mass, and if this be not effected the pieces and grains of undissolved
animal matter will subsequently be attacked by worms and destroyed. To.
accomplish this solution of the animal matters, and to reduce it to a pulpy
liquid state, is the object of this part. of my Invention, which consists in
subjecting them in vats to. a temperature just sufficient to induce the degree
of fermentation necessary to destroy their texture and reduce them to a
watery mass, the vats being kept closely covered to prevent the loss of the
gases generated by the decomposition. At this point of decomposition animal
matters are found to act most rapidly and economically upon the growing
crops; and the subsequent steps of the process have for their object only to
arrest. the decomposition at this point, and to fix and dessicate the juice and
gases without altering their chemical, state, and without loss or dimunition.
The preliminary preparation of the animal matters which forms the second
part of my Invention I will now proceed. to describe.

page_text: The animal substances, whether they be fish, or offal of slaughter-houses,
and whether they have been steamed or otherwise submitted to heat for the
extraction of the oil or grease, or not, are thrown into vats of sufficient size to
contain the accumulation of one day; these vats are then covered to exclude
the air, and the contents are warmed to 90° to 120° Fahrenheit; where
the temperature of the atmosphere is sufficient to effect this, artificial heat
need not be resorted to.
In the course of one to three days, according to the nature of the material
employed, the fibres will be completely broken down, and the whole will
become a semi-liquid pulpy mass; even the stomachs of the fishes, and the
cartilaginous and other refractory portions of the animal refuse, will be entirely
disorganized and reduced to a pulp. The prepared powder, of shale, or
carburetted clay is now to be added to it, by sifting it regularly over the whole
surface, in the proportion of about one pound of the powder to three pounds of
the original matter employed, or. thereabouts, the mass being frequently stirred
the while. The mixture is now to be evaporated, either by artificial means or
otherwise, and should any lumps occur they should be ground or crushed.
When fish is used, as soon as the bone is separated from the fish it should be
removed, dried, finely ground, and returned to the mixture; this ground bone
should be returned immediately after the prepared powder is added to the
fish. When slaughter-house offal is employed, about 30 per cent. of ground
bone may be added. When clear blood is used, the powder should be mixed
with it while it is yet fresh; the mixture is then kept at the required tem-
perature for a period of 48 hours, or thereabouts, when the powder will have
become so intimately incorporated with the blood that the mixture may be
evaporated. When night-soil is employed, it is placed in the vats and the
prepared powder is sifted into it; the solid portions of the night-soil unite with
the carburetted clay, and the superabundant liquid is evaporated, as before.
In manures thus prepared, the gases resulting from the decomposition of the
animal matter are mechanically united with the absorbent without being
chemically changed; they are in consequence ready to act immediately upon
the plants without requiring the presence of any substance to effect their
decomposition.
"
I do not claim the use of burned clay as an absorbent, nor of charred
vegetable, substances for the purpose of disinfecting animal matters, neither
do I claim making use for the above purpose of any mixture of, these sub-
stances when not prepared as above described; but what I do claim as
my Invention, and desire to secure by. Letters Patent, as an improvement in

page_text: the manufacture of artificial manures, is, the within-described combination of
carbonaceous and earthy matters, prepared by means of roasting and grinding
in the manner set forth, for the purpose specified.
Second, I claim the within-described manner of disorganizing the animal
matters, by treating them in closed vats at the required temperature in com-
bination with the method of disinfecting the same, and absorbing and fixing
the ammoniacal gases by means of the above-described carbonaceous powder,
operating in the manner substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Duncan Bruce, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
SAM. COOPER.
DUNCAN BRUCE. (L.S.)