IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OP MANURE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Henry Cail, of Southampton, in the County
of Southampton, Painter, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OP MANURE."
Sealed the 25th January 1861, and dated the 21st November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henry Cail at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st November 1860.
I, GEORGE HENRY CAIL, of Southampton, in the County of Southampton,
Painter, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE," to be as follows:-
I propose taking every sort of refuse leather, such as shoemaker's trimmings,.
old boots and shoes, harness, or other, and boiling such refuse in a solution of
lime and soda (or potash if preferred), previously prepared, in the proportion.
of half a ton of lime and one ton of soda (or potash), or thereabout, for every
four tons or thereabout of the refuse. When sufficiently boiled I propose
fixing the ammonia by the addition of acids, and after mixing the mass with
sawdust, any description of charcoal, slaked lime, or other suitable bulky.
matter, it will be ready for use, but until used should be kept under cover.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Henry Cail in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HENRY CAIL, of Southampton, in the County of Southampton, Painter, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Henry Cail, Her special licence that I, the said
George Henry Cail, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George Henry Cail, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said George Henry Cail, 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 George Henry Cail, 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 :-
My Invention consists in the manufacture of manure from every description.
of refuse leather after the following manner:-I make a strong lye with, say,
one hundredweight of soda or potash, and half a hundredweight of lime. I
then take from three to four hundredweight of refuse leather, (such as old
boots and shoes, shoemaker's shreds or cuttings, old harness, harness makers
cuttings, curriers' shavings, or such like,) and boil the ingredients in a suitable
vessel (with or without steam pressure) until dissolved, or in some cases I
prefer boiling the soda or potash, the lime, and the leather all together. I mix
the leather thus dissolved with rough Epsom salt, or the bittern of salt works;

page_text: but if I mix the dissolved leather with bones or coprolite, or mineral phos-
phorate dissolved in acids, I omit the rough Epsom or bittern. If for turnip
sowing and crops of like nature, I take crushed bones and the refuse
material before mentioned in equal proportions, and submit them to the
aforesaid process, and then mix the dissolved leather or bones (or the leather
and bones together) with soot, sawdust, or any similar material, and dry the
mass by any suitable process. I then add the produce obtained by securing
and fixing the ammonia (which is produced by dissolving the refuse leather
or bones as aforesaid) in a suitable apparatus, by causing the ammonia
to pass as it is generated into a solution of rough Epsom salt, or the bittern of
salt works, or diluted acid, or any substance where the acid has a greater
attraction for the ammonia than for the base to which it is united. I after-
wards evaporate to dryness the produce thus obtained, and mix it with the
dissolved material, which thus treated becomes an excellent manure.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is carried into practical effect, I desire it to be distinctly
understood that I do not confine myself to the exact proportions or quantities
herein given of the respective materials herein named in the manufacture of
manure according to my Invention, but reserve the right of varying them
according to the nature of the crops to be produced. Nor do I claim the
dissolving of bones, coprolite or mineral phosphorate in acids; but what I
claim as of my Invention is, the dissolving of the other materials, herein-
before mentioned, with soda, soda ash, potash and lime, by means of artificial
heat, the fixing the ammonia available for manure, and combining the said
materials with soot, sawdust, horns, hoofs, pulverized bones, animal charcoal,
or other similar substances, for the purpose of manure, essentially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Henry Cail, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
THO. JAMES,
Book Emporium,
Southampton.
GEORGE HENRY CAIL. (L.S.)