AN IMPROVED INSECT POWDER FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Charles Henderson, of 6, Southampton Buildings,
Holborn; in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "AN IMPROVED
INSECT POWDER FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES." A communication from
abroad by Eugene Koch and Louis Schulher, both of the City of Paris, in the
Republic of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Charles Henderson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd December 1881.
ARTHUR CHARLES HENDERSON, of 6, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED INSECT POWDER FOR AGRICULTURAL
PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by Eugène Koch and Louis Schuhler,
both of the City of Paris, in the Republic of France.
In lieu of employing tar mixed with plaster, sand, lime, and so forth, as
customarily employed in the manufacture of this kind of powder, natural or
artificial silica is substituted, and the residues of schist by distillation more or less
carbonized, or other silicious and aluminous matters whose absorbant properties
approximate to those of silica, light gravel, and so forth.
The silica here employed by preference is principally Hanoverian, named
kieselghür or rondamite. It is mixed with tar in different proportions, hot or
cold, and to make it still more insecticide and bitter a small proportion of picrate
of potash is added.
The following is the mode of manufacture:-
In a double bottomed sheet iron recipient, by preference, the tar is poured and
submitted to a temperature of 70 degrees centigrade to make it sufficiently limpid;
silica previously pulverized or sifted is then added in a sieve placed above the
recipient; it is then kneaded or mashed with a spatula or mechanical or hand
agitator; the mixture then immediately takes the form of a friable mass, each
particle of silica being impregnated with the tar, which in a manner dries it;
when withdrawn the matter is disaggregated by itself, and it can then be passed to
the sieve or sifter.
To this mixture of tar and silica the before mentioned chemicals can be
added, such as potash, sulfate of iron, powdered bone, animal black, glue, paste,
and so forth.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Arthur Charles Henderson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st May 1882.
ARTHUR CHARLES HENDERSON, of 6, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED INSECT POWDER FOR AGRICULTURAL
PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by Eugene Koch and Louis Schulher,
both of the City of Paris, in the Republic of France.
Many applications of the insecticide properties of tar combined with other
matters, such as lime, plaster, sand, and so forth, have been made, but all alike
havo in some measure failed, it being the custom to mix this combination of
substances with the grain it was intended to protect from insects; experience has
proved that this manufacture presented many drawbacks, which the process
forming the subject of the present Invention is intended to obviate. The main
feature of this Invention is to substitute for the plaster, sand, lime, and so on,
natural or artificial silica, the residues after distillation of schist more or less
carbonized, or other siliceous or aluminous matters whose properties of absorption
approach those of silica, light gravel, or its equivalents.
The silica the inventors use by preference is principally Hanoverian, named
kieselghur or rondanite; it may be mixed with tar in variable proportions, either
hot or cold, but it is certain that at the maximum one part of this silica is capable
of absorbing one part of ordinary tar and at the same time producing a powder
which is perfectly dry to the touch and easy to mix with the grain to be protected
from the insects.
By increasing the quantity of silica as compared with that of the tar an insect
powder is obtained specially adapted for mixture with moist manure, which
facilitates packing in bags for transport. The quantity of tar can be increased
without largely increasing the bulk of the manure.
To make the powder more powerful in its effects and increasing its bitterness a
small quantity of picrate of potash is added to the tar and silica compound; the
object of this addition is to protect against the attack of all kinds of insects and
worms the sacks of manure as well as the plants, to which this powder has been
applied either by itself or in conjunction with manure.
The following is the method of manufacturing the tar and silica powder by the
inventor's process, which at the same time renders the employment of plaster, sand,
or lime, quite capable of admixture with the tar for producing a pulverulent and
insecticidal product.
In a recoptacle of some sort, by preference of sheet iron with a double bottom,
the tar is placed and submitted to a temperature of 70 degrees centigrade to make
it sufficiently limpid. Silica, lime, sand, or plaster, previously pulverized, is then
put into the recipient, the pounding being effected either with a pestle by
hand or mechanically and then passed through a sieve placed above the recipient;
the matter is then kneaded or mashed with a spatula, or by means of a hand or
mechanical mixer; the mixture then immediately assumes the form of a friable
mass, each particle of silica being impregnated with the tar, which in a manner
drys it. When the mass is withdrawn it disaggregates itself and it can at once be
passed to the sieve.
To this silica and tar powder (or lime impregnated with tar) the chemical agents
desired may be added, such as potash, sulfate of iron, ammonia, powdered bone,
animal black, glue, paste, and so forth.
The inventors claim as their Invention,―
1st. The general application of natural or artificial silica, or any silicious or
aluminous matter (in place of plaster, sand, or lime), in the manufacture of

page_text: manure, with the object of rendering it dryer, with the addition of a small quantity
of foreign matter to prevent its loss of strength and reduce its expense in storage
or transport.
2nd. The special mixture of silica and tar for the production of an insect
powder for agricultural purposes, whether or not added to manure of some sort.
3rd. The application of the powder for liming grain and seed grain.
4th. The addition to the tar and silica powder of a small quantity of picrate
of potash to make it more bitter and increase its properties as an insect killer.
5th. The application of the insect powder to all kinds of turf used as manure.
Gth. Its application at the base of vine props or hop polos as ordinarily used or
on the vine or hops by aid of bellows.
7th. The employment of silica in conjunction with other insect killers than tar,
which are more or less pasty or solid, and used for the same purpose.
8th. The process described in the manufacture of the powder whose base is
silica and tar, which process the inventors claim also as applied to the manu-
facture with any kind of manure having tar as a base mixed with lime, sand, or
plaster.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Charles Henderson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty ninth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.