AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING FERTILIZING COMPOUNDS OR ARTIFICIAL MANURES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING FERTILIZING COMPOUNDS
OR ARTIFICIAL MANURES."-A communication from abroad by Gustave
Adolph Liebig, of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, United States of
America.
Sealed the 1st August 1865, and dated the 23rd February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd February 1865.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING FER-
TILIZING COMPOUNDS OR ARTIFICIAL MANURES," to be as follows:-
It is well known that phosphoric acid is almost ineffectual as a fertilizer
when combined with iron or alumina, as this combination resists with greater

page_text: force the decomposing action of the soil than other phosphates, such as
phosphate of lime.
The object of the present Invention; therefore, is to render the phosphoric
acid contained in the phosphate of iron or of alumina, or of both the
phosphates occurring in a more or less pure state, such as blue clay, blue iron-
stone, vivianite, wavelithe, the so-called Testigo guano, El Rogue guano,
Navassa guano, or any other substance in which phosphate of iron or of
alumina, or of both, may be found available for agricultural and other purposes.
This is effected by heating, roasting, melting, or boiling the ferruginous or
aluminous phosphates with caustic lime, or carbonate or sulphate of lime, or
any other substance containing lime as its base, so as to obtain a phosphate of
lime which can be converted into superphosphate of lime by means of
sulphuric acid, as is well known. A similar effect may be produced by heating,
roasting, melting, or boiling the phosphates with caustic or carbonate or
sulphate of soda or potash, or any other substance containing potash or soda
as its base. In this way is obtained phosphate of soda or potash, salts which
contain phosphoric acid in a soluble state, and which will prove as efficient
fertilizers as any other yielding an equivalent amount of soluble phosphate.
Another mode of treating the insoluble phosphates is to heat or melt them
with silicic acid or any compound containing this acid. Or they may be
heated, roasted; or fused with sulphate of soda or potash, or what is technically
known as salt cake, or any other substance containing soda or potash as its
base, in connection with carbonaceous matter, such as charcoal, stone coal; saw.
dust, or other organic matter or matters. In this case the carbonaceous
matter will act as a deoxidizer on the sulphate, and thus greatly facilitate the
decomposition of the phosphate. Free phosphoric acid, known as meta-
phosphoric acid, is thus obtained, and can subsequently be transformed into
the common phosphoric acid or any phosphate. This soluble phosphate of soda
or potash is mixed either with' low-grade phosphate of lime or sulphate of
lime, thus obtaining an article which will contain from 10 to 15 per cent. of
soluble and the equivalent amount of insoluble phosphate. The wasted mass
may also be lixiviated with water and the solution sold to the many
manufacturers of artificial manures.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent. Office on
the 23rd August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING FERTILIZING COMPOUNDS, OR
ARTIFICIAL MANURES," being a communication to me from abroad, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 per-
formed, 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 Edward Newton, 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 (that is to say) :-
It is well known that phosphoric acid is almost ineffectual as a fertilizer
when combined with iron or alumina, as this combination resists with greater
force the decomposing action of the soil than other phosphates, such as
phosphate of lime.
It is also well known that a fertilizer acts most beneficially and immediately
when it contains the phosphoric acid in a condition in which it is readily
soluble in water, as, for instance, the biphosphate of lime, which forms the
prominent part of the so-called superphosphate. This article is manufactured

page_text: cost.
in extensive establishments from common phosphate of lime, Mexican guano,
bone ash, apatite, &c. imported from distant localities, and sometimes at great
Whilst the manufacture of artificial manure is thus subjected to all the
inconvenience of a distant trade, the large deposits of phosphate of iron and
alumina which are found at home are considered useless and valueless. It is
evident that phosphoric acid extracted from these phosphates and rendered
soluble will be as desirable a fertilizer as any superphosphate containing an
equivalent quantity of phosphoric acid.
The object of the present Invention, therefore, is to render the phosphoric
acid contained in the phosphate of iron or of alumina, or of both the phos-
phates occuring in a more or less pure state, such as blue clay, blue ironstone,
vivianite, wavelite, the so-called Testigo guano, El Rogue guano, Navassa
guano, or any other substance in which phosphate of iron or of alumina, or of
both, may be found available for agricultural and other purposes.
The processes by which this object can be accomplished consist in heating,
roasting, melting, or boiling the ferruginous or aluminous phosphates with
caustic lime, or carbonate or sulphate of lime, or any other substance con-
taining lime as its base, so as to obtain a phosphate of lime which can be
converted into superphosphate of lime by means of sulphuric acid, as is well
known. A similar effect may be produced by heating, roasting, melting, or
boiling the phosphates with caustic or carbonate or sulphate of soda or potash,
or any other substance containing potash or soda as its base. In this way is
obtained phosphate of soda or potasb, salts which contain phosphoric acid in a
soluble state, and which will prove as efficient fertilizers as any other yielding
an equivalent amount of soluble phosphate.
Another mode of treating the insoluble phosphates or phosphatic guano is
to heat or melt them with chloride of sodium or common salt, or with silica,
silicic acid or any compound containing this acid. Or they may be heated,
roasted, or fused with sulphate of soda or potash, or what is technically known
as salt cake, or any other substance containing soda or potash as its base, in
combination with carbonaceous matter such as charcoal, stone coal, sawdust,
or other analogous or suitable matter or matters. In this case the car-
bonaceous matter will act as a deoxydizer on the sulphate, and thus greatly
facilitate the decomposition of the phosphate. Free phosphoric acid, known
as metaphosphoric acid, is thus obtained, and can subsequently be transformed
into the common phosphoric acid or any phosphate. This soluble phosphate
of soda or potash is mixed either with low-grade pbosphate of lime or sulphate
of lime, thus obtaining an article which will contain from ten to fifteen per cent.
of soluble and the equivalent amount of insoluble phosphate. The wasted

page_text: mass may also be lixiviated water water and the solution sold to the many
manufacturers of artificial manures.
Having thus described the Invention which has been communicated to
me as aforesaid, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent
is,-
First, rendering available for agricultural and other purposes the phosphoric
acid contained in phosphate of iron or of alumina, or of both the phosphates
occuring in a more or less pure state, such as blue clay, blue ironstone,
vivianite, wavelite, the so-called Testigo guano, El Rogue guano, Navassa
guano, or any other earth or substance in which phosphate of iron or alumina,
or both, may be found, as herein described.
Second, I claim treating the said phosphates by heating, or roasting, or
melting, or boiling them with caustic lime, or carbonate of lime, or sulphate of
lime, or with any other substance containing lime as its base.
Third, I claim treating the said phosphate by heating, or roasting, or melting,
or boiling them with caustic or carbonate or sulphate of soda or potash, or
with any other substance containing potash or soda as its base.
Fourth, I claim treating the said phosphates by heating, or roasting, or
melting, or boiling them with chloride of sodium or common salt, or with
silica, silicic acid, or any compound containing this acid.
Fifth, I claim treating the said phosphates by heating, or roasting, or fusing
them with sulphate of soda or potash, or what is technically known as "salt
cake," or any other substance containing soda or potash as its base, in con-
nection with carbonaceous matter, such as charcoal, stone coal, sawdust, or
other similar matter or matters.
Sixth, I claim the processes or either of them, substantially as described
above, for producing a fertilizing phosphate containing soluble phosphates.
In witness whereof I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my haud and seal, the Twenty-third day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)