Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Oct., 1887
Specification Accepted, 18th Nov., 1887
1, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake and Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In the rendering of lard, tallow, and other fats, a considerable quantity of water is
necessarily used in the rendering tanks and is known in the industry as tank water.
This tank water, although apparently limpid, contains about ten per cent. of solid
matter. It has heretofore simply been an offensive element in the rendering of fats,
and it has been disposed of almost universally by discharge through the sewers, or in
the same manner as the other offensive surroundings of a rendering establishment,
and such water is the principal source of the offensive and deleterious odors which
arise in the rendering of fats. This water is produced in enormous quantities in every.
large slaughtering establishment, and as the solid matter which it contains in solution
consists principally of an albuminous substance of which about fifteen per cent. is
nitrogen, it would, if the useful elements which it contains could be made available,
have a great commercial value. Many efforts have been made to utilize this tank
water or the "waste "which it contains, as a fertilizer, but the difficulty has been
encountered that it has been found practically impossible to reduce the waste or
solid matter to a permanently dry form, so that it will keep, it being found that,
however thorough the desiccating process to which it is subjected, it will speedily
accumulate moisture. As fertilizers frequently have to be transported to considerable
distances and kept in storage for considerable lengths of time, before being used, this
difficulty has proved an insuperable obstacle to all attempts hitherto made to use
tank waste as a fertilizer.
The object of my present invention is to. provide means for reducing tank waste
to a fixed and permanent form, and I have found that this can be done by causing the
tank water in a fluid or semi-fluid condition to be absorbed by vegetable material,
and then thoroughly drying the product. Among the vegetable materials which
I have found, so far as my experiments have extended, specially adapted for the
purpose are those of a fibrous character having a cellulose or lignine structure, such
for instance, as hay, straw, sawdust, street-sweepings, the material taken froin the
paunches of slaughtered herbivorous animals, barn-yard manure, and other substances
of a similar character. I do not limit myself to the enumerated cellulose or lignine

page_text: substances, as many others besides those which I have mentioned, doubtless exist
which would be of service.
In practice, I ordinarily place the tank water, previously evaporated to the
consistency of a thick syrup (known to rendering men as "stick") with a proper
proportion of vegetable material, in a proper receptacle, mix the whole thoroughly
and dry the mixture by direct heat or steam or other convenient method. The product
so formed may be made into cakes, or pulverized, or kept in the simple granulated
condition which it naturally takes. I find that in these forms or either of them, the
product retains all of its valuable properties for an indefinite period of time.
As to
the proportions in which the tank water and vegetable material should be used in
making fertilizer, I find that the proportions may be varied from a very small
relative part of vegetable material, say one part in four or five, to equal parts of tank
waste and vegetable material. In the former proportion the absorptive properties of
the vegetable material are nearly exhausted. I find that the best proportions to use
are from two to four parts of tank water reduced to the consistency of a thick syrup,
as above stated, to two parts of vegetable material; and to these I may add one part
of calcic phosphate, or equivalent material, such as is usually made an ingredient of
fertilizers. The phosphate however, is not an essential ingredient, and may be omitted.
I do not, however, confine myself to the exact proportions mentioned, giving them
merely as a general guide to the preparation of the fertilizer, having in view both the
economy and the quality of the product, and I wish it understood that I claim the
product broadly and without reference to relative proportions of the ingredients used.
It is not necessary to partially evaporate the tank water before mixing it with the
vegetable material, that being merely a convenient method of procedure. The
proportion of tank water to the vegetable material will need to be varied, however,
according to the percentage of solid matter which the water contains, that is, the
extent to which it has been evaporated.
I find, also, that a good result is obtained by reducing the tank water residuum
to dryness and mixing it in a granulated form with vegetable material, the latter
having sufficient absorptive properties to keep the granulated residuum dry and
preserve it. I therefore include this modification of the above described process as a
part of my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is ;-
First. The fertilizer herein described, consisting of tank waste reduced to a
thoroughly dry condition in intimate contact with a cellulose or lignine vegetable
material also thoroughly dried.
Second. The fertilizer herein described, in dry form, consisting of tank waste
incorporated with a cellulose or lignine vegetable inaterial.
Third. The fertilizer herein described, consisting of tank waste reduced to a
thoroughly dry condition incorporated with the paunch material taken from slaughtered
animals, substantially as set forth.
Fourth. The fertilizer herein described, consisting of tank waste incorporated with
a cellulose or lignine vegetable material, together with a phosphate all in about the
proportions herein set forth, and reduced to a state of dryness.
Dated this 8th day of October 1887.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.