IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DEODORIZING AND SEPARATION OF FECAL AND PUTRESCENT ORGANIC MATTERS, IN THE PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE THEREFROM OF A PORTABLE ARTIFICIAL MANURE OR FERTILISING COMPOUND, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bridge Standen, of Salford, in the Parish of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Chymist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DEODORIZING AND SEPARATION OF FECAL AND
PUTRESCENT ORGANIC MATTERS, IN THE PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE
THEREFROM OF A PORTABLE ARTIFICIAL MANURE OR FERTILISING COMPOUND,
AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE."
Sealed the 23rd December 1859, and dated the 1st July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bridge Standen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st July 1859.
I, BRIDGE STANDEN, of Salford, in the Parish of Manchester, and County
of Lancaster, Chymist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DEODORIZING AND SEPARATION OF FECAL AND
PUTRESCENT ORGANIC MATTERS, IN THE PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE THERE-
FROM OF A PORTABLE ARTIFICIAL MANURE OR FERTILISING COMPOUND, AND IN
APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE," to be as
follows:-
The object of my Invention is the conversion of waste excrementitious and
other like matters, such as night soil and sewage, into a portable substance free
from offensive odour, and valuable as a manure, and also the prevention of
noisome effluvia or exhalations from collections of such matter.

page_text: The said Invention consists in the following process or processes and forms
of apparatus, applicable either wholly or in part, as the character and state of
the matters to be operated upon may determine, and in the use and application
of the substances or compounds hereafter mentioned as disinfectants or
deodorizers.
!
Firstly, (with reference to the treatment of fluids, such as urine.) The
addition of sulphuric acid to the fluid for the purpose of fixing the ammonia;
the concentration of the saline constituents of the fluid by evaporation in the
apparatus for that purpose hercin-after mentioned; the admixture of the con-
centrated fluid with coal or wood ashes, or other absorbent powder of a nature
not capable of setting free the contained ammonia, or otherwise the admixture
of the said concentrated fluid with the desiccated solid matter to be produced
and treated as herein-after mentioned.
Secondly, (with reference to the treatment of partially solid matter, such as
night. soil,) the addition thereto of sulphuric acid for the purpose of fixing the
ammonia; separating the solid matter from the fluid by pressure in a per-
forated vessel; desiccating the solid matter remaining after the expression of
the fluid by means of artificial heat; the concentration of the saline con-
stituents of the expressed fluid by evaporation in the apparatus for that purpose
herein-after mentioned; mixing the desiccated solid matter with a due pro-
portion of the concentrated fluid obtained by any part of the preceding pro-
cesses, and grinding down the resulting mass into powder, adding, if necessary,
coal or wood ashes, sand, or other absorbent powder not having a tendency
to set free the contained ammonia.
Thirdly, (with reference to apparatus to be employed for the purpose of
concentrating the saline matters contained in fluids,) the combination of a
close or covered boiler with a steam jacket or outer case, and with a pipe for
conveying the vapor produced into an adjacent chimney, and (with reference
to that to be employed for desiccating solid matter) the arrangement of a
chamber artificially heated, and furnished with compartments and shelves, and
with trays or boxes adapted for containing the matters to be desiccated, and
also provided with a chimney for conveying away the vapor.
Fourthly, (with reference to disinfectants or deodorizers,) the use and appli-
cation of oils or oleaginous substances of any description as deodorizing or
disinfecting agents; the admixture of common salt with oil, or with an
oleaginous substance to form a deodorizing compound.
.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Bridge Standen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRIDGE
STANDEN, of Salford, in the Parish of Manchester, and County of Lancaster,
Chymist, send greeting.
of
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Bridge Standen, Her special license that I, the said
Bridge Standen, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Bridge Standen, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agrec 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DEODORIZING AND SEPARATION OF FECAL AND PUTRESCENT
ORGANIC MATTERS, IN THE PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE THEREFROM OF A
PORTABLE ARTIFICIAL MANURE OR FERTILIZING COMPOUND, AND IN APPARATUS TO
BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Bridge Standen, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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.
i
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Bridge Standen, do hereby declare
that the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is
to be performed, are particularly described and ascertained in and by this
present instrument in writing, the portion of the statement descriptive of
apparatus for carrying out parts of the said Invention being illustrated by the
Diagrams or Figures contained in the annexed Sheet of Drawings, and forming
part of this my Specification. The parts of the said Diagrams or Figures are
referred to by alphabetical characters marked thereon.
The object of my said Invention is the utilization of the waste and excre-
mentitious matters accumulated in towns, villages, or the precincts of dwell-

page_text: ings, such as sewage, urine, fœces, and putrescent animal and vegetable refuse
or offal, by converting the same into a portable manure or compost of great
fertilising powers, and free from offensive odor, and also the prevention of
noisome effluvia or exhalations from collections or deposits of such matters as
those before mentioned.
The said Invention consists partly in processes or modes of treatment by
which the matters mentioned are converted into dry, portable, and inodorous
substances, without detriment to their fertilising properties, partly in the com-
bination and arrangement of the parts of apparatus adapted to expedite and
facilitate the said processes, and partly in the use, application, or composition
of certain disinfecting or deodorizing agents, to be herein-after described.
The matters to be treated may be collected from sewers, cesspools, middens,
privies, waterclosets, or any of the places in which they are usually allowed to
accumulate. But the system of collection which I prefer, in cases wherein it
may be practicable, as, for instance, where arrangements can be made to
appropriate regularly the sewage or soil of a particular district, is the
following I furnish each privy or closet with a box, drawer, or receptacle,
into which the soil is received, and which can be removed periodically, in
order to have its contents emptied and carted away, the boxes after each
emptying being replenished with a supply of one of the deodorizing agents
herein-after mentioned, sufficient to prevent offensive exhalations until the
next periodical removal of the contents. When the matters are collected from
cesspools, sewers, or middens, they will generally be more diluted with water,
and mixed with foreign substances, the abstraction of which will involve a
more prolonged and therefore more expensive process.
It is obvious that substances like those proposed to be operated upon will
be found varying considerably as to state, condition, consistence, and mixture
with adventitious matter. The directions given herein must therefore be
interpreted with some latitude, it being understood that while the general mode
of proceeding is always to be followed, some discretion is to be exercised, as
to the details, according to circumstances.
The substances proposed to be converted to useful purposes by my Invention
being chiefly human excretions, I shall explain my mode of proceeding more
especially with reference thereto, and upon the supposition that the matters
to be treated consist principally of feces and urine in the state in which they
would probably be if collected after the manner before pointed out as the one
which I consider most eligible.
I shall explain my methods of proceeding, firstly, as applicable to liquids;
and, secondly, to partially solid or pulpy matter, premising that, in the treat-

page_text: ment of matter in an intermediate or mixed state, the methods may be blended
according to the judgment of the operator, regulated by considerations of the
state of the matters to be converted.
In treating fluids such as urine, I commence by adding a quantity of the
common concentrated sulphuric acid of commerce for the purpose of fixing the
ammonia, which it does by combining therewith to form a salt known as sul-
phate of ammonia. The quantity of acid to be used is as much as the ammonia
will neutralize, and may be determined by testing with litmus paper. I next
concentrate the saline fluid by boiling off the aqueous portion in any suitable
vessel or apparatus (using by preference that herein-after described) until the
liquid has nearly reached the point of saturation, or that at which the preci-
pitation of the salt would commence. The concentrated fluid so obtained I
mix with some dry pulverulent material not having in its composition any matter
which has a stronger chemical affinity with sulphuric acid than ammonia, and
at the same time capable of absorbing moisture, such as coal or vegetable
ashes, sawdust, ground bones, coprolites, powdered peat, or any other which is
easily accessible. Or otherwise 1 mix the concentrated fluid with the desic-
cated product obtained by the treatment of semi-solid or pulpy matter, as
herein-after particularised. The resulting compound may be dried into a
mass or powder, and is then ready for use.
In treating partially solid or pulpy matter, such as night soil or excrement,
I commence, as before, by stirring into and intimately blending with it so
much of the common concentrated sulphuric acid of commerce as the ammonia
contained in the matter will neutralize, and no more. To ascertain that the
acid is not in excess, I test occasionally with litmus paper. Having by this
means fixed the ammonia, I proceed (if requisite) to separate the solid from
the fluid portion; this separation may be effected in any convenient manner,
as by depositing the material in a situation which will allow the fluid to drain
off spontaneously into a tank or reservoir prepared to receive it. The operation
may, however, be greatly expedited by pressure in apparatus which I term
a "percolator," and which consists of a vessel or cistern, the upper portions of
whose sides are closely perforated with small holes; the holes may be about a
quarter of an inch in diameter, and about one inch apart. A metal box or
loose lining fits closely within the lower part of the percolator, to which it is
conformable in shape. Its depth may be about one-third of that of the per-
colator. A moveable piston or plunger also fits closely, but with liberty to
move within the upper part of the percolator, and is actuated by a screw or
other mechanical means of raising and depressing it forcibly. The mixed
matter being introduced into the percolator, undergoes pressure by the plunger,

page_text: whereby its fluid part is squeezed out of it, and escapes through the holes in
the upper part of the percolator, leaving the pulpy solid matter to settle into
the metal box, which, after the expression of the fluid, may be taken out and
emptied. The fluid part may be concentrated, as before directed, by evapo-
ration. The solid or pulpy residuum is then to be desiccated by artificial heat
applied in any convenient manner, until it is reduced into a friable mass or
dry powder, which may be mixed with the concentrated fluid before obtained,
or with as much thereof as it will absorb, and after being again dried, to drive
off the remaining superfluous moisture; the resulting mass may be ground
down into powder, with an admixture, if necessary, of ashes, or of some other
absorbent such as before mentioned, and of such a nature as will not decompose
the ammoniacal salt. The product is then fit for use.
It is evident that the foregoing operations or processes are intrinsically the
same mode of procedure, varied only so far as is necessary to adapt it to
matter in different conditions. The separation of the solid from the fluid
matter is, however, not generally necessary in practice, as the operations may
be applied to the-matters while in a state of admixture, and the processes of
evaporation and desiccation conducted simultaneously by means of proper and
sufficient apparatus.
The apparatus which I have devised to facilitate the processes or operations
of the preparation or manufacture of manure, according to my Invention, I
shall now proceed to describe with the aid of the annexed Drawing, the
Figures or Diagrams of which are adapted to explain the mutual connections
and relation of the parts. Figure 1 is to be considered a sectional view upon
a vertical plane at the line A, B, in Figure 2, the last-mentioned Figure
representing the ground plan.
i
The principal parts of the apparatus are, firstly, a close or covered boiler,
by preference of sheet or cast iron, heated by steam contained in a steam
jacket or outer casing, which envelopes the lower part of the boiler; and,
secondly, a drying chamber artificially heated and adapted for the reception of
the pulpy or solid matter requiring to be desiccated. The boiler is to be
provided with a pipe for the escape of the aqueous vapor or steam which may
be conveyed to the drying chamber, and used to heat the same according to
the arrangement suggested in the Drawing; or the drying chamber may be
heated by heat obtained from any other source.
In the Drawing, a is the boiler; b, the steam jacket; c is part of the steam
pipe,, which must be supposed to be in communication with a steam generator
whence the steam is supplied for heating the boiler; d is a man-hole, through
which access is obtained to the interior of the boiler, and through which it is

page_text: replenished with material from time to time; e is a wide pipe through which
the partially solidified or pulpy matter, when sufficiently concentrated, is
evacuated from the boiler. It is closed externally by a lid or blank flanch, in
which is a stop-cock for drawing off small portions of the contained matter
from time to time in order to ascertain its state or consistency by inspection;
f is a pipe with a stop-cock for clearing the steam jacket from condensed'
water; g is the setting of the boiler.
The drying chamber is a shed or building h, having a raised floor k cf
narrow boards with wide interstices, upon which the matter to be desiccated
may be exposed in trays or boxes. Or the floor, if preferred, may be covered
with thin sheet iron, upon which the matter to be desiccated may be thrown
in bulk, and turned over with a shovel occasionally. Provision must be made
in the building for the free escape of the vapor, either by a chimney or or by
other means of ventilation. The pipe, by which the steam is carried off
from the boiler a, enters the drying room at m, and passes under the raised
floor thereof not in a direct course, but tortuously, making parallel traverses in
alternate directions at intervals as small as conveniently may be, so that the
said pipe may, as nearly as is practicable, distribute heat equally through all
parts of the room. Trays or boxes containing the matter to be desiccated may
be placed not only upon the floor, but upon shelves ranged round the sides of
the apartment, as at n, n. By the foregoing arrangement, it will be seen that
the heat radiated from the pipe is made available for driving off the aqueous
parts of the matter, leaving the residuum in the shape of dry masses or
powder.
The pipe I, after leaving the drying chamber, may be conducted to and
terminate in the chimney of the furnace used for generating the steam by
which the boiler is heated, or it may issue in any other convenient outlet.
At some point in its course it should have a branch o for the discharge of the
water condensed in the pipe l, which latter must be laid with a slight con-
tinuous declination towards the said branch to facilitate the efflux of the
water. The branch o should either be furnished with a stop-cock, or should
have its extremity turned upwards, as shewn in the Drawing, so that water
may lodge in the bend, and form a seal against the escape of steam through
the branch. A tank or cistern p is placed under the branch pipe o to collect
the discharged water.
In manufacturing manure by this apparatus, it will be found most con-
venient to accumulate a reserve of the sewage or night soil matter in a mixed
The matter may be
state in a well or reservoir q, adjacent to the boiler.
treated with acid to fix the ammonia, either before it enters the reservoir or

page_text: when in it. From the reservoir it may be transferred to the boiler by means
of a pump T.
Steam being turned on through the pipe c, the process of
evaporation is allowed to proceed until sufficient time is supposed to have
elapsed for the reduction of the residuary matter in the boiler to the desired
consistence. Its state may then be ascertained by drawing off a small portion
through the stop-cock in the lid of the pipe e, and testing it by Twaddell's
hydrometer. The boiling is to be continued until the matter so tested
indicates 24° by that instrument, when I consider it sufficiently concen-
-trated to be withdrawn from the boiler through the pipe e; it is then to be
removed to the drying house h, and the boiler again charged from the
reservoir: The desiccation of the concentrated matter is to be continued in
the drying house until it is brought to the consistence of a stiff pulp; it is then
to be mixed with a dry absorbent of the nature herein-before pointed out, and
replaced in the drying house, where the process is completed by further
desiccation into a dry powder or mass, when it is ready for use.
The pro-
portion of absorbent powder to be used ought not to be greater than is judged
sufficient to reduce the pulp ultimately to a dry or slightly moist state, as it
tends to impair the strength, while it increases the bulk of the compost.
The part of my Invention which has reference to disinfectants or deodorizers,
consists, firstly, in the use and application of oils or oleaginous substances of
any description, as deodorizing or disinfecting agents. For this purpose, of
course the cheap or low-priced oils are to be selected, such as that obtained
from coal tar, and known as "mineral oil," the oil procured by the distillation
of resin, and commonly known and sold as "vegetable oil," "paraffin,"
gallipoli," or "rape oil." The first mentioned of these is that which I
generally prefer. The oil is to be applied by simply mixing or adding it in
sufficiently quantity with or to the substance to be deodorized. This part of
my Invention comprises, secondly, the preparation of a disinfecting or deodo-
rizing composition produced by the admixture of common culinary or bay or
rock salt (muriate of soda) with oil or with an oleaginous substance. Any of
the cheap oils before mentioned will answer the purpose. The proportion of
the ingredients is about one part by weight of oil to four of salt. It is to be
applied in the same manner as the oil.
Having now disclosed the nature of my Invention, and explained the best
methods known to me for carrying the same into effect, I conclude by
declaring that what I claim or intend hereby to claim as new and of my said
Invention, is as follows, that is to say :-
Firstly, the art or method of treating night soil sewage, fecal matter, urine,
putrescent animal or vegetable refuse or offal, or other such substances, with a

page_text: view to the conversion of the same into manure by a combination of the
processes of fixing the ammonia, of concentrating by evaporation and desic-
cation, and of mixing with absorbent substances as herein-before set forth
and described, or by any modification, or partial use, or colorable imitation of
the same.
Secondly, the method of separating fluid from solid matters of the description
before mentioned by pressure in a perforated vessel or "percolator," as herein-
before described.
Thirdly, the arrangement and combination of the parts of the apparatus
herein-before described, consisting chiefly of a covered boiler heated by steam,
and provided with a pipe for conveying away the aqueous vapor, and of an
artificially heated chamber or apartment for drying the substances under
process.
Fourthly, the use and application of oil or oleaginous matter as a disinfectant
or deodorizer.
Fifthly, the admixture of common salt with oil or oleaginous matter to form
a deodorizing or disinfecting compound.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bridge Standen, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of December, in the year-
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Signed and sealed by the said Bridge
Standen, in the presence of
JNº. TAYLER, Patent Agent,
Manchester.
STANDEN. (L.S.)