IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Duke, of The Plains, Totnes, in the County of
Devon, Gentleman, for an Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF MANURES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Duke at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th February 1880.
JOSEPH DUKE, of The Plains, Totnes, in the County of Devon, Gentleman.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURES."
The mode or principle I propose to adopt is as follows:-
I use silicato of lime, or of potash, or of soda, or of alumina either separately or
combined.
"
I then add the same quantity of peat charcoal or other substances (but peat
charcoal I prefer).
I then add superphosphate of lime or other phosphates; the proportion of super-
phosphates or phosphates will vary according to their composition.
I then well mix the whole together.
This I use as a filter through which I pass urine, gas water, sewage, or other
liquids holding phosphates, potash, nitrogenous, or other matters, either in solution
or suspension, or I mix the whole together, allowing sufficient time to deposit and
the effluent water to pass off (but I prefer to pass it through filters).
By this process the valuable properties of urine, gas water, sewage, or other
liquids, either held in solution or suspension, are taken up, leaving a manure
containing all the bases and clements necessary for the growth and support of
plants.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Joseph Duke in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th August
1880.
JOSEPH DUKE, of the Plains, Totnes, in the County of Devon, Gentleman.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURES."
The object of this Invention is so to treat gas water, sewage water, urine, and
similar liquids, as to deprive them of their nitrogeneous, ainmonincal, and other
valuable constituents in a simple and efficient manner, and thereby to render the
same innocuous, while at the same time valuable fertilizing ingredients are
recovered.
In attaining this end I submit the liquid which is to be treated to the action of
the materials to be presently described, which acting either in the form of a filter
bed, or in mechanical admixture with the liquid which is subsequently removed
by decantation, will cause it to yield up its ammoniacal or other fertilizing
components.
The substances which I employ for taking up the ammonia and other fertilizing
ingredients contained in sewage water, gas liquor, urine, and similar liquids, and
rendering the liquids innoxious, are the following:-(1), soluble silicates in a
gelatinous form obtained by a process for which I applied for Letters Patent on
the Twentieth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and eighty, and by means
of which I obtain soluble silicates of alumina, lime, potash, magnesia, and soda;
(2), superphosphate of lime, or other phosphates; and (3), peat charcoal in powder,
or peat in powder, or other absorbent vegetable substance.
To these substances, when well mixed together, I submit the liquids either in a
tank provided with a stirrer, or preferably in a filter, and thereby rob the liquids
of their ammonia and other fertilizing ingredients, after which they may be
discharged in an innocuous form.
In carrying out my Invention I prefer to employ what may be termed a filtering
process, and for this purpose I use a filter of the character shewn in sectional side
elevation, cross section, and plan view in the accompanying Drawing, where A and B
are two compartments of a filtering tank divided from each other by a partition C,
the part A being of about twice the capacity of the part B. These compartments
are fitted with detachable perforated false bottoms D to receive the materials which
constitute the filter beds.
In the top of the filter over the compartment A is fitted an inlet-pipe a, which
leads down to the space below the filter bed.
c is a pipe leading from the upper part of compartment A to the space below the
filter bed of the compartment B.
b is an overflow pipe lending from the compartment B, and serving to carry off
the filtered liquid. By the aid of a filter thus arranged I am enabled to remove
from sewage water, gas water, and urine the greater part of the fertilizing properties
which they contain, and absorb the same into the filter beds, which will thus give
me manures of varying qualities according to the liquid under treatment.
I will now describe the manner in which I produce a manure suitable for
agricultural crops generally, including wheat cercals, grass, potatoes, inangold-
wurtzel, sugar beets, and hops; and which is also well adapted for the vine, as it
will materially strengthen it against the attack of the phylloxera, and provide the
necessary saccharine food for the grape, and which is also suitable for all garden
crops.
In manufacturing, say, twenty one hundred weight, of a manure well suited for
these varied applications I provide a filter bed composed as follows:- About seven

page_text: hundred weight of a mixture of the soluble silicates of lime, potash, soda, alumina,
and magnesia in a gelatinous form, about seven hundred-weight of superphosphate
of lime or other phosphates, and about ten per cent., or say, one hundred and forty
pounds of peat charcoal in powder, or dried peat in powder, or other absorbent
vegetable substance.
The
This mixture I place on the perforated false bottom of the compartment A.
false bottom of the compartment B I charge with about seven hundred weight of
powdered peat, charcoal, or dried peat in powder, or other absorbent vegetable
substance, and to ensure the retention of any soluble phosphates which may be
brought over from the compartment A. by the liquid, I mix with the charcoal
hydrate of lime or its equivalent, the proportion by weight of the alkali to the
vegetable substance being in the ratio of about one to ten. The presence of this
alkali in the second filter bed effects the precipitation of any soluble phosphates or
phosphoric acid which may be contained in the liquid, and thus provides against
waste.
Into the compartment A of the filter thus prepared I run by the inlet pipe a
sewage water, gas water, urine, or other liquid containing ammonia, nitrogenous, or
other fertilizing matter, which liquid flowing up through the bed of the filter will
leave behind it the ammonia, nitrogenous, and other fertilizing matters contained in
such liquid. The liquid then passes by the overflow pipe c below the perforated
falso bottom into compartment B, and percolating up through the mixture contained
therein receives a second filtration, after which it passes off by the overflow pipe b
in an innocuous state, and may be disposed of like surface or other drainage. The
quantity of liquid thus passed through the filter to enrich the materials contained
therein will depend upon the strength of the said liquid, but with gas water or
urine of average quality I have found that three thousand gallons will suffice to
leave in the filter about four per cent. by weight of ammonia or nitrogenous matter.
This quantity may however be varied from two thousand to six thousand gallons
of liquid per ton of solids, according to the quantity of ammonia or of nitrogenous
and other fertilizing matters required to be absorbed into or combined with the
components of the filter bed and the richness or poorness of the liquid under treat-
ment. The quantity or per centage of nitrogenous and other valuable fertilizing
matter deposited in the filter can be determined at any time by the usual chemical
tests.
To complete the manufacture of the manure it is only necessary to remove the
solid materials from the two compartments of the filter, mix them well together,
and dry them by the application of gentle heat or by exposure to the air.
When employing the decantation process I provide a tank of suitable dimensions
and fit the same with an agitator. This tank I fill with liquid and add thereto
gradually the materials above mentioned as constituting the filter beds, at the same
time keeping the stirrer in action. When the liquid is thoroughly mixed with the
silicates, phosphates, and charcoal I arrest the action of the stirrer and allow the
solid substances to deposit, after which I run off the supernatant liquid. I then
supply fresh liquid to the tank, and continue the process until the solid materials
contained therein are sufficiently enriched by reason of the precipitation or absorp-
tion of the valuable fertilizing matters originally held, in solution or suspension in
the liquid.
I may remark that in making a manure suitable for turnips I increase the
proportion of phosphates, while for beans, peas, clover, tobacco, and lucerne I increase
the proportion of soluble silicates.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in the
Manufacture of Manures," and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent, I claim, treating sewage water, gas water, urine, and other liquids
containing ammoniacal, nitrogenous, or other fertilizing matters by submitting the

page_text: same to the action of soluble silicates, phosphates, and peat charcoal, or peat in
powder, or an equivalent vegetable absorbent, in the manner and for the purpose
above set forth:
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Duke, have hereunto set my band and
seal, the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty.
JOSEPH DUKE. (L.S.)