IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF MANURE FROM WOOLLEN RAGS, MIXED WOOLLEN AND COTTON RAGS, SHODDY, OR WASTE WOOL
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Thomas Way, of 106, Leadenhall Street, in
the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF MANURE FROM WOOLLEN RAGS, MIXED WOOLLEN AND COTTON RAGS,
SHODDY, OR WASTE WOOL."
Sealed the 8th September 1864, and dated the 9th March 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Thomas Way at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th March 1864.
I, JOHN THOMAS WAY, of No. 106, Leadenhall Street, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE PROM WOOLLEN RAGS, MIXED WOOLLEN
AND COTTON RAGS, SHODDY, OR WASTE WOOL," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the treatment of woollen rags, mixed woollen and
cotton rags, shoddy, or waste wool, in such manner as to disintegrate and
reduce them to powder and so render them more suitable for manure.
Hitherto in seeking to accomplish this object it has been usual to digest
these substances with acids or alkalies in such way as to bring them into a
thick paste or solution which subsequently is dried up by itself or with the
addition of suitable dry and porous materials, but great difficulty has always

page_text: been found in such drying, and great waste of the acid or alkali or other
such substance employed in the process.
Now my Invention consists of introducing into the wool or material, by
means of water, such a proportion of acid or alkali or other substance acting
in a similar manner as will when the wool or material is subsequently dried
and heated serve to destroy the fibre and permit of its being readily reduced
to fine powder. For this purpose I soak woollen rags, mixed woollen and
cotton rags, shoddy, or waste wool in a solution in water of the material to be
employed to act upon it, and when it has remained for a sufficient time to
become thoroughly impregnated, I press out the excess of liquid the strength
of which I have arranged, so that a sufficient quantity of the material in
solution therein may be left in the shoddy or other matter. I then subject the
material so prepared to heat in a stove or other convenient heating arrange-
ment so that it shall be dried up. The heat I prefer to use is from 300° to
380° Fahrenheit, and I am careful not to use a heat which would destroy the
manuring properties of the material. For the agent of this disintegration I
prefer the mineral acids, and sulphuric acid in particular, but many other
substances may be successfully used in this manner. When employing
sulphuric acid I dilute this with so much water as shall leave in the wool or
material when pressed about 10 or 15 per cent. of the weight of the wool or
material treated. Sulphate of alumina and alum are also amongst the
substances which I employ for the purpose." I also in some cases improve the
product as manure by introducing with or without other ingredients phosphoric
acid or soluble phosphate of lime or salts of potash.
A further advantage is obtained by the addition of phosphoric acid or soluble
phosphate of lime, which are not only valuable manuring agents, but also serve
to check the burning of the wool or fibre, which if allowed to take place would
result in the loss of valuable manuring matters. Sulphate of alumina and
alum also serve to check burning and so render the careful regulation of the
heat afterwards employed less important. Phosphoric acid, soluble phosphate
of lime, sulphate of alumina, and alum all act to assist in the disintegration of
the fibre; I also, by the use of other substances which are known to chemists
to have a tendency to prevent burning, such for example as phosphate of soda,
am able to heat the wool or material sufficiently to produce disintegration
without the use of acid or other matter which itself acts to decompose the
wool or material. The products so obtained I crush to fine powder by means
of rollers, stones, or other suitable mechanism.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Thomas Way, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
THOMAS WAY, of 106, Leadenhall Street, in the City of London, Professor of
Chemistry, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Thomas Way, Her special licence that I, the said John
Thomas Way, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Thomas Way, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE FROM WOOLLEN RAGS, MIXED WOOLLEN
AND COTTON RAGS, SHODDY, OR WASTE WOOL," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Thomas Way, 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 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Thomas Way, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My Invention consists in a new mode of treating woollen rags, or mixed
woollen and cotton rags, or shoddy or waste wool, or other similar substances
or materials, so as to disintegrate and reduce them to powder and so render
them more suitable for being used as manure. Efforts have been heretoforo
made to reduce such substances or materials into a condition suitable for
manure by digesting them with acids or alkalis, and so producing a thick
paste or solution which was afterwards dried. But such methods have been

page_text: found to be attended with difficulty in properly drying the paste or solution
and with great waste of materials.
These difficulties are obviated by my Invention, the main principle of which
consists in introducing in a diluted state into and among the fibres of the
woollen or mixed woollen and cotton substances such a proportion of acid or
alkali or other chemical agent as is necessary to effect or assist in effecting
the reduction of the fibre, and in evaporating, by a subsequent drying process,
the water used for dilution, thereby leaving the chemical agent introduced
by means of the water in contact with each fibre, so as to enable it when
properly dried to be reduced to a powder suitable for manure.
To enable my new process to be fully understood I will describe my method
of treating the substance called shoddy with sulphuric acid. It being under-
stood that I somewhat modify the operations in respect of the proportion of
acid or other substance employed and the drying arrangements according
to the nature of the material which I wish to reduce and the chemical agent
which is employed for the purpose. In treating shoddy I introduce among
the fibres and cause them to be thoroughly impregnated with the diluted
sulphuric acid by soaking them in large tanks filled with the acid of the proper
strength. The strength of the acid mixture I by preference so regulate that
the shoddy after being soaked and pressed, as will shortly be described, shall
retain from ten to fifteen per cent. of real sulphuric acid of the strength of
the ordinary oil of vitrol of commerce, I find that the shoddy after it has been
soaked in the acid mixture and afterwards subjected to pressure will retain
from one-fourth of its weight to an equal weight of liquid. Assuming then
the shoddy to be of twice the weight when soaked and pressed to what it was
before those operations, I shall in that case require to employ an acid mixture
containing from ten to fifteen per cent. of the real acid, my object being to
employ about from ten to fifteen parts of real acid to one hundred of shoddy.
If the pressure employed is very great more of the acid mixture will be pressed
out and a greater proportion of acid must be employed in the mixture. The
acid mixture may be made of the proper strength by diluting oil of vitroil or
what is known as the "brown acid" of commerce with the requisite quantity
Instead of soaking the shoddy in tanks, I sometimes pump the
diluted acid over it repeatedly till it has become thoroughly impregnated, I
should observe that I do not confine myself closely to the proportion of ten or
fifteen of acid to one hundred parts of shoddy, my object being to use on the
one hand a quantity so large that the shoddy shall readily break down or
pulverise when dried and treated as herein-after described, and on the other
so limited that the shoddy shall not dissolve or become pasty in the heating
of water.

page_text: process. After the shoddy has been soaked in the tank of acid mixture I
remove it and then separate from the impregnated shoddy as much of
the liquid as I conveniently can by means of a press or other mechanical
apparatus.
Many forms of press will serve the purpose, but I prefer to use, as the most
economical and efficient, the endless press known as King's "continuous
compressing machine," patented in 1856, No. 2364. I also in some cases
effect the separation of the excess of acid by means of a centrifugal machine,
such as is used by sugar refiners, but I prefer to employ the press before
mentioned, as it is continuous and does more work in a given time. After
the excess of acid mixture has been pressed out from the soaked shoddy it is
next submitted to a drying and heating process. This may be conveniently
effected by means of large ovens having surfaces of brick or other material
heated by flues, by hot air chambers, or various other means.
The apparatus which I prefer to use consists of an iron cylinder of about
two and a half to three feet in diameter and from eight to ten feet long, it is
set in an inclined direction in brickwork, and is heated by flues over part or
the whole of the surface. In the centre of the cylinder a shaft bearing arms
set in screw fashion is made to revolve in such manner and at such a speed that
the shoddy which is fed in at the upper end of the cylinder is drawn gradually.
down over the heated surface and discharged at the lower end in a dry brittle
state. If it is not sufficiently disintegrated so as to be easily reduced to
powder it may be passed a second time through the heated chamber or
cylinder. If requisite a draught of heated air may be caused to pass through
the cylinder by means of a flue leading into the chimney. The dried product
may be crushed to a fine powder by means of rollers, stones, or other apparatus.
Other forms of apparatus can also be employed for drying and heating the
shoddy and reducing it to a state of powder. The heat I prefer to use is that
of from 300° to 380° Fahrenheit, taking care not to use such a heat as will
destroy the manuring properties of the material treated.
Having now described my method of treating shoddy with sulphuric acid,
it is only necessary to state that I employ generally similar methods with all
other woollen and woollen and cotton waste or rags and other similar sub-
stances, and where requisite I vary the proportion of acid or other chemical
agents employed according to the greater or less difficulty of causing the fibre
to be broken down into powder, using a sufficiently large proportion of the
agent to insure that the material treated may, when dried, be reduced to
powder, but not too much so as to produce a paste or thick solution; among
the chemical agents which may be employed are sulphate of alumina and

page_text: alum. I also in some cases improve the product as manure by introducing, with
or without other ingredients, phosphoric acid or soluble phosphate of lime or
salts of potash; I take ordinary superphosphate of lime and treat it with water,
allowing the undisolved portion to subside. With the solution so obtained I
soak or otherwise impregnate the material to be treated, and subsequently dry
and heat it as above described in the case of treating shoddy with sulphuric
acid; in this case I employ such a quantity of the phosphate or phosphoric
acid as shall not only serve to disintegrate the woollen fibre, but also render
the product obtained more valuable as manure. The chemical agents above
mentioned, such as phosphoric acid, soluble phosphate of lime, sulphate of
alumina and alum all act in assisting the disintegration of the fibre, and they
also during the heating process check the tendency to burn, so that the fibre
can be reduced to a powder without its being injuriously burned. In some
cases other chemical agents which will check the tendency to burn, such as
phosphate of soda, may be employed, and by the aid of heat the fibres treated
may be dried. and reduced to powder without employing an acid or other
disintegrating agent.
Having now described my Invention I claim the mode of treating woollen
or woollen and cotton waste or materials and the production of a pulverised
substance suitable for use as manure in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Thomas Way, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
said John Thomas Way, in the
presence of
J. S. TORR,
38, Bedford Row,
Sol.
J. THOMAS WAY. (L.S.)