IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
Year: 1852

page_text: WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventeenth day of April,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the fifteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Stothert, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry Stothert, my exors,
adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Stothert, my exors,
adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alder-
ney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE,"
partly communicated to me from a foreigner now deceased, and partly invented
by myself; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Henry Stothert, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Stothert, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention consists of applying a combination of the materials herein
mentioned to precipitate the more substantive parts of sewage water, and using
the products thus obtained for and in composing manure; and also of con-
verting part of the solid matters so obtained, or converting night soil into
charcoal, to be used as one of the matters employed in the process of
precipitation.
Another part of the Invention consists of treating urine, and evaporating the
same nearly to dryness. And in order that the Invention may be most fully
understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means
pursued by me.
I collect sewage water into cisterus or vessels, and I prefer to do so by
receiving the same from the sewers into underground cisterns or receivers, and
to stir the same continuously, in order to keep the sewage waters which come
down at different parts of the day mixed, and thus, as nearly as may be, to
obtain a uniform state of sewage water; and in order to operate upon the same
according to the Invention, I pump or run quantities of the same into a
vessel provided with a stirrer, and into this vessel I supply the materials
herein-after mentioned, with a view to disinfect the sewage water and to pre-
cipitate the more substantive parts. Fresh made caustic lime is to be stirred
in in such quantities as to be somewhat in excess of what. would be taken
up by the water in forming lime water. The lime may be stirred in first, or
be stirred in simultaneously with the other matters, which are as follows:-
Sulphate of alumina
Sulphate of protoxide of zinc
Compound animal and vegetable charcoal, obtained by
10 lbs.
0½ lb.
distilling the precipitated matters of sewage waters, or 10 lbs.
by distilling night soil
These matters, in the state of a combined powder, are used for 1000 gallons of
sewage water, and which I have found to be the proper quantity for an average
state of sewage water, but I do not confine myself thereto. The powder is to be
applied as fast as the same can be well and intimately mixed with the sewage
water by the stirring apparatus used, and the first result which is obtained
is the getting rid of the objectionable odours, and then, when allowed to rest,
the substantive matters subside or are precipitated to the bottom. For the
purpose of subsidence, I run or pump out the sewage water thus treated into

page_text: subsiding reservoirs or vessels, so that the mixing vessel may be again supplied
with another quantity of sewage water, to be acted on in like manner to that
above described. When the matters have subsided and the water is clear, it
may be pumped away and distributed at a distance for the purposes of watering
and manuring land; and when such water is desired to be kept I have found
it advantageous to use or mix therewith at the rate of one drop of kreosote or
oil of peat to each gallon. The precipitated matters are also to be used as
manure, and for the purpose of convenient transport I dry the same when
made up in the form of moulded blocks or bricks, and when such blocks or
bricks are to be used for manure (as they will be too strong in most cases), it
is desirable when they have been crushed to mix therewith peat mould,
tanners' spent bark, burned clay, old mortar, or mixtures of such matters or
other matters; but I prefer to employ such materials for mixing in a dry state
to act as absorbents of the moisture in the precipitated matters from the
sewage water, and in such state to convey the manure to the land where it is
to be used. And in order to obtain what I have called "compound animal
and vegetable charcoal," I mix a portion of the precipitated matters, or of
night soil, with about an equal quantity of dry peat or tanners' bark, and
cause the same to be distilled in like manner to that usually adopted when
obtaining vegetable charcoal from peat or tanners' bark alone, and in doing so
I cause the products evolved to pass into a closed vessel containing a solution
of a salt to arrest the ammonia, as is well understood in other works. The
charcoal thus produced is that which is used as one of the ingredients for acting
on sewage water as above mentioned.
In treating urine according to the Invention, I take it when in a putrid
state, and I stir in sulphate of alumina till it is neutralized, or only indicates a
slightly acid condition. The urine is then slowly evaporated, say, at a tem-
perature of one hundred and twenty degrees of Fahrenheit, till it is reduced
into a state of paste or a semi-fluid state, in which state it is combined with dry
absorbents, such as above mentioned, or others, and then used as a manure. I
would state that in preparing the sulphate of alumina for the purposes of being
used according to this Invention, it is not found necessary to subject it to any
purifying process; on the contrary, all that is necessary is that clay, chosen so
free as may be from coloring matter or other impurities, should be digested in
sulphuric acid, and be then washed with warm water and evaporated. This
will produce sulphate of alumina suitable for carrying out the Invention.
Sulphate of alumina more pure may be used, but I believe with no greater
advantage; certainly not, if the greater purity is obtained at greater cost.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the best means I

page_text: am acquainted with for carrying the same into practice, I would add that I
do not confine myself thereto so long as the peculiar character of my Invention
be retained; and I would also state that I am aware that several of the
matters herein mentioned, such as lime and sulphate of protoxide of zinc, have
been employed when treating sewage waters. Sulphate of alumina has also
been employed in combination with chloride of lime to evolve chlorine near to
or with night soil or other matters; and the several matters herein mentioned
as absorbents have before been used in preparing manures; I do not there-
fore claim the same, nor do I claim the employing either the substantive
parts or the fluid parts of sewage water for manuring purposes; but what I
claim is,―
First, a combination of the materials herein described to disinfect sewage
water, and to precipitate the more substantive parts thereof; and also the obtaining
compound animal and vegetable charcoal, by distilling the precipitated matters,
or by distilling night soil. And,
Secondly, I claim the preparing urine for manure by treating it as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Stothert, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.