IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
Year: 1871

page_text: :
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Vincent Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th November 1871.-A communication from abroad by Pierre
Hippolyte Tessier, Guillaume Etienne Honoré Henri Tessier, and
Pierre Charles Tessier, all of Paris, in the Republic of France.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF MANURE," to be as follows:—
In order to avoid the waste of a portion of the sulphuric acid
ordinarily employed in the manufacture. of manure having a base of
phosphoric acid and ammonia, it is proposed to mix directly with
superphosphate of lime prepared in the ordinary manner ammoniacal
water obtained from gas works, coke furnaces, distillation of urine, of
bones or other animal matters.
The product of this mixture is found in a state of paste more or
less liquid, and must be brought to a state of powder before use for
agricultural purposes. To effect this the liquid is evaporated by

page_text: exposure to the air or by heat, in the latter case taking the precautions
necessitated by the instability of the ammoniacal salts; but it is
preferable to employ absorbent matters acting similarly to sponge, such
as cinders of coal, wood, or peat, charcoal or peat dust, tan, sawdust, dry
or torrefied earth, or better still matters that are chemically absorbent
such as plaster (plâtre cuit).
In this latter category, and this is one of the principal features of the
present Invention, are found sulphate of magnesia and sulphate of soda,
salts of moderate marketable value, and having the property after
calcination of reabsorbing their water of crystallization and of holding
thus under the form of a solid product a weight of water equal or
superior to their own weight.
In the present instance sulphate of magnesia alone is used by
preference, or the salts of potash of Stassfurth (Prussia), naturally rich
in sulphate of magnesia, may be employed, to which is added as may be
required a suitable quantity of this salt or alkaline manure sulphurised
by the black salt (raw carbonate of potash) from Central France,
(anhydrous mixture of sulphate of potash, of soda, and of magnesia,) or
any other natural or artificial equivalent.
The agent of solidification will bring to the manure a certain quantity:
of potash, which will augment its value and will justify still more
completely its title to be designated "mixed manure."
The pasty mixture of superphosphate and of ammoniacal matters
rendered solid by the absorbents may be dried in the air or in a covered
shed heated or not, similar to that usually employed for crude bricks 1
and other analogous products.
If it is desired to avoid the loss of ammonia it will be necessary to add
the ammoniacal water in quantities just sufficient to saturate the free
phosphoric acid without transforming the sulphate of lime into sulphate
of ammonia.
Should it be desired to pass this limit in order to have a product richer
in ammonia it will be necessary to increase the proportion of the agent
of solidification and quickly remove the product from exposure to the
air. This process, which permits of the manufacture of a material
analogous in many respects to Peruvian guano, is susceptible of several
variations in its application.

page_text: By the application of 50 per cent. of sulphuric acid the natural
phosphate is taken up and the phosphoric acid is set at liberty; all the
lime is well saturated and a magma (alum crude in lumps) impregnated
with phosphoric acid is obtained, and which is treated in the same
manner, but with the employment of a large proportion of ammonia.
All the elements of the superphosphate can be saturated with
ammonia by treating it with ammoniacal matter equivalent to the free
phosphoric acid and the sulphuric acid present. In treating the
ordinary superphosphate the operation will be commenced by washing
with water to carry away as completely as possible the acid phosphate
of lime, and the ammoniacal solution is then caused to act on the
residuum (residu gypseux.) When treating a material from which
all the phosphoric acid has been set at liberty the ammoniacal solution
can be supplied directly thereto.
By subjecting the liquid product obtained to evaporation, which
should be carried on with the precautions necessitated by the instability
of the ammoniacal salts, or to the combined action of evaporation and
an absorbent, products will be obtained of an exceptional richness.
The ammonia in a state of vapour more or less dry or humid can also
be made to react on the superphosphate in powder; for example it may
be employed as the agent in the purification of illuminating gas either
alone or mixed with other purifying agents such as sulphate of iron.
One of the features of this Invention is that the ammonia can be
employed in its various states of combination, but to avoid having
matters too liquid to solidify by the addition of absorbents of which a
too large proportion would augment. notably the price of the manure,
and lower its richness in phosphoric acid and ammonia, it is advisable in
general to employ it in solutions and in combinations (caustic
ammonia, carbonates and hydrosulphates of ammonia,) containing not
less than 8 to 10 per cent. of ammonia. The greater the richness of the
products in certain limits the easier will be the manipulations.