IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN." A
communication from abroad by Henri Prosper Ollivier Lissagaray, of Pantin,
near Paris, in the Republic of France.
sealed the 8th December 1876, and dated the 24th June 1876
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATIÓN left by the said John Henry Johnson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th June 1876.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE AND IN THE APPA-
RATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.' A communication from abroad by Henri Prosper
Ollivier Lissagaray, of Pantin, near Paris, in the Republic of France.
This Invention relates to a process for manufacturing assimilable manure by
means of leather, remnants of leather, horn, feathers, and in general of nitrogenous
substances of animal origin.
The process is based upon three distinct operations, herein-after described more
particularly as applied to leather, but which are applicable to the treatment of other
similar nitrogenous substances, and it consists,-
First. In immersing the leather in a bath of sulphuric acid diluted with water,
or in a similar bath bolding in solution sulphates or other mineral salts, such, for
example, as sulphate of alumina, alum, salts of manganese, and the like.
Second. In submitting the substance under treatment, which during the immer-
sion herein-before referred to has absorbed, say, about 50 per cent. by weight of the
solution, to a heating process under the action of a current of steam.
Third. In the reduction to a pulverulent condition by means of a Carr's disinte-
grator or any other suitable apparatus of the nitrogenous substance so operated
upon. The powder thus obtained, when dissolved quickly, becomes putrescible as
soon as the free acid which it contains becomes saturated.
The several parts forming the combined process are carried out in the following
manner :-The leather is immersed in water acidulated in the proportion of, say.
[Price 6d.1

page_text: about 10 parts of monohydrated sulphuric acid to 100 of the total weight, whereby
it absorbs a quantity of the solution equal to, say, about half the weight of the
leather. The leather is contained in wicker baskets or other similar holders, which
are allowed to soak in a gauged or measured tank containing the solution. The
steeped leather is then spread out in the open air, whereby it is freed from the
greater part of the water which it had absorbed, and by reason of the concentration
of the acid resulting from this evaporation it undergoes a chemical action, the result
of which is to render it capable of being broken up and suitable for grinding. This
reaction is facilitated and accelerated by employing heat, and one of the peculiar
characteristics of the reaction when so produced consists in the partial fusion of the
leather. This change of condition commences in the interior of the mass, and
spreads gradually towards the outside. It is characterized moreover by the expan-
sion of the fused portions, and by the upheaving of the unmelted parts. These
latter which are still solid are torn open by the internal pressure exerted by the
fluid mass, which then escapes through the rents or fissures thus formed, and solidifies
at the exterior in the form of hollow spheres.
The fusion and the softening of the leather, which may be effected by the action
of radiated heat in a closed chamber and in presence of water (or still better in
presence of steam, and especially of superheated steam), is principally attributable to
the action of the sulphuric acid in presence of a certain quantity of water.
The addition to the bath of ammoniacal alum or other analogous mineral sub-
stances renders the mass less combustible under the action of heat, and less liable to
fusion towards its surface.
By combining these two influences, namely,-1st, the action of sulphuric acid;
2nd, the action of alum or other analogous mineral substance; and by means of
solutions containing at the same time in certain stated proportions, 1st, sulphuric
acid; 2nd, ammoniacal alum; these two opposing actions may be either equalized or
differentiated in such a manner as to bring the leather into a state of simultaneous
fusion and expansion, which renders it susceptible of being readily reduced to a fine
powder.
The bath is composed of the before-mentioned ingredients employed in about the
following proportions, which may however be varied according to circumstances:-
Sulphuric acid at 66° Beaumé, 12 parts.
Ammoniacal alum, 12 parts.
Water, 76
"
The action of heat upon the substance previously operated upon, as before men-
tioned, should take place within the limits of, say, from 120 to 250 degrees centigrade,
such substance being maintained perfectly secluded from the air, which would
otherwise cause its ignition at this temperature. This chemical reaction should
always take place in the presence of a certain quantity of water derived,-
1st. From the water absorbed in the bath, the complete dessication of the steeped
leather being an unfavourable condition.
2nd. From the water which is introduced in the form of steam, and in varying
proportions according to the nature of the raw material, the chemical composition of
the bath, and the degree and duration of the heating.
The conditions requisite for carrying out the process may be obtained by means
of the apparatus herein-after described, in which the heating of the leather is effected
simultaneously,-
1st. By the action of the heated gases resulting from the air consumed in the
furnace of a generator.
2nd. By the action of the saturated steam obtained from the said generator, and
inaintained at a pressure varying, say, from 5 to 6 atmospheres.
3rd. By the action of the same steam superheated in special apparatus to a tem-
perature exceeding 400 degrees centigrade.
The apparatus is situate over a fluo conducting the heated gases from the furnace
of the generator, and in which flue they are mixed with saturated steam injected by
a pipe from the generator. These gases and saturated steam are admitted to a

page_text: chamber in the lower part of the apparatus by an opening provided with a register
or damper, and are mixed in such chamber with superheated steam introduced by a
pipe provided with a thermometer connected with the generator, whereby their
temperature is further elevated. This chamber is also provided with an aperture
communicating with the atmosphere for the admission of air, which aperture may be
closed or regulated as required by a suitable register. A pipe may also be provided
for the introduction of chlorine for the purpose herein-after mentioned. The steam
and gases pass from this chamber through openings in the upper part provided with
dampers, and communicating with a second chamber through a plate of iron per-
forated with small holes, forming a species of false bottom in the second chamber,
and serving to support trucks containing the substances to be treated.
A second plate of iron provided with perforations is placed at a short distance
above the trucks in order to equalize the action of the mixed gases and steam upon
the substance contained in them.
After passing through the perforated plates and acting on the substances con-
tained in the second chamber in the manner herein-before described, the gases are
drawn off through an aperture in the roof of the latter by a fan, and discharged
through suitable conduits provided with a damper and with a thermometer for
ascertaining their temperature on leaving the apparatus.
Suitable doors are provided for the introduction and withdrawal of the trucks,
which may be cooled at the conclusion of the process by jets of cold water from
a suitably perforated pipe provided for the purpose underneath them.
A pipe is also provided in the upper chamber for the purpose of expelling the air
from the apparatus by the introduction of saturated steam when treating substances
of an inflammable nature.
The variations in the intensity of each of the three elements before mentioned for
the heating are obtained, namely:-
For the heated gases by variations,-
1st. In the draught of the furnace in which they are produced.
2nd. In the opening of the register through which they are admitted to the drying
chamber.
For the saturated steam and for the superheated steam by variations in the
opening of the cocks by which they are admitted to the apparatus, whereby there
may be determined ad libitum variations,-
1st. In the combined weight of the two currents of steam mixed in a saturated
and superheated state.
2nd. In the relative proportion between the weights of these two currents of
steam.
The Invention further relates to the application in this apparatus of a reaction,
which is made available for rendering the manufacture salubrious, even should it
take place accidentally under abnormal conditions, and it consists in destroying by
the employment of gaseous chlorine the emanations of the odour which might result
from the chemical action exercised by the sulphuric acid upon the nitrogenous sub-
stances in combination with heat. The chlorine is introduced during the heating
process by the pipe before mentioned.
After the heating process is completed the products are withdrawn from the
apparatus, and when cooled are reduced by a Carr's disintegrator or other suitable
apparatus, as before mentioned, to a fine powder, when they will be ready for use.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
December 1876.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE AND IN THE APPA-
RATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN." A communication from abroad by Henri Prosper
Ollivier Lissagaray, of Pantin, near Paris, in the Republic of France.
The said Invention relates to a process for manufacturing assimilable manure from
leather, remnants of leather, horn, feathers, and in general of analogous substances
of animal origin.
The process comprises three distinct operations, herein-after described more par-
ticularly as applied to leather, but which are applicable to the treatment of other
similar nitrogenous substances, and it consists,-
Firstly. In immersing the leather in a bath of sulphuric acid diluted with water,
or in a bath holding in solution sulphates or other mineral salts, such, for example,
as sulphate of alumina, alumina, salts of manganese, and the like.
Secondly. In submitting the substance under treatment, which during the immer-
sion herein-before referred to has absorbed, say, about 50 per cent. by weight of the
solution, to a heating process under the action of a current of steam.
Third. In the reduction to a pulverulent condition by means of a Carr's disin-
tegrator or any other suitable apparatus of the nitrogenous substances which the
two preceding operations have modified to such an extent as to render them capable
of being broken up and readily reduced to a fine powder. The powder thus obtained,
which is soluble even in cold water, may be dissolved with the greatest facility in
boiling water, and quickly becomes putrescible as soon as the free acid which it
contains becomes saturated.
The several parts or processes forming the combined process are carried out in the
following manner :-The leather is immersed in water acidulated in the proportion
of, say, about ten parts of monohydrated sulphuric acid to 100 of the total weight,
whereby it absorbs in a period of time which may vary from about one to five
minutes 50 parts of solution to 100 parts of leather. This immersion is effected in
wicker baskets or other similar apparatus, which are allowed to soak in a gauged
or measured tank containing the solution. The steeped leather is then spread out
in the open air, whereby it is freed from the greater part of the water which it had
absorbed, and by reason of the concentration of the acid resulting from this evapo-
ration, it undergoes a chemical action on the part of the acid, the result of which is
to render it capable of being broken up and suitable for grinding. This reaction is
facilitated and accelerated by employing heat, and one of the peculiar characteristics
of the reaction when so produced consists in the partial fusion of the leather. This
change of condition commences in the interior of the mass, and spreads gradually
towards the exterior. It is characterized moreover by the expansion of the fused
portions, and by the upheaving of the unmelted parts. These latter which are still
solid are torn open by the internal pressure exerted by the fluid mass, which then
escapes through the rents or fissures thus formed, and solidifies at the exterior in
the form of hollow spheres. These upheavals, these rents, and the flowing out of the
fluid mass, which solidifies in escaping, are all the more marked, on the one hand,
as the fusion of the leather is more complete at the exterior, and as the pressure
resulting therefrom is more powerful; and on the other hand, as the external layers
of the leather offer to this fusion a greater resistance, on the condition however
that this resistance always remains less than the internal pressure.
Although the fusion and the softening of the leather may be effected by the action
of radiated heat in a close chamber and in presence of water (or, which is preferable,
in presence of steam, and especially of superheated steam), it is in the case in
question principally attributable to the action of the sulphuric acid, but on the
express condition that the said action takes place in presence of a certain quantity

page_text: of water. A melting or fusion which spreads with an expanding action from tho
centre to the exterior is thus effected under the influence of sulphuric acid with the
assistance of heat in presence of a certain quantity of water, the leather being pro-
tected from contact with the atmosphere.
The addition to the bath of ammoniacal alum or other analogous mineral sub-
stances renders the mass less combustible under the action of heat, and less liable to
fusion towards its surface.
By combining these two influences, namely,--first, the action of sulphuric acid;
second, the action of alum or other analogous mineral substance; and by means of
solutions containing at the same time in certain stated proportions,-first, sulphuric
acid; second, ammoniacal alum; these two opposing actions may be either equalized
or differentiated in such a manner as to bring the leather into a state of simultaneous'
fusion and expansion, which renders it susceptible of being readily reduced to a fine
powder.
The bath may be composed of the before-mentioned ingredients employed in
about the following proportions, which may however be varied according to
circumstances:—
Sulphuric acid at 66° Beaume, about 12 parts by weight.
Ammoniacal alum,
do. 12 parts by weight.
do. 76 parts by weight.
Water,
-
The action of heat upon the leather, which has absorbed about 50 per cent. of its
own weight of the solution, should take place within the limits of, say, from 120 to
250 degrees centrigrade, the leather being perfectly protected from the air, which
would otherwise soon cause the ignition of the organic mass at this temperature.
Moreover, this chemical reaction should always take place in the presence of a certain
quantity of water, derived,-
First. From the water absorbed in the bath (the complete desiccation of the steeped
leather being an eminently unfavourable condition).
Second. From the water which is introduced in the forin of steam, and in varying
proportions according to the nature of the raw material, the chemical composition of
the bath, and the degree and duration of the heating.
The process herein-before described may be carried out by the aid of any suitable
apparatus, but it is preferred to employ for that purpose apparatus constructed and
arranged in the manner herein-after described, reference being had to the Sheet of
Drawings hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a longitudinal section of the
apparatus; and Figure 2 is a transverse section of the same, corresponding to
Figure 1.
The apparatus consists of a chamber A communicating with the external atino-
sphere by an aperture B, which may be closed when required by means of
dampers B. This chamber is situate over and is in communication with a flue C;
conducting the heated gases from the furnace of the generator, in which flue the
gases are mixed with saturated steam injected by a pipe D leading from the gene-
ator, a damper C₁ being provided for the purpose of regulating the communication
between the flue C and the chamber A. In this chamber the gases are also mixed
with superheated steam introduced by the pipe D¹, and if required with chlorine
ntroduced by the pipe A¹. Apertures E provided with dampers E' are formed in
he roof of the chamber A, through which apertures the mixture of steam and gases
s admitted under the sheet metal false bottom F of a second chamber F¹, situate
ver the chamber A. The false bottom F is perforated with small holes, and serves
o support the trucks G, containing the substances to be treated, which are intro-
uced and withdrawn from the apparatus by suitable doors G¹.
A pipe H communicating with the generator enables the air to be expelled from
he chamber F1 in order to prevent combustion when treating substances of an
aflamable or combustible nature.
The trucks G may be cooled before they are removed from the apparatus by
cans of jets of water introduced by the perforated pipe I.

page_text: i
A perforated plate K is placed at a short distance above the trucks in order to
equalize the action of the mixture of gases and steam upon the substances contained
in the trucks.
After passing through the perforated plate F and acting upon the substances con-
tained in the second chamber F¹ in the manner herein-before described, and passing
through the perforated plate K, the gases are drawn off through apertures L in the
roof of the chamber by a fan M. The temperature of the gases thus discharged may
be ascertained by means of a thermometer N placed in the passage to the chimney O,
through which they are discharged, the said chimney being provided with a
damper P for regulating the draft.
A thermometer R is also provided for the purpose of ascertaining the temperaturo
of the superheated steam before entering the chamber A.
suitable appa-
When chlorine is employed it may be produced by the aid of any
ratus situate, say for example, at S, Figure 2. In this apparatus the heating of
the leather is effected,-
1st. By the action of the heated gases resulting from the air consumed in the
furnace of a generator.
2nd. By the action of the saturated steam obtained from the said generator,
and maintained at a pressure varying, say, from 5 to 6 atmospheres.
3rd. By the action of the same steam superheated in a special apparatus, and
at a temperature existing 400 degrees centigrade.
The variation in the intensity of each of the three elements before mentioned for
the heating are obtained, namely:-
*
A. For the heated gases by variations,―
1st. In the draught of the furnace in which they are produced.
2ndly. In the opening of the register through which they are admitted to the
drying chamber.
B and C. For the saturated steam and for the superheated steam by variations in
the openings of the cocks by which they are admitted to the apparatus, whereby
there may be determined ad libitum variations,―
1st. In the combined weight of the two currents of steam mixed in a saturated
and superheated state.
2nd. In the relative proportion between the weights of these two currents of
steam.
The Invention further relates to the application in this apparatus of a reaction,
and which is made available for rendering the manufacture salubrious, even should
it take place accidentally under abnormal conditions, and it consists in destroying by
the employment of gaseous chlorine the emanations of the odour which might resul
from the chemical action exercised by the sulphuric acid upon the nitrogeneous sub
stances in combination with heat. The chlorine is introduced into the apparatus
through the pipe A¹, as before mentioned.
After the heating process is completed the products are withdrawn from the
apparatus, and when cooled they are reduced by a Carr's disintegrator or othe
suitable apparatus, as before mentioned, to a fine powder, when they will be ready
for use.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said Inven
tion, and the manner in which the same is 'or may be used or carried into effec
I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original, an
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recite
Letters Patent is,―
First. The immersion of leather or analogous substances in the baths before mer
tioned, and the consequent absorption of the acid and of the mineral salts whic
they contain, substantially as herein-before described.
Secondly. Heating and drying the steeped raw materials with a current of heate
gas and of saturated steam, the temperature of which is raised by superheated stear
substantially as herein-before described.
Third. The general construction and arrangement of apparatus for carrying o

page_text: and regulating the heating process, substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
Fourth. The employment of chlorine during the heating process, substantially as
and for the purpose herein-before described
Fifth. The production of a manure, substantially in the manner herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this my Specifi-
cation set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-six.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)