IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING AND PRESERVING MANURE, AND IN DEODORIZING OFFENSIVE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Dewar, Doctor of Medicine, residing at
Kirkcaldy, in the County of Fife, North Britain, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING AND PRESERVING MANURE, AND IN
DEODORIZING OFFENSIVE SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 18th December 1868, and dated the 8th October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Dewar at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th October 1868.
I, JAMES DEWAR, Doctor of Medicine, residing at Kirkcaldy, in the
County of Fife, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING AND PRESERVING MANURE, AND IN
DEODORIZING OFFENSIVE SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
Soot, slag, blood, focal, and other foetid and decaying animal and
vegetable matters are in common use for the purposes of manure, but
they are more or less filthy and offensive.
My Invention consists in the combination and treatment of these
matters with gas water (otherwise gas waste) in such a way as to

page_text: secure the benefit of their fertilizing properties for the purposes of
manure, while also deodorizing those which are offensive, and depriving
them of any noxious effects upon health.
According to my Invention I mix soot or slag (ground down or
pulverized) with human or other animal excrement, or with vegetable
matter or refuse, or other matter suitable for manure, and to this
mixture I add a quantity of gas water (otherwise gas waste). The soot
or slag may be used either separately or both may be used at once.
The combination above described forms an excellent manure, containing
the ammonia and the phosphates and other mineral ingredients necessary
for the nutrition of plants, while the sulphurous elements contained in
the soot or slag and the gas water or waste effectually deodorize and
render innocuous the foetid matter contained in the combination. I
also mix soot or slag or both of these together with the gas water or
waste without mixing them further with the other matters above men-
tioned, and I find that this combination forms a clean and convenient
manure. I also mix the focal and other foetid matters above mentioned
with the gas water or waste without soot or slag, and find that this
mixture affords a good manure free from noxious effluvium. But I
prefer for the purposes of manure the combination which I have first
described of the soot or slag with the focal and fœtid matters and
the gas water or waste, as combining more effectually the fertilizing
properties desirable in manure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Dewar in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th April 1869.
TO ALL TO: WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
DEWAR, Doctor of Medicine, residing at Kirkcaldy, in the County of
Fife, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Dewar, Her special

page_text: licence that I, the said James Dewar, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Dewar, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING
AND PRESERVING MANURE, AND IN DEODORIZING OFFENSIVE SUBSTANCES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Dewar, 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 James Dewar, 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 :-
Blood, focal, and other foetid animal and many vegetable substances
are commonly used for the purposes of manure, and when allowed to
decay are more or less filthy and offensive, and apt to be prejudicial to
the health of man and beast. It is also often necessary for their
economical use that they should be preserved for a considerable length of
time, and in that case the process of decay naturally advances with the
offensive and dangerous consequences above mentioned. Soot and slag
(which is the refuse from iron furnaces) have also been used for manure.
By proper combinations of these various substances, and by the treat-
ment thereof in manner herein-after to be explained with gas water,
otherwise called gas waste or ammoniacal liquor, I find that the
substances before mentioned or refuse or other matter suitable for
manure may be preserved for the purposes of manure without detriment
to their fertilizing property for a long period of time free from noxious
effluvium, while by such combination their properties may be more
fully developed and beneficially adapted for the fertilization of the soil.
The nature of my Invention is by a proper combination of the aforesaid
substances, as herein-after described, and by their treatment with gas
water in the manner herein-after directed, to preserve them for the

page_text: purposes of manure, to retain all their fertilizing properties for a long
period of time, and in a condition free from noxious effluvium, to
deodorize those which are offensive, and to utilize in an improved manner
their fertilizing properties.
The manner in which my Invention is to be performed is as follows:-
First. I mix human or other animal excrements, the sewage of towns
or the blood of slaughtered animals, or vegetable matter or refuse, or
other of the many animal and vegetable or other substances suitable for
manure with soot or slag, and to this mixture I add a quantity of gas
water. Several of such animal, vegetable, and other substances suitable
for manure may be used in combination, or any one or more of them may
be used and mixed with the soot or slag, and the soot or slag may be
used separately for the purpose of such mixture, or they may be used
together. I find that the combination above described forms an excellent
manure in consequence of its containing the ammonia and the phos-
phates and other mineral ingredients necessary for the nutrition of
plants, while the sulphurous elements contained in the soot or slag and
gas water and the carbolic acid, which the gas water likewise contains,
effectually deodorize and render innocuous the matter contained in the
combination (which would naturally be or become foetid and offensive)
and themselves add to and improve the fertilizing properties of the
manure. When the noxious or offensive substance is of a more liquid
description I take soot or slag or both (or a mixture of them in nearly
equal proportions along with dried ashes or other such dried absorbent
substances fit for manure); I then thoroughly saturate this mixture with
gas water and thereafter dry the compound thus formed, and thereupon
I take such dried mixture or compound and mix it with the liquid
noxious or offensive substances until the resulting mixture or compound
is of a consistency similar to the well-known substance formed of lime
and water called "mortar." The manure so formed is then dried by
natural or artificial means at a temperature not exceeding two hundred
degrees of Fahrenheit, so as not to impair its value by driving off the
gases by too high a degree of heat. When the noxious or offensive
substances to be operated upon are of a more solid character I mix the
same with gas water until the mixture approaches the consistency of
mortar, and then I add soot or slag or both (or a mixture of them
in nearly equal proportions with dried ashes or other such dried
absorbent substance fit for manure) until the manure so formed is of
the density or consistency of newly dug earth, and thereafter I

page_text: dry the same by natural or artificial means at the temperature before
mentioned.
Secondly. I mix soot or slag or both of these substances with the gas
water without mixing them further with the other substances before
mentioned to an extent thoroughly to saturate the same, and I find that
this combination forms a clean, convenient, and useful manure, which
may be kept for any length of time. It may or may not be dried as
above mentioned.
Thirdly. I mix the blood and focal and other animal, vegetable, and
other matters suitable for manure, or any one or more of these substances,
with the gas water without soot or slag, and I find that this mixture
affords a good manure free from noxious effluvium, and which will
remain for a long period of time in good preservation. According as
the substances are more liquid or more solid I employ the gas water to
an extent and in the manner explained under the first head of these
Presents, omitting only the admixture of either soot or slag.
In each of the above-mentioned methods of performing my Invention
the gas water must be thoroughly mixed with the substances intended
to be preserved and used as manure.
Of the descriptions of manure herein-before mentioned I prefer that
description arising from the combination which I have first described,
inasmuch as it combines most effectually the deodorizing and fertilizing
properties. Before using the slag I pulverize it, and I find that it is of
great importance, with a view both to the effectual production and pre-
servation of the artificial manure in question and to the effectual
deodorization of the noxious and offensive substances, that the soot and
pulverized slag should be carefully dried by artificial means before being
mixed with the other substances, as this renders the soot and slag more
effective as absorbents.
The manure prepared and preserved according to my Invention may
be used in the ordinary manner in which manure is applied to land, but
when the substances have become consolidated into masses, lumps, or
cakes, such masses, lumps, or cakes should be broken down into small
pieces before being so applied.
The gas water which I use is of the ordinary description of that
residuum from the distillation of coal for gas, such as is formed in the

page_text: production of ordinary coal gas and passed off from the purifying appa-
ratus used at gasworks, or such as is formed otherwise in the process of
distillation of coal or shale or other mineral substances used for the
production of gas.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I do not claim
as of my Invention or the exclusive use of the several substances herein-
before named and referred to as manure; but what I claim is, the
manufacture of manure and the deodorizing of offensive substances by
treating the substances herein-before named or referred to with gas water
or gas waste, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Dewar, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.