An Improved Process for the Treatment of Kitchen Garbage to Obtain Useful Products therefrom.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Apr., 1890-Accepted, 17th May, 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by GUSTAV FLEISCHMANN, of No. 1243, Delaware
Avenue, City of Buffalo, State of New York, United States of America,
Manufacturer.]
An Improved Process for the Treatment of Kitchen Garbage to
Obtain Useful Products therefrom.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co. Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to a method of disposing of kitchen garbage in cities, and
has the object of converting the garbage economically into grease and a dry fertilizer,
so that the said garbage is worked up into useful and valuable products whereby the
removal and disposition of the same is rendered inexpensive and even profitable
instead of involving considerable expense as heretofore.
My invention consists of the improved method of treating garbage which will be
hereinafter fully set forth.
The accompanying drawings, represent a sectional elevation of an apparatus which
is preferably used in practising my invention.
A represents a comminuting or reducing machine into which the garbage is fed.
before being further treated and in which the various constituents of the garbage,
which differ widely in size, are cut up or reduced to the same degree of fineness, so
that the subsequent treatment will affect all constituents alike, which is not the case
when the constituents are treated in the form in which they are collected.
I prefer to use for this purpose a machine which consists essentially of a rotating
cylinder armed with teeth and a concave also provided with teeth. The machine is
provided with a feed hopper above the cylinder and concave and a discharge chute
below the same.
B represents an elevator which receives the comminuted garbage and elevates the
same to a receiver C in one of the upper stories of the building.
D is a pressing machine which receives the comminuted material from the
receiver and whereby the bulk of the moisture is removed from the material by
pressure. The separated moisture collects in a tank E which is provided with an
adjustable pipe e through which the grease is skimmed off which is expressed with
the moisture while the water is drawn off through a pipe e¹. I prefer for this
purpose a pressing machine which has a continuous operation and in which a rotating
tapering pressure screw is arranged in a tapering perforated case and the wet material
is fed into the case at the large end and the partially dried material escaping at the
small end.
F represents a secondary comminuting or reducing machine which receives the
partially dried material from the pressing machine and which disintegrates or com-
minutes this compacted material and breaks it up and loosens it preparatory to
drying the same. prefer to employ for this purpose a machine similar to that which
is used for the first reduction and represented at A in the drawing.
G represents a drier in which the residue of moisture still contained in the
material is removed by the application of heat. I prefer for this purpose a drier
consisting of a rotating shell which is provided with an internal steam coil and which
receives the partially dried material at one end and discharges the dried material at
the other end.
H represents a condenser to which the vapors and gases liberated in the drier are
conducted by a pipe h and a suction fan h. The condenser is provided with a water

page_text: supply pipe and with a series of perforated diaphragms; which spray the water. The
gases and vapors are purified in passing through the condenser and escape through
the pipe I while the water which has absorbed the noxious gases and vapors escapes
through the pipe J.
The material is discharged from the drier G in a thoroughly dried condition and
is elevated by an elevator K to a receiver L from which it is delivered into an
.extracting apparatus M in which the grease or fatty matter is extracted by a volatile
solvent, for instance, benzine, I prefer for this purpose an apparatus of the following
construction.
n represents an outer closed vessel and n' an inner open vessel which is separated
from the outer vessel by a space n². The inner vessel n is provided with a perforated
bottom o and a communication is formed between the inner vessel below the perforated
bottom and the lower portion of the outer vessel by means of a pipe o. p is the
benzine tank and pl the pipe whereby the benzine or other solvent is conducted from
the tank p to the inner vessel n'. The outer closed tank n is provided with an opening
in its top, through which the dried garbage is deposited into the inner open vessel n¹,
which opening is closed by a cover q. The inner vessel n' is provided with
a discharge opening q' near its bottom, which is closed by a cover q². When
the vessel n has been filled with the dried garbage taken from the drier G, a
quantity of the solvent from the tank p is admitted into the inner vessel n¹
through the pipe pl until the solvent in the vessel n' reaches the level of the dried
garbage contained in the vessel, which is determined by a gauge q³. While the
solvent is being admitted to the vessel n' from the tank p, the pipe o which opens
into the outer vessel n below the inner vessel, is closed by a three-way cock q*.
When the pipe o¹ is closed by the three-way-cock 9' the latter is turned so as to open
the passage between the inner vessel n¹ and the gauge q³.
When the desired quantity of the solvent has been admitted to the inner vessel n¹
the flow from the tank p is closed, and the three-way cock q* is turned to open the
passage through the pipe o' with the outer vessel n, whereby the solvent and the
fatty matter liberated from the garbage pass through the pipe o into the lower
portion of the outer vessel n. This lower portion of the vessel n is provided with a
heating coil for heating the fatty matter accumulating therein, and volatizing and
liberating the solvent therefrom. The solvent vapor rises in the passage n² and is
again condensed by a coil arranged above the inner vessel and through which
cold water circulates. The condensed vapor drops back into the vessel n¹ where it
again acts upon the garbage and the uncondensed vapors pass off through a pipe ²
and coil arranged in a water chamber s above the tank p where they are condensed.
The lower end of the coil opens into the tank into which the condensed vapors
are delivered. The fatty matter extracted is drawn off through a pipe t, and the
material remaining in the vessel n¹ is removed through the discharge opening g².
The dry residual matter passes from the extractor to a mill U in which it is
ground or reduced to the desired degree of fineness. This matter forms a valuable
fertilizer and is conducted from the mill U by an elevator or conveyor V to a
warehouse for storing and packing.
The extracted grease or fatty matter may be used in the manufacture of soap and
for other purposes.
By first reducing the garbage to a uniform fineness, the subsequent steps of
removing moisture by pressure and by heat are more satisfactorily and evenly per-
formed, because when the garbage is treated in the condition in which it is collected
the large lumps are not easily deprived of their moisture either by pressure or heat,
while the smaller particles are often overheated and burnt in attempting to dry the
large lumps by heat.
By removing the bulk or a considerable portion of the moisture by pressure, the
cost of the process is largely reduced because the more expensive operation of
removing the moisture by heat is confined to that part of the moisture which cannot
be removed by the cheaper and quicker operation or removing it by pressure.
I have described and illustrated what I consider to be the best mode of practising

page_text: my invention but I do not wish to limit myself to the mechanical construction of
the several machines shown and described as they may be modified in various respects
without departing from my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign Correspondent I declare that what I claim is :--
First. The herein described process of converting garbage into a dry fertilizer
and grease, which consists in first reducing or comininuting the garbage, then
removing the bulk of the moisture by pressure, then removing the residue of the
moisture by heat, and then removing the oil and fatty matter by a volatile solvent,
substantially as set forth.
1
Second. The herein described process of converting garbage into a dry fertilizer
and grease, which consists in first reducing or comminuting the garbage, then
removing the bulk of the moisture therefrom by pressure, then comminuting or
reducing the partially dried material, then removing the residue of the moisture by
heat, and then removing the oil and fatty matter by a volatile solvent, substantially
as set forth.
Third. The herein described process of converting garbage into a dry fertilizer
and grease, which consists in first reducing or comminuting the garbage, then
removing the bulk of the moisture therefrom by pressure, then comminuting or
reducing the partially dried material, then removing the residue of the moisture by
heat, then removing the oil and fatty matter by a volatile solvent, and then grinding
the dry residual matter, substantially as set forth.
ed this 15th day or April 10.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.