IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWAGE MANURE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Wicksteed, of Leicester, in the County of
Leicester, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF SEWAGE MANURE."
Sealed the 7th July 1854, and dated the 26th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Wicksteed at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
January 1854.
I, THOMAS WICKSTEED, do hereby declare the. nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWAGE MANURE" to be as
follows:-
I take the precipitate obtained from sewage water, by means of lime or
lime and charcoal, or other substances, and I press it into moulds either by
hand or by means of presses, or other machinery, so as to form it into bricks
or blocks, either solid or hollow. These bricks may be loosely stacked under
an open shed, so as to allow the air to pass freely among them, by which
means I am enabled to complete the drying of the sewage manure with
rapidity.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Wicksteed in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WICKSTEED, of Leicester, in the County of Leicester, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Wicksteed, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Wicksteed,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Wicksteed, 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 THE MANUFAC-
TURE OF SEWAGE MANURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Wicksteed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Thomas Wicksteed, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof (that is to say):-.
I precipitate the fertilizing matter from sewage water by means of lime,
either alone or together with other substances; and I collect the precipitate,
and partially dry it either by exposure to the air, or by means of centrifugal
machinery as described in the Specifications of certain former Letters Patent
granted to me, and severally bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth
day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-one and at Edinburgh, the Nineteenth day of February in the same
year; and at Dublin, the Twenty-sixth day of February in the same year.
The precipitate being thus brought into a plastic or pasty state, is moulded
into hollow blocks or bricks of any convenient form, or into blocks or bricks
perforated through with holes. These blocks or bricks are then exposed to

page_text: the air, either with or without the aid of artificial heat. By reason of the
hollow spaces or perforations the drying of the blocks or bricks is greatly
facilitated, as they may be piled or stacked upon one another in such manner
as to admit of the air passing readily through the hollow spaces or perfora-
tions.
These hollow bricks or blocks may be made in a similar manner to that in
which hollow or perforated bricks of clay are manufactured, by placing the
plastic precipitate in a cylindrical or other vessel, from which it is forced out
by a piston, or other means, through a mould or die of rectangular, circular or
other form, in which is or are supported a core or cores. The plastic substance
is thus forced out as a hollow mass, perforated with as many holes as there are
cores in the die. This perforated mass is cut into convenient lengths or
pieces, which are then dried as herein-before mentioned. Any other suitable
machinery or apparatus for making hollow or perforated bricks may be
employed for this purpose.
The hollow bricks or blocks when dry may be pulverized if desired.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I
claim is,-
The manufacture of hollow or perforated bricks or blocks of the precipitate
obtained by adding lime, either alone or together with other substances, to
sewage water, so as to facilitate the drying of the said precipitate as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Wicksteed, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
CHARLES THOMAS WARD,
7, Market Street,
Leicester.
THOS WICKSTEED. (L.S.)