AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR REDUCING OR PREPARING WASTE ANIMAL MATTERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF EMPLOYING THE SAME IN THE PREPARATION OF MANURES OR FERTILIZING COMPOUNDS.
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Moxon Fuller, Manager of Chemical Works,
Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED PROCESS FOR REDUCING OR PREPARING WASTE ANIMAL MATTERS FOR
THE PURPOSE OF EMPLOYING THE SAME IN THE PREPARATION OF MANURES OR
FERTILIZING COMPOUNDS.
Sealed the 18th July 1865, and dated the 29th March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Moxon Fuller
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th March 1865.
I, WILLIAM MOXON FULLER, Manager of Chemical Works, Wolverhampton,
in the County of Stafford, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR REDUCING OR PREPARING WASTE ANIMAL MATTERS
FOR THE PURPOSE OF EMPLOYING THE SAME IN THE PREPARATION OF MANURES OR
FERTILIZING COMPOUNDS," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to the treatment of shoddy, woollen rags, leather, or
other kinds of animal refuse, with a view to disintegrate and render the same
capable of reduction to powder, and thus to adapt such animal refuse to use as
a fertilizer.
This result is accomplished by the destruction of the fibre without the use
of acids or alkalis which are usually employed for the purpose. I attain the
object of my Invention by employing solely superheated steam brought into

page_text: direct contact with the material to be treated. For this purpose I place the
material in a close vessel or receiver capable of bearing a pressure if necessary
of six atmospheres. I keep the material subjected to the action of the steam a
sufficient time to complete the destruction of the fibre. Should it be intended
to mix the waste material with a mixture of dissolved coprolite or any kind of
phosphates having any free acid, I do not require to subject it to so great a
pressure; I prefer to continue the treatment only so long as to render the
material capable of being reduced to powder by any ordinary grinding mill,
and to accomplish this I propose to use steam at the pressure most suitable
for the material under treatment, depriving it of its moisture by passing it
through tubes heated to almost a dull red heat, or at such heat as may partially
dry the steam. What moisture may be left is I find absorbed by the shoddy,
and when the shoddy is exposed to the air after letting off the steam quickly
it is left so desiccated as to admit of being ground into fine powder without
any further drying process. I prefer that the receiver which contains the
material shall be itself so heated as to prevent condensation of the steam.
I would accomplish this either with hot air enveloping the exterior of the
receiver or by a steam jacket surrounding it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Moxon Fuller in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MOXON FULLER, Manager of Chemical Works, Wolverhampton, in the County
of Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Moxon Fuller, Her special licence that I, the said William
Moxon Fuller, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Moxon Fuller, 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 "AN
IMPROVED PROCESS OF REDUCING OR PREPARING WASTE ANIMAL MATTERS FOR THE

page_text: PURPOSE OF EMPLOYING THE SAME IN THE PREPARATION OF MANURES OR FERTILIZING
COMPOUNDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Moxon Fuller, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under 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 William Moxon Fuller, 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 (that is to say):-
:-
This Invention relates to the treatment of shoddy, woollen rags, leather, or
other kinds of animal refuse, with a view to disintegrate the same and render
it easily reduceable to powder, that being the form in which such animal refuse
is best adapted for use as a fertilizer.
This result is accomplished by the destruction of the fibre without the use
of acids or alkalies which are usually employed for the purpose. I attain the
object of my Invention by employing solely superheated steam brought into
direct contact with the material to be treated. For this purpose I place the
material in a close vessel or receiver capable of bearing a pressure if necessary
of six atmospheres, and I keep it subjected to the action of the steam a
sufficient time to complete the destruction of the fibre. Should it be intended
to mix the waste material with a mixture of dissolved coprolite or any kind of
phosphates having any free acid, I do not require to subject it to so great a
pressure; I prefer to continue the treatment only so long as to render the
material capable of being reduced to powder by any ordinary grinding mill,
and to accomplish this I propose to use steam at the pressure most suitable
for the material under treatment, depriving the steam of its moisture by passing
it through tubes heated to almost a dull red beat, or at such heat as may
partially dry the steam. What moisture may be left is I find absorbed by the
material under treatment, and when shoddy for example is exposed to the air
after letting off the steam quickly it is left so desiccated as to admit of being
ground into fine powder without any further drying process. I prefer that the
receiver which contains the material shall be itself so heated as to prevent
condensation of the steam. I would accomplish this either with hot air
enveloping the exterior of the receiver or by a steam jacket surrounding it.
With regard to the pressure to which the various substances under treat-
ment are to be subjected, and the time to which they are to be exposed to the

page_text: action of steam, these will depend greatly upon the nature of the substances
operated upon.
Thus, for example, shoddy and woollen waste can be reduced by steam at
..thirty pounds pressure, but in general it will be better to use double that
.pressure, as the operation will thereby be considerably expedited. Again in
treating bones, skins, and other like anamil refuse I find that a pressure of
fifty pounds will produce the most satisfactory result. And in no case do I
find it desirable to exceed eighty pounds pressure in the receiver.
The time to which the substances are to be exposed to the action of the
steam will be quickly ascertained by experience, but as a guide I may state
that shoddy and woollen rags or refuse subjected to a pressure of from seventy
to eighty pounds to the square inch will in general take from twenty to forty
minutes for the destruction of their fibre, and bones and leather scraps sub-
jected to dry steam at fifty pounds pressure will require from thirty to forty
minutes.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of an improved process
for reducing or preparing waste animal matters for the purpose of em-
ploying the same in the preparation of manures or fertilizing compounds,
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim facilitating the disintegration of waste animal matters in the
manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Moxon Fuller, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
WILLIAM MOXON FULLER. (L.S.)