IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING GUANO
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Richardson, of the Town and County of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Chemist, and Martin Diederich Rücker, of
Leadenhall Street, in the City of London, Merchant, for the Invention
Sealed the 27th June 1865, and dated the 6th January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Richardson and
Martin Diederich Rücker at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 6th January 1865.
We, THOMAS RICHARDSON, of the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, Chemist, and MARTIN DIEDERICH RÜCKER, of Leadenhall Street, in
the City of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING GUANO," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in decomposing any phosphatic material by means
of sulphuric acid, and in lixiviating the product of such decomposition until
the phosphoric and sulphuric acids or soluble phosphate of lime are all
dissolved.
The solution thus obtained may be concentrated by evaporation, and the
liquor dried up or absorbed by any suitable porous material. The product
may be safely packed for transport in wooden casks tarred inside, and may be
used as a manure for green and other crops.

page_text: The concentrated liquor may be also employed for improving the fertilising
action of guano by mixing the two together, or by drying up or absorbing
the liquor in the first instance with some porous material, and then adding the
ruano
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Richardson and Martin Diederich Rücker in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
RICHARDSON, of the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Chemist,
and MARTIN DIEDERICH RÜCKER, of Leadenhall Street, in the City of London,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of January, 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 us, the said
Thomas Richardson and Martin Diederich Rucker, Her special license, that we,
the said Thomas Richardson and Martin Diederich Rucker, our executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Richardson and
Martin Diederich Rucker, our executors, administrators, or 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
makė, use, exercise, and vend within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN TREATING GUANO," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Thomas Richardson and Martin Diederich Rücker, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us or them should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 we, the said Thomas Richardson and Martin
Diederich Rücker, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 :-
Our said Invention consists in the employment of any suitable phosphatic

page_text: material, such as coprolites, apatite, bone ashes, animal charcoal, sombrero or
nevassa guano, in the natural state, ground or levigated, in conjunction with
sulphuric acid, for the production of the solution which we employ in the pre-
paration of our improved manures.
We ascertain by analysis the composition of the phosphatic material, and
then add the necessary quantity of sulphuric acid to effect its decomposition.
The quantity of sulphuric acid necessary may be only just sufficient to render
the phosphoric acid therein contained soluble in water as superphosphate of
lime, but we prefer to use so much sulphuric acid as will give us the phos-
phoric acid in a free state or uncombined with the lime. In the latter con-
dition, we find it advisable to employ an excess of sulphuric acid which
prevents too great a corrosion of the leaden vessels in which the liquor may
afterwards be concentrated by evaporation.
The mixture of the phosphatic material and sulphuric acid may be made
in the usual way, but we prefer to employ a leaden pan which can be heated
from below, or in which the decomposition can be promoted by the intro-
duction of steam by means of an open leaden pipe from a steam boiler.
When all chemical action has ceased, the contents may be lixiviated in the
leaden pan, but it is better to transfer them to tanks made of wood or of
wood lined with lead, or of lead or stone, and constructed for this special
purpose.
.
The lixiviation may be effected by means of water, or water holding in
solution either ammonia, potash, soda, or magnesia in a free state or com-
bined with sulphuric acid. We prefer to use the ammonia in the form of
ammoniacal compounds such as gas water, or as a solution obtained by
When we use
lixiviating ammoniacal gas refuse on the ground of economy.
a solution containing ammonia, potash, soda, or magnesia, we prefer that the
proportion of these bases present in the total quantity of liquid required for
extracting all or nearly all of the phosphoric acid should not exceed the equi-
valent of the phosphoric acid to be extracted.
The solution of the soluble acid phosphate of lime, or phosphoric acid, or
the mixed solutions of the above with the salts of ammonia, potash, soda, or
magnesia is concentrated in a leaden or other suitable pan until an escape of
acid vapors commences. When this point is reached we dry up the liquid by
means of a porous material such as sawdust, peat, rice husks, bran, shoddy,
malt combs, cotton cake, calcined Epsoms, sulphate of soda, or even sand.
We increase the per-centage of phosphoric acid in this mixture by exposing
the mass to a temperature not exceeding 150° Fahrenheit, by which a further
portion of the water is expelled without injury to the mixture. This mixed

page_text: •
compound may then be packed in wooden casks tarred inside to protect the
wood from the action of the free acids, or in any other suitable package.
This mixed compound which we term "phosphate dissolver" may be used
either alone or mixed with farm-yard dung, bones, or other manures as a
fertilizer for green and other crops.
When we employ the "phosphate dissolver" for acting on guano, we
prefer to use a larger proportion of sulphuric acid in its manufacture or pro-
duction; and as an illustration of the preparation of the "phosphate dissolver"
for this purpose, we give the following details of its manufacture from
coprolites:-We treat ten hundredweight of ground or levigated coprolites
with twenty hundredweight of sulphuric acid of 1.500 specific gravity in the
manner already described, and we lixiviate the product until all or nearly all
the phosphoric acid which has been rendered soluble is dissolved. We then con-
centrate the solution until the liquor acquires a density of 88° to 85° Twaddle,
and we dry up this concentrated solution with about 2 cwt. of sawdust. This
"phosphate dissolver" contains about sixteen per cent. of phosphoric acid and
about twenty per cent. of sulphuric acid, and is admirably adapted for improving
the fertilizing action of guano.
We mix the guano with this "phosphate dissolver" in equal quantities,
and throw the mass up into a heap, which we allow to remain undisturbed for
a few days until the chemical action has ceased; this point is easily ascer-
tained by sinking a thermometer to the centre of the mass when the tem-
perature will be found to have fallen nearly to that of the surrounding
atmosphere.
Instead of drying up the concentrated liquor by means of any or all of the
absorbents, previously named, which we consider to be the best plan,, we mix,
if desirable, the guano itself directly with the liquor. In this case we riddle
the guano to remove all the larger pieces which we reduce to powder, and
add it to that portion which has already passed through the sieve. The pro-
portion of guano necessary for absorbing the liquor depends upon the character
of the guano, but a sufficient quantity must be added to render the mixture
friable for use as a manure; this mixture is also thrown up into a heap and
treated as already explained. We also mix the guano itself with the
absorbent in the same proportion as with the liquors, and add this mixture of
guano absorbent to the liquors, when the precautions already described must
be taken to obtain a friable manure.
Although we prefer to treat guano with the "phosphate dissolver" or the
acid liquor, as just explained, we also use the "phosphate dissolver" or liquor
described in the former part of this Specification for the same purpose, and

page_text: in the same manner. In treating guano direct with the liquors, or in cases
where the drier has not much absorbent power, a certain quantity of guano
is comparatively lost in employing it to perform a mere mechanical function
as a drier, and we therefore prefer to use good driers such as sawdust, and we
also do not recommend treating the guano direct with the liquors.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, we would observe, in conclusion, that what we consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the application and use of a
solution of phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid, or of a soluble phosphate of
lime dried up or absorbed by means of any absorbent material or drier for
improving the fertilizing action of guano, in the manner described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Martin Diederich Rücker, on behalf
of myself and the said Thomas Richardson, have to this our Specifi-
cation set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.