IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND PREPARING EARTH FOR USE IN COMMODES AND EARTH CLOSETS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Henry With, of the City of Hereford, in the
County of Hereford, Analytical Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TREATING AND PREPARING EARTH FOR USE IN COMMODES AND EARTH
CLOSETS."
Sealed the 19th September 1879, and dated the 24th March 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henry With at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th March 1879.
"
GEORGE HENRY WITH, of the City of Hereford, in the County of Hereford,
Analytical Chemist. IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND PREPARING EARTH FOR
USE IN COMMODES AND EARTH CLOSETS."
.This Invention relates to chemically treating and preparing earth, which when
so treated. or prepared will be found specially useful for and can be with great
advantage used in commodes and earth closets of all kinds.
In order to make the chemically prepared earth for the above named purpose I
proceed as follows:-
I take any kind of earth, not actually clay or sand, and I dry it as thoroughly
as I can by exposure to air under any convenient shed or otherwise. I pulverize
the dry earth and sift it through a suitable sieve.
I take charcoal produced from wood, or peat, or animal matter, or a mixture of
any two or all of these forms of charcoal, in any proportions whatever, and I
pulverize and sift this material through the sieve.
I also take dry finely ground gypsum and sift it through the sieve. It is
essential that all the above named materials should be dry.
Having prepared the substances named in the manner stated I take-
Dry sifted earth (say) one ton.
Dry sifted charcoal (say) half a ton.
Dry sifted gypsum (say) three hundredweight.
These I mix thoroughly together upon a clean floor by means of a spade or any
other convenient implement or tool. After thus mixing the materials I sift the
compound twice through a sieve. I do this to secure perfect admixture of the
radients

page_text: The mixture as a whole is to be used, and it will be found to possess the following
properties and advantages
1. It will absorb liquids passed into it without becoming mud, and it will prevent
the evolution of ammonia from the organic matters mingled with it.
2. It will entirely suppress all smell arising from excreta, when the latter is
covered with a suitable quantity of the mixture.
3. The excreta, both solid and liquid, when properly covered with this chemically
prepared earth, may be left in the receptacle for any length of time without becoming
in the least degree offensive or in any way dangerous to health.
When the chemically prepared earth is to be used in any case of infectious
disease I further add to one hundredweight of the compound (say) two quarts of
carbolic acid, and ensure perfect admixture by passing the whole through a sieve
three times.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Henry With in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
September 1879.
GEORGE HENRY WITH, of the City of Hereford, in the County of Hereford,
Analytical Chemist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND PREPARING EARTH FOR
USE IN COMMODES AND EARTH CLOSETS."
This Invention relates to the preparation of a deodorizing and disinfecting
compound or "earth" for use in commodes and "earth-closets," or otherwise, where
it would be of an advantageous sanitary use.
To prepare the above referred to improved compound I take any kind of "earth,"
mould, or soil, not of too clayey or sandy a nature, and dry it as thoroughly as
possible by exposure to the atmosphere under any convenient shed, or I otherwise
dry it; and if not sufficiently fine I pulverize it by any suitable means and sift it
through a suitable sieve, having meshes preferably not exceeding about 1th of an
inch apart. I also separately take charcoal (produced from wood, peat, or animal
matter, or a mixture of any two or all of these forms of charcoal in any suitable
proportions), gypsum, kainite, and coprolite, or any other form of tricalcic
phosphate, and similarly and separately prepare such substances in dry and finely
crushed conditions.
Having thus prepared the separate ingredients of my improved compound I
proceed to thoroughly mix or incorporate the same, as hereinafter described, and
the proportions I find most suitable are those hereinafter mentioned; but such pro-
portions may be to some extent varied, as, for instance, the quantity of sifted
"earth" may be increased in proportion to the other ingredients where a lesser
degree of absorption and deodorization is required, as for use in closets out of doors.
I take of the dry sifted "earth," say, about one ton; of the dry sifted charcoal, say,
about half a ton; of the dry sifted gypsum, say, about two hundred and forty
pounds; of the dry sifted kainite, say, about one hundred and thirty pounds; and
of the dry sifted coprolite or other form of tricalcic phosphate, say, about two
hundred and eighty pounds, or other quantities in about these proportions, and I
thoroughly incorporate the same upon a clean floor by means of a spade or other
convenient tool or implement; and to secure a perfect admixture I sift the mixed
ingredients repeatedly through a sieve, having meshes preferably of a size rather
larger than those above mentioned.
The improved "earth as thus compounded possesses the following properties
and advantages:-It freely absorbs liquids without becoming mud, and prevents
the evolution of ammonia from the organic matters mingled therewith; it suppresses
all smell and exhalation arising from excreta when the latter is covered with a
slight layer of it to such an extent that the excreta may be left in the receptacle
for any length of time without becoming in the least degree offensive or in any
way injurious to health, and also preserves the manurial value of the excreta, which
unprepared earth does not.
When the above described improved compound is to be used in any case of
infectious disease I further add to each one hundredweight of it, say, about one
quart of strong carbolic acid, and ensure perfect admixture by repeatedly passing the
whole through a sieve.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature and object of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be or may be performed or carried
into practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as constituting the Invention secured to me by
the said hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,-
The preparation of a deodorizing and disinfecting compound or "earth" for use
in commodes and "earth-closets," or otherwise, where it would be of an advan-

page_text: tageous sanitary use from the ingredients, and substantially in the manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Henry With, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.
GEORGE HENRY WITH. (L.S.)