IMPROVEMENTS IN THE USE AND TREATMENT OF, PEAT AND ITS PRODUCTS, AND OTHER CARBONACEOUS MATTERS, AND ALSO FOR APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO SUCH AND OTHER CHEMICAL PURPOSES
Year: 1851

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TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I WILLIAM
BENSON STONES, of Warwick, Street, Golden, Square, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
1.21
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent, Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her,
Royal Leiters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdon of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of April
(One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one), in, the fourteenth year; of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Benson Stones, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial.
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William.
Benson Stones, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Benson Stones, my exors, admiors, or, assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England. Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE USE AND TREATMENT OF, PEAT AND ITS
PRODUCTS, AND OTHER CARBONACEOUS MATTERS, AND ALSO FOR APPARATUS APPLICABLE
TO SUCH AND OTHER CHEMICAL PURPOSES" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said William Benson. Stones, shall; cause a
particular, description of the nature ofmy said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an Instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
[Price]

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, tho said
William Benson Stones, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say :-
The improvements herein described relate to a mode of charring or distilling
peat or wood, ortauner's bark and coal together, whether for the sole purpose
of making a peculiar sort of coke or for the two-fold purpose of producing gas
and making such a description of coke as that herein alluded to and described
at the same time, and the appliance of the greases and resino-adipose wax
obtained from peat by distillation to certain new purposes and to the manu.
facture of peat and turf, and humus, and other vegetable matter into manure,
and also to improvements in apparatus already patented by me to assist in
the treatment and manufacture of the same, and for other useful purposes.
With a viewto avoid the necessity of pressing peat before charring it in order
to obtain a more or less condensed or compact fuel, I have contrived a system of
combinedcoke, which for some purposes will be found very valuable,andwhich
consists in charring or distilling peat, and a good caking coal (as free from
sulphur as it can be got) together. To accomplish this I take peat in a
pulverized or disintegrated state, or reduce well dried peat to a powderedstate,
and take the dust of caking coal (or pulverize the coal into a powder if neces-
sary), and mix the two combustibles in about equal proportions by means of a
churn made upon the principle of that hereafter described as applicable to this
and other purposes, and an illustration of which for this purpose is shewn in
principle by Figure 5 of the accompanying Drawing. The mixed peat and coal
dust I put into retorts so as to fill these with the compound in such manner
that the one combustible (the peat)contracting as it is charred, while the other
(the coal) expands, the action of the latter shall be resisted bythe retort in the
outer direction so as to force its motion inwardly, and thus form a more
intimate connection with the peat, and consequently produce with it a more
compact and dense material when charred than could be obtained from peat
alone, unless it had previously undergonetheexpensive processof mechanically
forced pressure.
Of course I can use the gas produced in the charring or
distilling of such a mixture of peat and coal for illuminating purposes, and
others, and which propose doing when it will yield a profit in which case I
should, in some instances,pass the gas through retortsof incandescent charred

page_text: peat for the twofold purpose of completing the distillation of the gaseous
products of the peat, which otherwise would in part pass off in the state of
vapour and condense, and of thus forcing the gas to take up carbon, and so
increase its illuminating property. To obtain a more condensed texture of this
compound coke, I in some instances have recourse to another contrivance,
which is that of additionally compressing it while it is distilling and coking.
For this purpose I have a plate of iron made to fit the interior transverse
capacity of the retort, which, by means of a screw bar passing through the
door of the retort or any other contrivance answering the purpose, I drive
by degrees against the contents of the retort as these are being coked, and so
with little force or exertion press them as much as the force of resistance of
the heated retort will admit of. In this same mauner I can use wood and
many other vegetable substances reduced to a pulverized or powdered state, and
also tanners bark instead of peat.
The next improvement I have to describe is that of applying the greas es
which I obtain from peat by distillation, and which, in the Specification of a
former Patent obtained by me, I named adiposole and adipolein, to the purpose
of currying leather, for which purpose I consider it to be superior to the oils
usuallyemployed for that purpose as possessing to a greater degree theproperty
of rendering the leather impervious to wet; of course for this purpose I free
the grease from acid or any other corrosive parts which it might contain by
treating it, as the case may be, with proper chemical agents well known to be
fit for such purpose by every practical person, and by means of the apparatus
which I have contrived especially for such like purposes, and of which I add
herewith a Drawing and description, the grease being therein kept in a fused
state, and forcibly mixed and digested with such chemical agents as the case
may require. I also find these greases useful for preparing stuffs of various
descriptions to give them elasticity and imperviousness and the property of
tenacity and durability. This vegetable grease will in some instances be found
to answer better by being applied warm to the leather and other materials, as
it will in that fused state penetrate better into the substance and carry with it
any small portion of wax or cerine which it may contain, and that with great
advantage as regards the desideratum of imperviousness to wet. By redistilling
the grease adiposole o le ous liquid is again obtained, and a residuum, a resino-
adipose wax, whieh may be termed peacerine, and which has the property of
furnishing a very fine black polish when slightly spread upon leather,&c.,and
submitted to severe rubbing from a smoothed surface instrument. I also mix
these greases and wax with gutta percha,solving the latter with bisulphuret of
carbon. I mix it with the grease or wax in a fused or warm state. To this

page_text: mixture of gutta percha and peacerine, or the greases, I add cork, or turf, or
waste wool, or cotton, or rags, &c. reduced or pulverized, and while warm I
pass the compound through rollers so as to form it into sheets of the thickness
I wish, or otherwise into tubes, &c. It forms thus textures which may be
applied to numerous useful purposes. Giving these details of certain of the
uses to which the foregoing products are applicable upon the principles of the
means thus described will fairly disclose to all practical interested parties the
many other uses to which I can apply them upon the same principles.
To make the mauures, for which I have obtained a Patent of Invention, I
employ the vegetable organic matter, turf or peat, either alone or with other
dry vegetable substance, such as sawdust or straw reduced to powder, or stalks
or straw of beans or peas, or potatoes, or maize (Indian corn), or cabbage, or
sugar-cane, or tanners' bark, or any other vegetable substance, which from its
nature and composition were fit for the purpose of a manure when properly
decomposed, and which I could, therefore, use alone by such a process, and with-
out being mixed with peat or turf, but that the supply of such vegetable matter
would be very limited in comparison with the illimited demand for manure,
whereas the supply of the vegetable organic matter, turf or peat,is naturally
inexhaustible. And I have, therefore, chosen that substance as thechief basis
of my manures, without confining myself to the use of it for this purpose.
This simple or compound vegetable substance I get well dried and then reduce
it to a powder, and subject it to partial decomposition, as I shall further show,
or mix it with such other matter or ingredients as shall afterwards have the
effect of decomposing it when exposed to air and moisture, and by such che-
mical action and the co-operation of other agents furnished by the soil,render
it and the various other bodies with which I charge it in a fit condition for
assimilation with the soil, and thereby the production of those extractiveswhich
are required for the perfection of vegetable life.
This manure I have named a "huminate," from the fact of its being princi.
pallycomposed of matter(vegetableorganic substance) which furnisheshumous
humic acid, humine, &c. ; and I use it in different ways, which are either to
drill it in the earth with the grain, or spread it on the soil as other manures of
a like form are applied, or by fixing it to the grain(when the size of this makes
it practicable to do so) so that the grain shall carry its necessary portion of
fertilizing aliment to the ground with it, and which will afterwards by degrees
be dissolved bymoisture,andact in combination withtheotheragentscontained
in the soil. That this latter means of appliance of the manure huminate may
be understood, I will describe a way of putting it into practice.
With flour and water, or urine and water together, I form a thin paste, or

page_text: with gum or syrups, or any other substance fit for the purpose, I make up such
a liquid composition as will have an adhesive property, yet be readily soluble
when drybyexposure to moisture, and adding to it at times a certain proportion
of liquified bone or anyother chemical agent in solution, and into such a liquid
1 dip the grain I wish to cover with a provision of manure, and this grain
while wet with the liquid I throw into a quantity of any of the inanures pre-
pared in the form of a powder as I further describe, and in such manner that
the grain shall as far as possible fall separately on to the manure, with which I
shake it about, so that each grain shall take up a coating of it, which it will
naturally do from the adhesive quality of the liquid it has been previously
wetted with, taking care that the grain do not clog together. This grain so
coated with manure is then separated from the mass of manure in powder into
which it has been thrown and allowed to dry,and when dry it is again submitted
to the same treatment and so on several times until it has a good coating of
manure upon it. At times when it may be more particularly necessary to pro-
tect the grain (after it has been sown) from vermin, I have recourse to the plan
of mixing a small quantity of the very strong smelling oils of peat or
shale or coal tar, or turpentine, to which most insects have a very strong
aversion, more particularly the oils of shale and coal tar, in default of which,
however, many other substances to which the various insects which are detri-
mental to field and garden produce have repugnance can be used in the same
manner for the like purpose. These scenting liquids or substances I onlymix
up with the manure of which I form the outer coatings upon the grain or the
liquid paste employed to take up those outer coatings of manure. The grain
so covered with a thick coating of manure when dry can be sown broadcast or
by drill. This system of manuring the grain instead of the land will afford
the means of using the most expensive compositions of my huminate with great
economy, since by such a plan all that is thus used will without loss give up
the benefit of its fertilizing quality to the plant,and still not prevent the useful
drilling in with the grain of any other matter which it maybe deemed adviseable
to add from the state or nature of the soil, such as lime, or a mixture of lime
with ashes or sand,or pulverized baked clay, or any of the other substances or
compositions which I herein further describe or allude to. There are of course
manysorts of seed which could not conveniently be made to take up their pro-
vision of manure, and other circumstances under which it will be preferable to
carry the manure to the field or garden. Indeed practice and experience have
to show where such strict economy of the manure(as this method of employing
it would afford) was necessary, how far its appliance would be preferable to
the system of drilling it in the soil with the grain, or using it broadcast, &c.

page_text: My object in adopting such a means of feeding the seed and plant is,—
First, a great saving of manure, where such sparing of it may be adviseable.
Secondly, an equal and certain distribution of aliment to every plant, and
besides that, protection to the seed from birds and vermin until it has germi-
nated; uncertain as I am yet if the manure thus applied produces any other
marked benefit to the plant in comparison with what it does when drilled in the
ground with the grain, upon the same principle of making the grain bear its
provision of manure to the field or garden, so can the plant be made to take up
a certain proportion of the huminate by steeping it under similar conditions for
making the manure stick to the root or bulb when sowing, planting, or
transplanting.
•
vege-
The notions which have guided me in my experiments and influenced me in
the composition of manures are founded upon the conviction, that the principle
of vegetable life is chiefly to be found in vegetable matter, this being in various
states of decomposition or transformation; that it is first generated from cer-
tain parts of pre-existing subjects; and afterwards promoted and supported by
nutrition obtained from other parts of the same, under the influence of com-
bined chemical and physical action, as it is with animal life, these vegetable
matter containing the special inorganic parts requisite for the production of
nutritive fluids previously taken by them from the soil for their own perfection,
and which they in part bring back to it more or less predisposed for such pur
pose, and having besides the essential property of absorbing, and supplying
carbonic acid; ammonia, nitrogen, &c.; that consequently, were all the
table matter which is produced in a field constantly carried away and none
whatever left in the soil in the shape of roots or fallen leaves, or stubble,
humus, &c., nor any carried back in the state of manure, solid and liquid, no
chemicals thus totally unassisted by decomposed vegetable organic matter,and
practically applicable for general purposes; would after a certain time, that is
when the soil had been completelyexhausted of all such decomposed vegetable
'organic matter,suffice of themselves to fertilize the land, though such doeven
as they are now einployed, by their action on the organic vegetable substance
with which they come into contact and assimilation in the soil, greatly assist in
its decomposition and requisite transformation, and the consequent production
therefrom of those extractive fluids which I consider nature has prescribed as
the regeneration of most vegetable matter.. Thus my object in this is to make
a manure which will supply the soil and plant with a concentrated provision of
the necessary organic matter, &c.,as-I-further-shew, together with such inor-
ganic agents as the plants and the soil may require and be deficient in, or others
baving the property of producing similar chemical action and like results

page_text: according to first and future requirements, having also regard to and taking into
account the proportions of inorganic matter which the organic, vegetable, or
animal manner that enter into the composition of my manures may hold in
principle, as also to those proportions of inorganic matter which the vegetable
substance turf and peat may contain, according to their nature and quality,
which vary greatly, as also of any other vegetable matter I may employ, and
thus provide for the production in nature's laboratory (the soil of the field) of
the necessary extractive fluids with the greatest economy of expense, and so
bring into use a manure, the composition of which I consider to be in accord-
ance with the laws of vegetation, and to which it cannot be objected that the
use of them may be repugnant from the nature of the matter of which they
are made, as it may be with other manures which mistaken notions have
brought into use, the employ of some of which has undoubtedly at times had
injurious effects upon the health of those who have eaten the produce so
assisted in its growth.
By every person having a knowledge of the principles upon which form the
development of chemical science it is evident that manures should be composed,
it will be easily understood that the proportions of the agents which I, in
addition to the vegetable matter, &c., employ in the composition of my manures,
must be of great variety to accord with the great difference which is met with
in the compositions of soils and in climates, and also that which exists in the
inorganic constituents of plants, the requirements of these, &c., for which it is
necessary to provide, and on the other hand against which we have to contend;
and that, therefore, no general rule can be laid down for the composition of my
huminate other than that I always have in view, to furnish, both in the shape
of organic and inorganic matter, that which the plant it is proposed to produce
may from its nature require for its perfection, taking into account also in some
instances what the soil may have been to freely deprived of by the preceding
crop or crops, and what for the purpose it may be naturally deficient in, where
a knowledge of this can be obtained either from the farmer or by an analysis
of the soil. Thus by giving a general account of the manner in which I make
my manures (huminate) in addition to that of the principle by which I am
guided, it will be easily understood that the proportions of the different consti-
tuents must be varied according to circumstances, and that, therefore, no
absolute rate of such proportions can be prescribed; and that again, as to the
choice of the assistant organic and inorganic agents I may employ, the cost of
them must have an influence in some instances, in others the quality. I will,
therefore, .describe my way of making my manures (huminate) generally.
As I have already stated Iattach importance to the use of vegetable organic

page_text: matter in the composition of manures on account of the fluids which they in
course of their decomposition produce, and also of the special inorganic parts
which they return to the soil, having previously borrowed them from the earth
for their own perfection. Now, in addition to those reasons for choosing turf
or peat and other dried vegetable matter, I have fixed upon this substance
from the fact of having observed that well dried turf or peat and other
vegetable matter, when perfectly disintegrated, by reducing it to a powder for
instance, has the property of absorbing a very large quantity of liquid, and
can therefore be made the agent for holding, preserving, and bearing to the
field an abundant supply of ammonia in different states, and other essential
parts which exist in urines and blood, &c., and also other liquid matter or com-
positions which afterwards have the effect of acting by degrees upon it, and
transforming it to the required state for manure, and also in such a divided and
decomposed or partially decomposed state of carrying to the soil any necessary
provision of fertilizing agents, finely divided and mixed with it so as to be
dissolved and transformed with it by degrees when exposed to air and moisture,
appreciating also its value as containing useful substances, such as vegetable
fats, resins, cerine, oils, ammonia, nitrogen, &c., besides potash, silica, &c.
The turf or other vegetable organic matter for this purpose is therefore well
dried, and afterwards, by grinding or crushing, reduced to a fine powder, and
when early decomposition of it is desirable, and carbonate of lime may be
requisite from the nature of the soil in which the manure is to be used, &c.;
from ten to twenty per cent. of quick lime in the state of powder is perfectly
mixed up with it by means of a churn, such as that shown in the accompanying
Drawing, Figure 5. Some peats contain a large proportion of carbonate of
lime, the quality of this vegetable matter may be therefore taken into account
when fixing the amount of quick lime which is to be put to it. This mixture
of vegetable and lime iu powder is placed in a reservoir, and water and urine,
or urine alone, or urine chemically treated by sulphuric acid or otherwise, is
poured upon it so as to be brought into contact with every particle of the lime
which is in intimate mixture with the vegetable matter. It is then covered
over with a layer of charcoal or charpeat in a powdered state, and in propor-
tion of five to ten or fifteen per cent. according to the sort of peat, some of
which will allow of dispensing with charcoal altogether to assist in preventing
the
escape of the vapours of the urine, and thus allowed to stand and ferment
to a certain degree secured from any access of air or escape of ammonia, and
thea when the vegetable matter has completely absorbed the urine and the
lime is converted into a hydrate, and the whole so far dry that the volatile
caronate of ammonia is converted, or perhaps only partially changed or

page_text: prepared for a change into non-volatile salts, it is stirred about so as to mix up
the charpeat or charcoal powder which lies at the top of it with the whole
together. The compost will then soon finish getting dry, preserving all the
salts of the urine in the partially decomposed vegetable substances, and any
other ingredient can then be mixed with it so as to make it into the special
quality of huminate as may be desired, and when it is not necessary that the
vegetable natter should be so quickly decomposed, and that it is desirable that
the huminate should contain a large proportion of the salts of urine, I make
the vegetable powder take up by mixture as much urine as possible, and which
will often amount to its equal weight; and if again the soil it is to be used
upon requires lime, ten or fifteen per cent. of the weight of the vegetable
powder of burnt gypsum in powder can be well mixed up with it, and the
urine then added to it with about the same quantity of charpeat or charcoal
powder added to it by layers; by this means urate and sulphate of ammonia,
and in course of time other useful salts, will be formed, and in short the whole
of the valuable constituents of urine will be taken up and rendered non-
volatile until acted upon by moisture in such manner that they may be thus
kept in store for any length of time, and sent to any distance, &c., provided
the huminate be kept quite dry. Where urine is not to be got I use the
ammoniacal liquors obtained in the course of manufacture of coal gas to mix
up with and decompose the vegetable substance, and for some qualities of
huminate I add liquified bone dust (that is, bone dissolved in diluted sulphuric
acid), in quantity equal to from five to ten per cent. of the weight more or
less of the quantity of urine mixed up with the vegetable matter, previously
mixing up the liquid of the dissolved bone with the urine or the ammoniacal
liquors of gas works when these are used.
At times, instead of quick lime I use dry slaked lime (mild lime), and also
the refuse lime which has served for purifying gas, to provide the manure with
a portion of carbonate of lime, according to the requirements of the soil, &c.
When I use 1 me I prefer that which has been burnt, and when this cannot be
got at a moderate cost I use pulverized marl or chalk, or crude gypsum, or
burnt gypsum, or oyster shells in fine powder, &c. I also, as I have already
said, make huminate without lime or gypsum by mixing up the urine with the
raw and charred peat and charcoal powders only. This makes my simple
concentrated farm-yard manure, and generally forms the basis of my various
compositions herein alluded to, and to which I add a proportion of other ingre-
dients or matter singly or in combination, so as to make up for, to the best of my
judgment, and the most approved theory or the notious of the purchaser, any
particular deficiency which may exist in the nature or from exhaustion of the

page_text: soil it is intended for (providing even upon this principle when necessary for
the deficiency in fertilizing properties of a soil of pure sand), and the special
requirements of the crop to be produced, and hasten the decomposition or
transmutation of the organic matter into fit nutritive fluids, such as soluble
silica, silicate of potash, or bone dust, or phosphate or superphosphate of lime,
or nitrate of potash, or nitrate of soda and sulphate of soda, singly or mixed
together in about equal proportions, or muriate of soda or carbonate of soda, or
sulphate of magnesia, orsulphateof potash, orcarbonate of potash, ormanganese,
orsal-ammoniac, or humic or ulmic or peat acid, or soot, or at times a very small
proportion of sulphate of iron, such as one quarter or one half per cent. &c.,&c.,
and when urine cannot be got, nor gas works liquor nor other ammoniacal
liquors resulting from the distillation of bituminiferous matters, &c., I use
quick lime or water and quick lime to decompose the vegetable powder to a
certain degree, or water partially charged with liquified or dissolved bone in
solution, and afterwards urate of ammonia, or sulphate, or nitrate of am-
monia, &c., dried blood or animalized charcoal, &c. To make up for the
absence of the salts of urine and other elements of nitrogen, more or less,
at times I use liquid blood, which I mix up with the vegetable or peat
powder, &c., charred peat or charcoal powder and quick lime in powder, &c.
The proportions of salts or acids, or alkaline agents, &c., to be mixed with
the compost of vegetable or peat powder, &c., cannot of course be determined
upon once for all, they will vary according to the strength and quality and
peculiar character and supposed capacityof eachas promotors of vegetation,&c.,
and their property for such special purpose of the decomposition of the organic
matter in the soil, and consequently forming with it the sort of extractive
fluids best suited to the occasion. And again, the choice of such agents will
at times be determined upon by having regard to cost, and also to the peculiar
seed or plant it is intended to fertilize, as well as the state and nature of the
soil the manure is to be mixed with.
Every known fertilizing agent can in fact be in turn added alone, or in
combination with others, to the reduced vegetable matter according to their
fitness for the occasion, and in such a variety of mixtures and proportions that
it would create confusion to prescribe a rate of proportion for such combination
of material upon the fertilizing merits and properties of which there exists
also such diversity of opinion, and with regard to some I may say as yet
uncertain knowledge of their precise effect on vegetation. Besides those
organic and inorganic substances or ingredients which I have just alluded to,
others of less value can at times be usefully mixed up with my manures, such
as coaldust, or ashes, or sand, or well sun-dried or baked or burnt clays, in

page_text: powder, or wood or peat ash, or shale ash, or pulverized shells or coprolites,
or apatite, or oxide of manganese, or any other organic or inorganic pulverized
or disintegrated matter or substance which will have the effect of making the
soil friable, and consequently render it accessible to air and moisture. These
may be added, some of them more with a view to the benefit of such mecha-
nical effect, and also as protecting the root of the plant from being choked,
as it sometimes happens in a clay soil in dry seasons, and as contributing to
secure a free circulation of air and moisture to it, two essential conditions of
vitality in cereals and most other plants, still not overlooking their additional
importance in some cases from the effect of their partial decomposition and
transmutation in the soil, whereby they are converted into fluids, and further
into organic matter, in which by proper analysis they are again to be found,
though they may have been digested and converted into excrement, or urine,
or blood, or bone, &c. Thus I have contrived a system of preparing manures
such that they may be made to possess the elements or constituents of what
may be termed a concentrated farm-yard manure, and also of what might be
called a mineral and mechanical manure united in one body or composition.
When stable soil (horse dung) is to be had cheap, I use it instead of or with
a portion of raw peat or other vegetable matter to make huminate. The
stable soil of horses, with as little straw as possible, is put into cisterns or boxes
and well saturated with urine, and successively covered over with layers of raw
and charred peat powder, or only raw peat powder is made to ferment with
urine and horse dung, and covered over with charred peat in powder.
When the vegetable substance, &c., has sufficiently fermented, the whole is
mixed up together, that is, the vegetable matter, dung, urine, and charred peat
powder, and allowed to dry, and then, if not sufficiently decomposed to
crumble into powder, it is pulverized, and such chemical agents are added to
it as may be deemed adviseable according to the use it is intended for, &c.
To make humic or peat acid I boil turf or peat with about one quarter of
its weight of caustic potash and water, and when boiled by stirring I force it
to take up as much air as possible while cooling; I then filter it, and add
sulphuric acid to precipitate it, and draw off the liquid, which I use as well
I
as the residue to mix up with peat powder, &c. for making huminate.
likewise at times add a small proportion of finely ground humic or peat acid
to the peat powder for the same purpose, more especially for making the
concentrated huminates for attaching to the grain as herein-before described.
In addition to the plan I have already alluded to for protecting fresh sown
grain from the attacks of insects (that of adding to the "huminates "a small
proportion of coal or shale, tar, spirit, &c.), I add that I also prepare scented

page_text: huminates in the same manner for sowing broadcast over plants, &c. that are
thus infested by insects with the twofold view of freeing the plant from the
destructive vermin, and of furnishing it with a nutritive top-dressing at the
same time. I will here observe that one important feature in my contrivance
for preparing cheap and valuable manures is that of obtaining urine with
economy, to do which I have recourse to the plan of forming reservoirs to
collect it from horse and cow stables in and about London and other large
towns, or wherever they are to be got, thus contributing towards an improve-
ment in the sanitary condition of the town or locality, and turning to useful
purpose a matter of certain value which is now lost and injudiciously distri-
buted with other filth, increasing the elements of destruction to health and
life;
and I in consequence claim the right of collecting and carrying away
urine from stables for the purpose of making manures, by preparing and
mixing them with vegetable organic matter, or of depositing the vegetable
organic matter referred to in the present Specification in reservoirs to be
saturated with urine and afterwards carried away for the purpose of being
made into or serving as manures.
I will now refer to and describe another part of my Invention, and which
consists in improvements and additions to a system of " mixing and digesting
churn" already patented by me, and described in the Specification of Patent
enrolled on the Seventh of September, One thousand eight hundred and fifty,
and a Drawing of which is hereunto annexed. The main object of this
apparatus is to furnish the means of treating certain substances in a fused
state when requisite, and to allow of the vapours that may be at the same time
generated in it either being carried off for condensation and collection or not,
and also of treating matter with a constant supply of vapours or gas, or air,
as the case may require, and again of treating gases with any ingredient or
solution as may be desireable.
A first general notion of this mixing and digesting churn will be obtained
by referring to Figures 1, 2, 3 of the subjoined Drawings. As in my first
Invention, in the interior of the churn a number of tilting shelves are fixed
(see A, A, A, A, Figure 1, 3), of a depth of about one sixth the diameter of
the vessel, more or less, and running from one end of the vessel to the other,
or nearly so. The axle of this churn is made to remain in a fixed position
in the same way as that of a carriage, and the churn to turn upon it, and it is
pierced horizontally at both ends to a certain distance, so that the steam, or
vapours, or gas can be forced into the churn at one end of the axle and carried
off through the other end of the axle, for collection or discharge, &c., after
having acted upon the contents of the churn, which is kept turning at a rate

page_text: necessary to keep the whole of the contents in violent action, and in case of
treating gases, these are by sufficient pressure made to pass through the churn,
which is kept in motion, and after a forced contact with its contents, whether
lime in powder or anyother matter in a disintegrated state, or liquid solutions,
&c. carried away to be dealt with as desired.
If the matter treated be of a nature which requires that it should be fused
or melted by heat, in order to treat it in a liquified state, then a fire is placed
under the churn in a trough like B, B, Figures 1, 2, or the churn may be
worked in a sufficiently warm chamber, so that the wax, or fat, or resin, or
oil, &c., &c., whatever it may be, be kept at the necessary degree of heat for
its fusion,and the churn is kept in motion as long as it is requisite to treat the
substance with the vapours or acids in sulution, &c.
A piece of tube, as shown by G, G, G, Figures 2, 4, is fixed at each end of
the axle inside the churn, and connected with the hollow part of it in such
manner as to remain upright between the two sides of the churn and the ends
of the tilting shelves, which are made so as to leave a space for this purpose,
as well as to allow of liquids to run down freely to the bottom of the churn
when still to be taken out, &c. The parts which fit upon the axles must of
course be made in the best manner possible, to prevent the escape of the
liquids or gases. E, Figure 4 of the Drawing, shews one end of the axle of
the churn with the tube G fixed upright, as described above. Figure 5 shews
a churn at work byhand, but of course as the object of the apparatus is chiefly
to obtain the most perfect digestion and treatment of certain matter with and
by the action of others as chemical agents, and that by continued and forced
inixtureand contact, the churn would be kept in motion by mechanical force.
Figure 1 shews a side section of a churn, with the opening H upwards, cs
it would stand to receive the matter to be treated, and under it a section of the
fire trough B. Figure 2 is a general view of the apparatus. Figure 3 a side
section of a churn, with the opening H downwards, as it would stand for the
contents of the churn to be drawn from it. I have contrived this apparatus
chiefly for the treatment with acids or alkaloids, or spirits, &c., of fats, or wax,
or vegetable or mineral adipose, or lacs, or resinous or stearic and other sub-
stances which remain congealed or solid at ordinary temperatures, wherefore it
is necessary to keep them, by means of artificial heat, in a state of fusion for
mixture and digestion with such chemical agents, or with water, or air, or
vapours, or gases. Thus this churn, while in motion and free action, can be
kopt at any degree of temperature required, and the matter in it treated in a
constant state of fusion and violent or gentle action, and by this contrivance
I can therefore obtain a most perfect and constant mixture and digestion of the

page_text: light liquid hydrocarbons, such as coal tar, naptha, turpentine, shale, oil,
petrolium,native mineral naptha, and also mineral pitch, gutta percha,caout-
chouc, and vegetable and animal oils and tars, &c., and syrups, and various
other substances, which generally differ in specific gravity from that of acids
and other agents and solutions with which they have to be treated, while such
a result cannot be convenientlyobtained byany other practical mode of opera-
tion. According to the matter these churns may be intended to treat they cau
be either made of wood or wood lined with lead or copper or iron in its natural
state, or coated with a vitreous or earthen glaze, or otherwise protected from
the effects of acids, &c., or of any other metal or composition, or of glass, or of
any other material appropriate to the peculiar nature of the substances and
ingredients the treatment ofwhich the churn maybe particularly intended for,
as not being liable to deterioration by such ingredients, or by great heat, &c.
The uses towhich I purpose applying this system of apparatus for manufac-
turing purposes in chemical works and in the laboratory, and for mixing dry
substances and drying others,&c., are so numerous and can so easilybe under-
stood by everycompetent person, as far as its application may be useful for his
own particular case, that it were superfluous and unnecessary to attempt an
enumeration of every case in which its adoption in one shape or other will be
useful; I therefore, and to avoid confusion in my description, confine myself to
the foregoing details. I claim,―
First, the charring of peat or wood, or tanners bark and coal together
whether for the twofold purpose of producing gasand making such a descrip-
tion of coke, or for the sole purpose of making the coke.
Second, the greases and resino-adipose wax obtained from peat, and herein
denominated peacerine, adiposole, and adipolein, for currying and polishing
leather, aud also for strengthening it and rendering it and other material
waterproof,and the various other uses herein described and alluded to; and,
I further claim the use of peat or turf, or humus, or other decomposed
or partially decomposed vegetable matter, to be applied by attaching it to the
seed or grain or bulb or root, &c., either alone or with other matter or ingre-
dients, and reduced to a powdered or pulverized state for the purpose, and so
prepared for the purposes of manuring generally, whether to be used alone or
in combination with other fertilizing matter or substances as described, and so
as to form a manure resembling farm-yard manure in a concentrated and con-
densed state only, or the like manure with the addition of other matter and
inorganic substances combined, so as to give it the two-fold character of
an organic and a mineral and mechanical mauure at the same time, and
otherwise prepared or modified, as shown or alluded to in the foregoing
Specification.