Specification of John Stephens : treating excreta, &c.

  • Stephens, John.
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of John Stephens : treating excreta, &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Provisional Specification. A.D. 1873.—N° 2581. 3 Stephens' Improvements in Treating Excreta, 8fC. The charcoal which takes up the ammonia is in a powdered state and it is ground while red hot in close vessels, the vessels being double, with a flow of water between to keep them cool. The apparatus for filtering and for extracting the ammonia and vapour 5 before explained are applicable for the treatment of peat, which is, when first obtained, first put into a cylinder with a quantity of clayey water ; a pressure is then put upon it to thoroughly impregnate the pores of the fibres of the peat with water and clay to destroy their tendency to expand; after the filtering and pressing operation as explained for the 10 excreta is performed the clay with which the pores become charged forms the means of binding the fibres, and prevents them expanding as they would otherwise do. The excreta, if it is to be compressed into blocks for transport, is first finally pressed and placed in trucks or on a travelling belt, and is passed 15 through a heated chamber. This chamber is of tubular form and is sur¬ rounded for a portion of its length with a rotating body to produce heat by frictional contact, the exterior rotating body being operated by a water wheel or other power from natural or artificial sources. This heating chamber can be employed for the drying of the peat 20 whether made up into blocks or otherwise. SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by the said John Stephens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th January 1874. TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, John 25 Stephens, of Ryder Street, St. James’, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting. WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty- 30 seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Stephens, Her special licence that I, the said John Stephens, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Stephens, my executors,