64 



BONE-BLACK. 



BOURBON, MARIE A. 



hours' time, the charcoal is then reburned in 

 the usual way. Mr. Medlock states that the 

 decolorizing power of bone-black so treated is 

 augmented at least 50 per cent. 



The patent in this country of Mr. Beanes's 

 process is held by the firm of Havemeyer and 

 Elder, of Brooklyn (E. D.), New York, Mr. T. 

 A. Havemeyer of that firm having, and partly 

 in communication with the original inventor, 

 introduced considerable improvements in the 

 process as above described. The following is 

 substantially the improved method of treat- 

 ment of the bone-black now practised in the 

 refinery of the firm named. The coal having 

 been washed through with hot water in the 

 filters, is then, in order to remove, or at least 

 to render soluble, a portion of the viscid and 

 other matters with which the grains have be- 

 come coated, transferred to large tanks partly 

 filled with water, and within which steam is 

 thrown upward through the mass, for about an 

 hour. Removed from these tanks, the black is 

 then passed through the ordinary inclined 

 cylindrical washing-machines, to- wash out the 

 matters thus far rendered soluble, and also the 

 fine dust ; the latter being caught, in the usual 

 manner, by means of a succession of partitions 

 forming pits in the channel in which the wash- 

 ings are conveyed away. From the washing- 

 machines the black is transferred to a second 

 set of tanks, and again steamed through, in 

 order to dry it ; and it is then burned in retorts 

 of the ordinary form, and partly cooled. While 

 yet quite hot, however, the black is elevated 

 again to an upper floor, and is filled into large 

 cylindrical iron tanks which terminate below in 

 form of an inverted cone, and within which it 

 is to be saturated with the chlorhydric acid 

 gas. 



The gas named is generated beneath, within 

 a suitable cast-iron retort, by action of sul- 

 phuric acid on common salt ; and in order, as 

 is requisite, to render it perfectly dry, it is then 

 passed through a large cylindrical "drier" 

 filled with broken masses of chloride of calcium 

 a substance the avidity of which for moisture 

 is well known. From the drier the gas is 

 passed into the inverted-conical saturating 

 tanks, and in each, by extending the tube far 

 enough down, nearly to the lower or small ex- 

 tremity of the cone. Being at the proper time 

 allowed to escape at this point into the hot and 

 dry coal with which the tank has been filled, 

 the gas rapidly spreads through and is absorbed 

 by the coal ; and when, upon trial or from ex- 

 perience, the portion of the coal occupying the 

 lower part of the cone is judged to have its 

 absorbed lime completely saturated with the 

 chlorine of the chlorhydric acid, the mouth of 

 the tank is opened, this portion of the coal 

 being allowed to flow out, while a fresh por- 

 tion of course descends to take the place of the 

 former, and to receive in turn the charge of 

 gas entering. The absorbed lime of the bone- 

 black being thus converted into chloride of cal- 

 cium, the black is then again elevated and filled 



into iron cylinders, within which the chloride 

 is to be leached out with hot water. In effect- 

 ing this, steam is at first, in order to expel free 

 chlorhydric gas and air, introduced into the 

 filled cylinders from above, and the washer 

 then filled with hot water, which, after a time, 

 is allowed to run out; and- these operations 

 are several times repeated alternately, until a 

 test of the water escaping shows that no chlo- 

 ride of calcium remains ; after which the black 

 is finally steamed, to expel water. The bone- 

 black is removed from these cylinders directly 

 to the filters, and employing anew in filtering. 

 Besides advantages such as have been already 

 intimated, it is claimed that the application of 

 the general process now described necessitates 

 less space for apparatus and materials, and in- 

 volves less waste than the ordinary process by 

 fermentation. 



Disposition of Refuse Bone-Hade. The turn- 

 ing-over of the charcoal, in the old methods, 

 when its power is no longer restored by re- 

 burning, for the manufacture of the so-called 

 superphosphate of lime, has already been men- 

 tioned. Where the charcoal is not thus laid 

 aside in bulk, the manufacture is still carried 

 on by use of the dust screened out after re- 

 burning. The refuse charcoal is mixed with sul- 

 phuric acid this being in some cases also, in 

 this country at least, the refuse from the re- 

 fining of petroleum in order, from the tribasic 

 phosphate to produce the more highly phos- 

 phorated lime-salt, which is valued as a fertili- 

 zer. Thus, the spent charcoal from the cane-sugar 

 refining in this country, and perhaps generally, 

 is rarely if ever directly sought as fertilizing 

 material. In the beet-sugar manufactories of 

 continental Europe, however, owing to the 

 naturally great impurity of beet-juice and 

 syrups, and the general use of blood in refining, 

 the charcoal becomes rapidly and so completely 

 charged with organic matters and salts, that its 

 value as a fertilizer may even exceed the origi- 

 nal cost. Accordingly, from the manufactories 

 in France it has, heretofore at least, been de- 

 livered in large quantities, being then exported 

 to the amount, it is stated, of 120,000 tons an- 

 nually, to the French colonies, as manure for 

 the sugar crops; while, further, the Govern- 

 ment has even appointed analytical chemists to 

 the special duty of determining the value of 

 the refuse charcoal for the trade. 



BOURBON, MARIE AMELIE DE, ex-Queen of 

 the French, widow of Louis Philippe, born in 

 Naples, April 26, 1782, died at Claremont, Sur- 

 rey, England, March 24, 1866. She was the 

 second daughter of Ferdinand I., king of the 

 Two Sicilies, by Marie Caroline, archduchess of 

 Austria. With her four sisters she was care- 

 fully educated under the direction of Madame 

 d'Ambrosio, and early displayed the germs of 

 those amiable qualities which distinguished her 

 in after-life. She was scarcely ten years of age 

 when the French fleet appeared in the bay of 

 Naples ; and from that time onward, during the 

 period of the first victories of Napoleon, the 



