Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-02-09
Petroleum as FHei.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE EARLY HISTORY OF
THE ARTICLE.

THE AhTlCLB.
Now that Petroleum" is on every
tongue, the following article from the
London Times, showing the progress In
England of the experiment commenced
in this country some months ago, look
ing to the substitution of petroleum for
coal as fuel, will be interesting; ar
can elementary course of experiments
was commenced last week in the factory
department of Woolwich dock-yard,
with view of testing the capacity Of
petroleum to supersede coal and other
fuel on shipboard, and also in propelling
steam machinery in factories The
method adopted is totally distinct from
that attempted some time ago in the
United States of America, and is the
patented invention of Mr.. @. j. Richard
son, an engineer residing at Kensington.
He has submitted his plans to the Lords
of the Admiralty, and has obtained per-
mission to carry out his suggestion for
the benefit Of Her Majesty's service.
The plan under trial is simply to burn
the petroleum through porous mate.
rial, which is placed in an iron chamber,
dipped into water vessel, also of iron.
The oil admitted into the chamber sod
dens the porous material, and rises by
sort Of capillary attraction. The sur
face then catches fire and burns rapidly
as the oil is supplied. The effect of the
flame is so great that with the small APP
paratus, which is only two feet SUPER
ficial area, and affixed to boiler, the
oil on Saturday was utilized SO as TO be
equal for steam purposes to five tons Of
coal. third advantage is obtained by
the employment of the petroleum, name
ly, that no stokers are needed, and the
boilers can be supplied with several fires
one above another. The small CRATE
used in the experiments was placed I'M
der boiler Of II horse power, and in
two hours it raised the steam to 10
pounds pressure The only objection
seems to be the fear of explosive quail.
ties, but these Mr.. Richardson states he
is prepared to guard against effectuaily."
The rapidity with which the petrole-
UNI interest has developed in this coun-
try"is something marvellous. Ten years
ago it was sold under the name of "rock
oil' as a quack medicine, the supply
being obtained from a small wc,,ii ,o.r
Pittsburg, at that tin. rho on,u denoait
known : ss 'h0 oniy uePoois
nav this country. about seven
| years ago Illuminating Oil made from
this petroleum was introduced int
New York, and sold under the name of
carbon OIL" 1t was q beautiful amber
colored liquid, and almost free from
smell-what it had being rather agree.
able than otherwise. 1t at once became
immensely popular among the various
coal oils at that time struggling to get
reputation in the market. The coal-ou
manufacture was then in its infancy,
and horrible was the odor of the differ.
ent manufactures sold under the name
of kerosene" The "carbon OIL" or
petroleum, from its superiority in ever
respect, soon commanded high price.
and-the well flowing scantily and ir.
regularly, never yielding over twenty
barrels of oil week and at times ceas-
ing altogether-soon ran up to two and
three dollars gallon. We well remem-
Der the efforts that were made to pro.
duce an oil from other sources which
would be equal to the carbon A
gentleman connected with the COMPANY
travelled from one end OF the country
to the other, the true forerunner of that
vast army of .'borersn who are now
bleeding the earth at every oleaginous
vein. He finally reached Canada, where
he found a great deposit of petroleum,
vile Of odor and nasty to handle. He
shipped a lot to New York, and there
was smell for days along the line Of
the Hudson River road. The petroleum
was deposited in cellar in Pearl street
and veted nuisance far and near.
Now, whole squares Of New York send
forth day and night the same edor.