St. Landry democrat., 1885-07-25
A GREAT INDUSTRY.
The Production of Coal Oil One of the
Mammoth Enterprises of the Country.

The consumption of coal Oil is coA'
stantly increasing. Fifteen thousand
barrels are required to supply the daily
demand in the United States. Most of
this comes from the oil regions of West
ern Pennsylvania. 1t is conveyed to the
seaboard mainly to Baltimore, Phila-
phia and Jersey City-through six-inch
mains, three or four hundred miles
long, carried underground. Thirty
million barrels are now stored above
ground in huge iron tanks, and over 60
900 barrels of crude Oil flow from the
earth daily. The oil is distilled from
tanks holding 1900 barrels each. The
distillate is divided into three portions
the lightest, colorless portion, which
comes over first, and is known as crude
naphtha, or ''benzine," the middle por-
ton, or kerosene, and lastly the heavy
portions of the distillate, containing par
afine, and known as "paraaine oils. "
The 'sbenzine" is again distilled and
separated into gasoline andinto A, B,
and G naphtha; these are used in gas
machines. for mixing paints, and also
for burning in lamps and stoves.
The kerosene proper is purified by
agitating with five per cent. of strong sui
phurie acid, which combines with the
offensive matters, forming a black tarry
residue which sinks to the bottom of
| the tank and is known as ''sludge. 1t
is used in large quantities in the manu-
| facture of commercial fertilizers. The
oil is again washed with strong caustic-
soda solution, destroying all acid COM
pounds 1t is again washed with water,
is made nearly colorless, and has the
peculiar odor of kerosene and the slight
opalescence of these oils. These are
the ''highest'' kerosenes. The test OF an
oil, whether "high' or slow, " is the
temperature on Fahrenheit's scale to
which half-pint of it must be heated
to give off q sufficient amount Of infam-
mable vapor to either flash or burn.
s'Low-test" oils give off vapor that
will burn when heated from 20 to code
grees, Fahrenheit; highest flash at 120
degrees to 40 degrees. No oil that
gives off vapors that will flash when a
burning match is held over the oil heat
ed at 100 degrees is safe for any legiti-
| mate use. The temperature at which
the oil itself will take fire is no import
ance as an indication of safety, although
this is not infrequently used.
The third product of the distillation is
the dense, thick oil left in the still. This
is called s'reduced petroleum, and is
drawn off and used for fabrication. The
oils sold in the markets are roughly di-
vided into three classes-irst, the ''nor-
mall or highest oil, which represents
the middle distillate; second, the
sscrocked oils, and third, the various
mixtures of crooked and normal oils.
Crooked oils are made from the dense oils
| left after the naphtha and Illuminating
oils have been removed. The dense oils
are heated for several hours above their
boiling points, and by this process of
| destructive distillation are separated
into a lighter oil and carbonaceous
residue. Crooked oils contain too much
carbon in proportion to their hydrogen;
| thew are not inert to chemical agents
| like the normal oils. Hence, when they
are washed with sulphuric acid they
take up sulphurous acid, which, on burn
ing, gives off in the room the fumes of
sulphur oxide. The wick easily clogs,
and becomes charred and coated with
crusts of carbon. The last third, or
even half, of the oil in the reservoir be-
comes murky; the burner, lamp and oil
become heated, and the flame dense and
smoky; the lighter oils are changed into
yapor above the surface oil in the reser-
voir, and taking fire from the flame
causes explosion and destruction of the
lamp.
The pipeline oils flow from two great
oil districts, which represent two ex-
tremes in quality. These two oils are
i mixed in manufacture. The Butler
Clarion district, or slower country" as
it is called, in Butler and Clarion Coun-
ties, gives an oil containing but a small
proportion of the heavy paraf1ne oils,
while the product of the Bradford dis
trict has large proportion of the poor
er, heavy oil. Three-fourths of the crude
oil flowing into the pipeline comes from
the Bradford wells. As a result, the
/ best brands of oils on the market have
deteriorated until it is difficult, if not
impossible, to purchase an article of
burning oil as good as the best offered
on the market q few years ago.
ANY improvement in the quality Of
kerosenes must come from the opening
of wells giving superior quality Of
crude oil, which is not likely, or from
the introduction of different and better
| methods of separating and refining.
But this, of course, would increase the
cost of the oil. The present laws re-
lating to the test for oil are Of little val
ne, and vary in the different States
equal to the divorce laws. There is a
rich field for scientific investigation here
on the part of the general government,
ending, perhaps, in some national legis-
lation, to be followed by revision of