, 1885-10-21
AGE OF ~GLYCERINE.
TONS USED IN The NEW YORK ANo
PENNSYLVANIA OIL FIELDS


This is emphatically the age of glyccr
Inc. remarked an oil man, as he pei
si,ely contemplated the evershiftinl
figures in the electric indicator in thu
hal WAY Of the Petroleum exchange
~i.csi than two years ago DR. Roberts
who invented oil well torpedoes. had
monopoly OF the business lie raked il
ie ernl million dollars before his patent
esp red. but he spent more than a millior
80 ~b.inging lawsuits against unscrupulou'
persons who infringed his rights,
There was always competition. though
aud all of the doctors money could no
crush the daring men who secretly manu-
Ia tured and c~overtly exploded the glycer
lne ia the wells after nightfall. TheI
tiey were called moonlighters Now The
business is free 10 all Many moonlight
ers were blown to pieces while engaged
ia their unholy work The profits. how
ever. were so large that men were fount
at all times who were anxious TO risk
their lives
LYcGRlsE COMPANIES EVERYWHERE.
After the Roberts patent expired
glycerine companies sprang up in every
direction The day after the monopoly
expired the announcements Of a rount
dozen glycerine manufacturers appeared
in the oil country papers. The era o
high prices came to an end at the SAINT
time In Bradford alone there are NJ
less than nine large firms who manu-
facture and explode about thirteel
tons Of glycerine per month.
Never before In the history Of the re
gion has the use Of g'ycerine been so ex
iensive. For years the producer in thu
Bradford field was content TO use iifteei
or twenty quart shots. 1t was feared tina
heavier doses would ultimately destroy
NIa aunI f,WNnANta. A,l ..... IL. ...II
The enormous prices charged. for larg,
torpedoes in those days a'so had n bearing
on the situation. Torpedoes were quoted
rs high as 81. 200. For $500 Il wealth,
oil man could give his well II good shak
ing up Then glycerine was sold by thu
quart Now oil men buy the stuff by tn
barrel. A barrel contains forty two gdl
Ions, and costs about $3.50.
"Bradford's nine firms employ nifty
shooters. They are kept on the 90 boil
day and night. Last month over twelv,
tons OF glycerine were burned in the Brad
ford field alone. In July at least len ton
Of the explosive were lowered into III,
wells. and. from all accounts, Septem
hers record will surpass that
PHENOMENAL SHoTs.
Eighty quarts. or nearly half a barrel
now represents the average shot. Dyna.
IL nHuiUa uuNtf III u lAiBt nithsuIC. sue
ceeded the 20 devil. The go devil
is a weight which was dropped at the
critical on the firing head of tn,
torpedo. exploding it. The constant EN-
largement Of the cavity in the oil bearing
rock necessitated something better, anC
that was the dynamite squib While tn,
average shot is eighty quarts, there arr
many firms who think nothing of explod.
ing from two TO five barrels of glycerint
in a well The shock tears u the rocl
and opens up the clogged veins of oil
The ans in which the deadly explosive 4
transported about the field have been en-
larged from six TO eight quarts capacity
and each shooters wagon carries ter cans
Or eighty quarts. of the stuff.
Some wells are treated to phenomena
shots The owners Of a test well in War
rem county wanted to make a big show
ing They used over a ton of glycerine
The earth around the well trembled anC
the spectators were Frustrated on tn,
ground 1t was the largest shot on record
A well which produces from one to two
barrels per day naturally. has its capacity
increased TO eight or ten barrels afteI
shooting. Wells do not hold out long
after such an experience. They gradually
decline, and in the course Of u few
weeks fall off to their original figures
dollar oil in Bradford. and the heavy
premium paid for lower country, or whit
sand oil. is the cause Of This boom in the
glycerine market. During the past six
months over fifty ton of the explosive
have been consumed in the New York anC
Pennsylvania oil fields. II oil ever touche.
81 a barrel II will pay producers to man
ufacture their own glycerine. ="