The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-03-09
AGE OF GLYCERIAE.
TONS USED IN THE NEW YORK AND
PENNSYLVANIA OIL FIELDS.
Manufacturers of Nitro Glycerine
Shooting OIL
Well
bradford cPa,) letter.

bradford (Pa,) Letter
@This is emphatically the age of glycer.
ine, ~ remarked an oil man, as he pen
sively contemplated the evershifting
hallway of the Petroleum exchange
LESS than two years ago DR.. Roberts.
who invented Oilwell torpedoes, had a
monopoly Of the business. lie raked in
several million dollars before his patents
expired, but he spent more than a million
In bringing lawsuits against inscriptions
persons who iufringed his rights.
There was always competition, th Ough,
and all Of the doctors money could not
crush the daring men who secretly manu-.
featured and cOvertly exploded the glycer.
inc in the wells after nightfall. Then
they were called moOnlighters. Now the
business is free to all Many moonlight
ers were blown to pieces while engaged
in their unholy work. The profits, how
ever. were 50 large that men were found
at AL times who were anxious 10 risk
their lives
GLYCERINE COMPANIES EVERYWHERE.
After the Roberts patent expired
glycerine companies spraug up in every
direction. The day after the monopoly
expired the announcements of round
dozen glycerine manufacturers appeared
in the oil country papers. The era o.
high prices came TO an end at the same
time In Bradford alone there are nC
less than nine large firms who manu-
facture and explode about thirteen
tons of glycerine per month.
~Never before in the history Of the re
gion has the use of glycerine been so eX
tensive. For years the producer in the
Bradford field was content to use fifteen
or twenty quart shots 10 was feared thai
heavier doses would ultimately destroy
the sand formation and ruin the wells.
The enormous prices charged for large
torpedoes in those days a So had bearing
on the situation Torpedoes were quoted
as high as 81 200 For $500 a wealthy
oil man could give his well good shak
ing up. Then glycerine was sold by the
quart Now oil men buy the stuff by the
barrel A barrel contains forty-twO gal
Ions, and costs about $3.50.
"Bradford's nine firms employ fifty
shooters. They are kept on the 60 both
day and night Last month over twelve
tons Of glycerine were burned in the Brad
ford field alone. In July at least ten tons
of the explosive were lowered into the
wells, and, from all accounts, Septem
ber's record will surpass that
PHENOMENAL SHOTS.
eighty quarts, or nearly half barrel,
now represents the average shot. Dyna-
mite s4uibs have in large measure sue
ceeded the go devil The go devil
critical moment on the firing head of the
torpedo. exploding it, The constant en-
largement Of the cavity in the oil. bearing
rock neCessitated something better, and
that was the dynamite squib While the
average shot is eighty quarts, there are
many firms who think nothing of eXplod-
ing from two to five barre of glycerine
in well. The sho tears out the rock
and opens up the clogsed veins of oil.
The cans in which the deadly explosive is
transported about the held have been en-
larged from six To eight quarts capacity,
and each shooters wagon carries ten cans,
or eighty quarts, of thestu {.
some wells are treated TO phenomenal
shots The owners of a test we'll in W ar
rem county wanted to make a big show.
ing. They used over a ton of glycerine
The earth around the well trembled and
the spectators were Frustrated on the
ground It 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 after
shooting. Wells do not hold out long
after such an experience. They gradually
decline, and in the course of a few
weeks fall of to their original figures
dollar oil in Bradford, aud the heavy
premium paid for lower country, or white
sand oil is the cause of this boom in the
glycerine market. During the past six
months over fifty tons Of the explosive
have been consumed in the New York and
Pennsylvania oil fields. If oil ever touches
So barrel 1t will pay producers to man.