The Washington times. (Washington, D.C.) 1894-1895, 1895-06-09
DOMESTIC USES OF PETROLEUM.
Household Drudgery Is Reduced One.
half by Using Mineral OIL.

DOMESTIC USES OF PETROLEUM.
Household Drudgery Is Reduced One
half by Using Mineral OIL.
Every day the virtues of mineral oil
become more widely known, until there
seems to be really no limit to the
services one may eventually expect from
it, The Southern negroes, before the adj
Observation-Disclosures uponthe plantations
| mad reckless fashion of administering kero-
! seneinternally asa remedy for every variety
of complaint. from the vaguely general
disease known as misery b" to such defined
distresses as toothache, and invariably de-
clared themselves the better for the nox-
| lous dose. Latterly so many valuable
medicines have been extracted from Pc
troleum that one is free to suppose the
negro got the benefit of the whole Of them.
and some one was sure to reach each par
ticuiar complaint
But it is in the household that the uses
| of the oil has been most recently dis
| covered. and here its value is most actively
! appreciated. Its special characteristic is
that OF cleansing agent, and there really
| seems To be no object OF domestic service
that is not benefited by the application.
1t has, for example, robbed window
washing OF all its terrors, and under its
mild and oleaginous regime the long pro-
cessioD OF pals, brushes, cloths, papers and
\ chamois skins which followed the house
maid about from spot 10 spot, all through
| window cleaning day have vanished never
| to return. Now all she considers necessary
is a cloth. small basin OF warm water, a
cup half full of kerosine. and one clean
/ cbanois. She takes her small hair brush
and cleans away all dust from about the
window lodges. The cloth is dipped into
/ the water, and wrung out nearly dry;
/ about a teaspoonful OF the oil is poured
upon it, ana with this the pare is rubbed
clear and translucent almost by a turn OF
| the wrist. The chanois is used as pol
1 ish. and not a single cloud or smear-such
as in the old days the maid was constantly
| being reprIInahded Tor-mars the glistening
surface of the glass. Moreover, windows
washed by the new kerosine method re-
tain their bnlliancy and cleanliness nearly
| twice as long.
Mirrors have given up their cantanker-
| BUSINESS under the same treatment. The
| old soap-and-water process meant endless
/ polishing, and even then only the most
| skillful and diligent maid ever succeeded
4 in leaving a surface which showed no dim
| ness from whatever part OF the room it
| was regarded, while since the reign OF
| kerosene any one can clean mirror and
| clean it perfectly, and the same method ap-
| plies quite as well to the glass over pic
| lures. Tins in the kitchen feel the magic
of mineral oil, and where long securing
was necessary to keep them bright and
shining in the past, to-day the up-to-date
/ cook dips her flannel cloth in kerosene,
| then into powdered lime or common whit
/ ing, and with these scours her tins into
| likeness of the Aforementioned mirrors,
| and ali with only half the labor or
| course they want a thorough rinsing in
hot suds afteTward to free them of all
ww-Twu ~t.~.N
she breads, and not the quick and easy
rinsing.
If she has an oilcloth on her floor she
| adds a gill of kerosene to her securing
| water, dips a mop in the pail, passes 1t
| quickly over the painted surface, dries it
| with flannel cloth, and with this slight
| effort leaves it bright and polished almost
| as new. and an oilcloth treated in this
manner will ouuast one scrubbed up in
| the old way twice over. Many a house
keepers heart has gone nigh to breaking
! in despair over painted floors and balconies
| which showed every foot mark, and were
| only made diugy and dismal by all efforts
| to wash them out. a flannel cloth wTung
| out in cold water and well sprinkled with
kerosene makes a painted floor almost as
easy to keep as one of the costly hard
| woods, and the odor of the cleansing VIII
| pass completely away in half an hour. On
| balconies indeed, or where the windows of
| the room are left open during the process,
| the smell evaporates so quickly as not to
| be noticed at all.
| Perhaps, however, the most valuable
| quality yet discovered in kerosene as a
/ household agent is its power of cleansing
soiled clothes. A bar of soap should be
/ shaved up into quart of warm water. and
/ allowed TO stand until it has quite melted.
| Into this stir one tablespoonful OF kerosene
! oil and set aside. Take the most soiled Of
! the white cIothes-colored ones are not
| benefited by this proceSS-lay them in
| soak with just enough water to cover them.
Soap them wen with the soft soap in
| which the kerosene oil has been mixed
| Leave them over night In the morning
| add more hot water and rub them out
| they will require very little of this, no
matter how soiled they may have been
and they can then be rinsed in clear water,
| starched and blued and hung out to dry.
They will not retain the slightest odor
| of the oil and will be especially white and
clear, and that with the very minimum Of
hard work. 1t seems, indeed, as if this
| mineral grease was an excellent substitute
for the far-famed elbow grease, which
heretofore has been absolutely essential to
cleanliness.
These are but a few Of the many uses
TO which kerosene is being daily put in the
household, as every day experiment proves
its value in some new direction.