The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1896-05-19
REFINING LOS ANGELES OIL
What Is Now Being Done in Developing an
Infant Industry

Down on Ninth street near the river,
there has lately been established an in
dustry that means much to Los AnSe-
les. and which. while now in its in
fancy. bids fair TO expand and grow
until II shall attain an important COM
mercial basis. Reference is had to the
works of the Asphaltum and Oil Refining
company, Capital $4,000. of which
Theodore Clark, a Redlands man, is
president and manager, the balance of
the stock being held by the oil men. Do
heny Common and A. p. Maginnis, and
others. The firm recently acquired the
stills which were formerly at the cor
ner of Second street and Beaudry ave-
nue.. and have moved them to the new
location.
The works are enclosed by high
board fence and cover a space of ground
400 feet square. There are three sets of
buildings. storage house. boiler house
| and office and testing ROOM There are
three tanks. of a total capacity OF 800
| barrels. which are used for receiving
| crude oil and storing II until used. The
! engine is ter-horse power run by a
| forty horsepower boiler. Water is Sc
| cured from driven well eighty five feet
deep, which contains fifty-five feet of
water.
At present but two stills are in opera
ton, one of fifty and one of thirty bar
relS capacity. 1t takes a full twenty
four hours to complete the process of
distillation of one charge. and the works
fuel used is crude petroleum. both un-
der the stills and the boiler. On the
ground and being set up are two more
stills of $50 barrels capacity each, which
will be ready for operation inside of two
weeks, when the product of the refinery
will be quadrupled.
Three different grades of product are
made. besides the residue, or asphalt
tum. The first or highest is of 80 degrees
gravity. and is used as fuel in cooking
stoves, much the same as gasoline. This
grade is the highest as vet produced
and falls far short of being as pure as
ordinary kerosene. and cannot be burn
ed in lamp for Illuminating purposes.
The next grade is of 25 degrees gravity
and the third. or heavy oil. runs off at
%. The process of manufacture is as
follows:
The stills are, filed with crude. petro-
1eum and the fires started under them.
While the contents are boiling. during
the entire time live steam IS turned in
! the stills. The vapor from the mixture
passes off into the worms or condensers
which are contained in huge tank 50X10
feet filled with water There are two
worms in the tank. each containing 500
feet of pipe. Just before reaching the
END and passing ont the distillate and
Vapors and gases that have not con-
densed are collected in receiving drum.
whence the gases are drawn off by
suction steam jet and passed under the
boiler as fuel This process does away
with almost all of the noXious fumes re-
Sultant from the process.
From the receiving drums the distil-
late runs through pipes to the tail house
ana through what are called tail boxes
TO the tanks. AS stated, when the fires
are 1lrst started on a freshly filled still
the lighter hydrocarbons pass off first.
then the heavier and so on until all that
can be has been eVorated In the tail
mouse man watches the flow of dis
tillate and tests it frequently transfer
ring the flow to another tank as soon as
the product fails to show the required
degree of gravity.
The stills hold eighty barrels together
ana from this will be obtained 10 per
cent, or eight barrels Of cooking or 81
degree dtstillate; about n per cent. or
say Sixty barrels Of intermediate grades
ana lubffcating oil: 10 per cent. or eight
paffels or asphaltum. there being a loss
ol some per cent during distillation.
ne thlrd, or % gravity, oil is kept and
redistlled. From it is obtained neltrai
OH ano the residue cylinder stock Thera
are five receiving tanks for the different
grades or oil, and one of so barrels capac-
ity in which to run off the liquid asnhaI-
tum. When the process is con,rleted
ana the fres are drawn from under the
stllis the stop cocks are opened and the
asphaltum passes into this huge closed
TANK JETS OF live steam playing over
Ihe surface to prevent the stuff from,
pursuing INTO blaze. After six hours for
COOLING II is drawn off into barrels vbara