KEROSENE OIL Kerosene Lamps.—The use of kero sene in rural districts and small vil lages is practically universal. For merly, the oil of the sperm whale was the principal source of illumination in those localities, and before the dis covery of petroleum the problem of lighting for country districts was a very serious one. Petroleum had been known for many years before the first well was driven in northwestern Penn sylvania, in 1837, but from that time to this the use of kerosene and other petroleum products has increased rap idly.
To Choose Oil Lamps.—Practically all the standard makes of kerosene lamps are now safe and reliable, but the best results are those made on the principle of the German student lamp, having a reservoir of oil placed at a distance from the wick. If the wick protrudes directly from the reservoir of oil below it, the light decreases as the oil is consumed.
Petroleum and Its Products.—Pe troleum is a liquid containing bitumen, which occurs in a natural state in various parts of the world. It is also called rock oil and mineral oil. It ranges from a light straw color to black, depending upon the locality in which it is found. It sometimes occurs in springs, but is more often obtained by drilling wells.
Petroleum is now conveyed to mar kets and refineries through pipe lines, and the various oils derived from it are handled in tank cars, in steam ships, and in barrels. Among the products of petroleum are gasoline, naphtha, benzine, kerosene, lubricating oils, paraffine, vaseline, and other sub stances too numerous to mention.
These are obtained by distilling petroleum in an iron still having a condenser of wrought-iron pipes im mersed in water. When heat is ap plied to the still the lightest or most volatile constituents are first driven off in the form of a gas. The next heaviest constituents condense at or dinary temperatures as crude naphtha. These are afterwards distilled into gasoline and A B C naphthas. They have a specific gravity of 65° to 58° B.
When the stream of oil has a grav ity of 59° B. it is turned from the
naphtha tank to the kerosene tank until it reaches a gravity of about 38° B., or until the color becomes yel low. The stream is then turned into the paraffine tank until it ceases to flow at a gravity of about 25° B. The residuum contained in the still consists of a thick, heavy tar.
This is, of course, only an outline of the process, which is varied in a great many ways to produce a large number of by-products, as vaseline and numerous others used in medicine and in the arts. The following is a fair average composition of petro leum: Gasoline, 1 per cent; naphthas, 14 per cent; kerosene, 55 per cent; lubricating oil, 17A per cent; paraffine, 2 per cent; waste, 10 per cent.
Or, by another process, the same oil could be made to produce: Naphthas, 20 per cent; kerosene, 66 per cent; waste, 14 per cent.
Kerosene, or common illuminating oil, is the most important product of petroleum. Its appearance and prin cipal properties are well known. Its density should be from 43° to 45° B.
Gasoline is another important petro leum product. It is used largely in the carburetors of automobile and other gasoline engines, for purposes of illumination, and also for heating and cooking in stoves especially designed for the purpose.
The uses of crude petroleum and its various derivatives in the arts are very numerous, and its influence upon civ ilization has been hardly less than that of the steam engine and of electricity. There seems to be no reason to fear any shortage of the production of petroleum for an indefinite time to come.
To Test Illuminating Oil.—At ordi nary temperatures kerosene oil should extinguish a match as readily as wa ter. It should not give off any inflam mable gas below 110° F., nor take fire below 125° F. Kerosene is usually freed from naphtha by spraying. If kerosene contains even a very small quantity of naphtha it is highly in flammable and explosive; therefore it is required by law to be tested befbre it is sold.