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Heating, Lighting, and Refrigeration: Petroleum

KEROSENE OIL Kerosene Lamps. -The use of kero sene in rural districts and small villages is practically universal. For- HEATING, LIGHTING, AND REFRIGERATION merly, the oil of the sperm whale was the principal source of illumination in those localities, and before the discovery 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 Pennsylvania, in 1837, but from that time to this the use of kerosene and other petroleum products has increased rapidly.

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. -Petroleum 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 markets and refineries through pipe lines, and the various oils derived from it are handled in tank cars, in steamships, and in barrels. Among the products of petroleum are gasoline, naphtha, benzine, kerosene, lubricating oils, paraffine, vaseline, and other substances too numerous to mention. These are obtained by distilling petroleum in an iron still having a condenser of wrought-iron pipes immersed in water. When heat is applied 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 ordinary 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 gravity 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 yellow. 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 petroleum: Gasoline, 1½ per cent; naphthas, 14 per cent; kerosene, 55 per cent; lubricating oil, 17½ 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 principal properties are well known. Its density should be from 43° to 45° B.

Gasoline is another important petroleum 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 civilization 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 ordinary temperatures kerosene oil should extinguish a match as readily as water. It should not give off any inflammable 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 inflammable and explosive; therefore it is required by law to be tested before the form of sediment mixed with the it is sold.

There are two kinds of tests: the "flash test," which determines the lowest temperature at which oil gives off an inflammable vapor, and the "burning test," which determines the lowest temperature at which the oil takes fire. This test is made commercially by means of an apparatus having a cup to hold the oil, in which the bulb of a thermometer is immersed, and which is surrounded by a vessel of water heated by an alcohol lamp.

The temperature is slowly increased at the rate of about 2 per cent a minute. The oil is stirred at intervals, a flame applied, and the point noted at which an inflammable vapor is given off, and also at which the oil takes fire.

A rough test for ordinary purposes may be made by filling a cup with water, inserting an ordinary thermometer, and bringing the temperature to 110° over a slow fire. Pour a tablespoonful of oil on the water, and apply a lighted match. If the oil takes fire it is unsafe and is liable to explode. Dealers who sell oil that will not stand this test at 110° are liable to prosecution by law. They should be compelled to take back the oil and refund the price paid for it.

To Purify Kerosene. -The adulteration of oil by means of a heavier oil than standard kerosene causes a dimness of the flame and charring of the wick. The best kerosene oil is clear and nearly colorless, like water. To purify kerosene oil, add to 100 pounds of oil 1 pound of chloride of lime, mixed with 12 pounds of water to the consistency of cream. This must be done in a lead-lined vat, as iron or copper will be corroded by the process. Thoroughly mix these materials, let stand over night, and add 1 or 2 pounds of sulphuric acid diluted with 20 to 50 parts of water and boil with gentle heat, stirring constantly until a sampłe tested on a glass plate is perfectly clear. Let the mixture settle, when the oil will rise to the top and can be drawn off, leaving the impurities in acidulated water.

The following four paragraphs are adapted from Macbeth's "Index."

The Care of Lamps.-Lamps smell and give poor light: first, because they are not kept clean; or secondly, the wick is poor or clogged by having been used too long; or thirdly, the chimney is wrong.

Trim, clean, and fill daily, and wipe the whole lamp.