ll. t. Ch. 24 ( 53 THE ART OF DISTILLATION AND THE DAWN OF THE HYDROCARBON SOCIETY Mrtn . Sltzn, rvdn Cll Of ll th thn pld n th lbrtr nn n bhlf f th Sn Ol Cpn. h ll frt h h n nnt ln tht f dtlltn. h prdd rd l n At 2,8, nd th th l frt f dtlltn r hrdd n ntt, bt ndtr bn n t td. Id rbll h rtnl b th Mddl A bd f ltrtr x rttn, hvr (: td drbn vr pt f th thn. h ...h dvlpnt f th Arn l ndtr d Enlpd f n drt (84, hh p nt bn, nl d, th th dvr prd n vntn vl fr 2, ntn f l n At, 8, nr tvll, nnlv n xtnv ntr n dtlltn th n rfrn n. tn dvr, l dtn th bnnn f t vr trt n th bjt. rb h pr r r rvltn, n f htr t dd prhp th t dfntv td f th bjt ldn hrt t. vr l r nd rv fr ntt thrh th nntnth ntr n h b ltn hv ln brnd. A Short History of h rt f th the Art of Distilla- l ndtr n tion (. b trd b t th frth n h prdt tr .C. n th tht t d Mddl Et. In tl t nd Mpt, tht td ptrl prd th dtlltn t r vl lhl. vr, bl fr bt nthr prdt, p n p, l trl, h hd fr prn, nd l rtr n brn r. n fr r tn t. h bnnn d b th f th hdrrbn Srn, t (2 ll Arn, nd td th th blnn ll drlld t ln fr tvll, nnl thr bt, rr vn, b Edn . tn t, r (8880 St Crtft f th Sn Ol Cpn 54 Bull. Hist. Chem. 24 (1999) t th dtlltn f rd l fnd n th rtn f n Alh (00, Srn htrn nd n f lttr (4): Many types of naft are water white by nature and so volatile that they cannot be stored in open vessels. Others are obtained from a kind of pitch in a turbid and dark condition, but by further treatment they can be made clear and white by distilling them like rose water. hr r n rprt n th Arb ltrtr f th dnl vl f nft rtv fr vr lln. Crd l ntnll rfnd n th Mddl Et, prtlrl n th rn rrndn th t f n prnt d Azrbjn fr th vnth ntr A nrd. trl p n th Untd Stt hd bn d vrd rl 62 n trn Yr nr th prnt tn f Cb. h bt t r fnd n t rn nnlvn ln tr pprprtl nd Ol Cr, nr th tn f tvll. h l p r dvrd b Mrvn nr, vd brr, n 68. h Sn hd bn n rd l fr dnl prp, nd t n b n t Edwin L. Drake f trd th th Erpn ttlr. hn rtnl nd n n br. h Eptn d btn n prrbd rd l n th frt prt f th nntnth thr ftn prdr. h trl b ntr r:: fr vrt f lln. tnd fr th d S hr h bll prdll hr r t jr prbl n th f p r t th rf. h Eptn trd ntrlld trl fr lhtn nd htn. rt, thr nt n b Arb h v th Arb n "nft" t th prd ffnt brnr fr th trl nd nd, ppl t, fr hh drvd th drn tr nphth. f rfnd prdt nt vlbl t cost pt ft b fr pn n th rnl f th tv th th thr fl vlbl. In 80 rn zntn nd Ml r nd nv, hh r rr A Arnd (080 nvntd brnr tht ntndn fr dnn n th rn n th th n prdd n ntnt f lht tht hd nvr bn p tr. It blvd tht th pn hh b nn bl bfr (. h Arnd brnr t xpnv th "Gr r" hv bn dtllt rthr t prd fr th rt, bt th dvlpnt n thn rd l. h pn d th rt fft th rl 80 n Atr f brnr th flt b th zntn t th ttl f Kz n 680 C n hh h hpr t prd lvd th frt hh th Ml flt ffrd nr lt prbl. h flt b th tndrd n r fr brnn. n lp nd lntrn fr tht t nrd nd h frt rrdd rfrn t dtlltn f rd tll prdd td n h th . l ppr n th rtn f Mhd lz In 80 n hd th h f vrt f ld (420, rn phn nd ht, n h fl f vrn lhtn blt nd pr. h bt was Book of Secrets. h pr drbd nvlv th d pr l, bt th Arn hln ndtr hd v lld n lb, hh h bn trnltrtd dtd th pr hl ppltn tht th t f nt Enlh lb. h lb b tn th prdt b prhbtv fr th nrl ppl drd p f pprt thrht th Mddl Et nd tn. n l, brnn fld, nd phn thn b Erp fr pl dtlltn (. 2. h dtllt l th prnpl fl. Cphn, xtr f pr z drbd t rbl rn, tht fr fd trpntn nd lhl, was very popular vn tn f rd l d fr htn nd lhtn nd th thh t prtlrl dnr b f th vl pt fr drlln th frt l ll. A ltr rfrn tlt f t pnnt nd rrd pl brnr. A ll. t. Ch. 24 ( 55 much better fuel was needed; and this was produced by mercial success (Fig.4). Having an excess of crude oil Abraham Gesner ( I 797-1864), a Canadian physician by in his possession, Kier turned his attention to its use as training but also a geologist, chemist, and inventor (6). an illuminant. Crude oil itself was unsatisfactory be- Sometime in 1845 Gesner began experiments to pro- cause of its odor and the smoke it produced when burned. duce a better fuel by dry distillation from a black min- Kier sought the advice of James C. Booth (1810-1888), eral named albertite found in New Brunswick. He ob- a consulting chemist in Philadelphia, who suggested he tained a liquid whose use as a fuel for lighting he dem- distill the crude. A small-scale refinery was built in Pitts- onstrated as early as 1846 in public lectures on Prince burgh in 1850; and Kier's product, which he named "car- Édward Island. bon oil," was a local success. That prompted this pio- A similar material could be obtained by dis- tillation of pitch found on the island of Trinidad (Fig. 3) and also of certain types of English fuel called can- nel coal. In 1853 Gesner moved to New York to su- perintend the construction of the first commercial plant to produce this new hydrocarbon fuel, generi- cally named rock oil. Gesner's patent (US Patent 70525, Jan. 29,1850) cov- ered a process to produce a volatile fraction to which he gave the name keroselain, Crlr Ud b Kr t Advrt trl Mdn from the Greek kerns for wax and elain for oil. For public relations reasons the nr oil refiner to build a larger scale plant outside Pitts- name was changed to kerosene so that it resembled the burgh. The major drawback to the use of Kier's product name camphene. Kerosene was shown to be a much was a disagreeable odor, but yet 1,183 barrels (each 31 better value for money than any other of its competi- 1/2 gallons) were sold at very high prices. Demand ex- tors. This even included coal gas, both in terms of the ceeded supply, but every attempt to produce more oil cost and the resulting brilliance of the illumination. by drilling additional salt wells proved a failure. The Kerosene became an instant success; by 1859 between value of hydrocarbon fuels for lighting and heating had fifty and sixty plants, representing an investment of four been well established; the major problems were still the million dollars, had been built. These were based on supply and the cost. The solution to this dilemma be- Gesner's process as well as a similar one that had been gan in the fall of 1853. invented and patented by the Scotsman James Young (1811-1883) in Britain and the United States (US Patent Francis B. Brewer (1820-1881), a physician and 8833, March 21, 1852) (7). No one, however, at this graduate of Dartmouth College, had moved to Titusville time was producing kerosene in any significant quanti- in 1851 to join the firm of Brewer, Watson, and Com- ties because of the lack of a supply of crude oil. pany, which had been established by Brewer's father Ebenezer in 1844 to produce lumber from a large tract In parts of Pennsylvania wells had been drilled for of land he owned on Oil Creek. After having completed some time which produced salt water as a source of salt. his medical studies at Jefferson Medical School in Phila- In many of these wells besides the salt water quantities delphia, Brewer began the practice of medicine in Barnet, of crude oil came to the surface. In 1849 Samuel Kier Vermont. He had used petroleum oil in his medical prac- (1813-1874) conceived the idea of selling oil from the tice beginning in 1848. In 1850 Brewer decided to give salt wells for medicinal purposes; but "Kier's Petroleum up the practice of medicine and become an active part- or Rock Oil," put up in half-pint bottles, was not a corn- 6 ll.