PETROLEUM

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 264, 29 March 1911, Page 3

PETROLEUM

WHAT IT MEANS TO MANKIND. ' (Tli,' \Vit',;!v Scotchman). What would happen to the world if the supplies of petroleum should suddenly cease? The effect of such an event would be so groat that the human mind cannot conceive it. It ha? been stated that, save for the water he drinks and the air he breathes, every possible necessity of a man's life may be supplied either directly or iadirectly through the use of the products of petroleum. Even his supply of water may be obtained by a gasolene engine. To be sure, it does not seem probable that the .supply of oil will <jive out immedii'.ti'ly, for the United Suites alone is producing petroleum at the rate of 050,000 barrels daily, or over 200,000,000 barrels a year. That the earth contains immense pools of oil is evident from the fact that between the day in 1859 that ft. L. Drake, a Connecticut railroad conductor, struck oil in Western Pennsylvania, and January 1. 1908, 1,800,000 barrels were drawn from the earth in the United States alone, and the production to-day is greater than ever. BY - PRODUCTS. With the exception of iron, it has been asserted that nothing taken out of the earth has proved so valuable to man as petroleum. In the beginning little effort was made to do more than remove the elements which injured it for illuminating purposes. In course of time ways were' found for using the by-products, such as gasolene, benzine, naphtha, various grades of lubricating .oil, paraffin, tar and coke or aphalt All of theso elements are obtained by simply heating the crude oil in stills. The different elements of the "crude" are vaporised at different temperatures. The first vapor which rises from the surface of the heating oil 13 cymogene. This is so volatile that it can be condensed again only by the use of ice. It is used occasionally in surgical operations in which it is desired to freeze the part to be operated upon. The vapors which follow these are of gasolene, naphtha and benzine. KEROSSiii,. Having switched off into the appropriate receptacles all the gasolene, naphtha and benzine given off by the boiling fluid in the still, the "stillman" turns another valve and the condensed vapor of the next product to be given off pours forth in still another tank. This is illuminating oil proper. The part which illuminating oil has played and is still playing in the civilisation of the world is incalculable. While electricty and gas—in the enrichment of which a grade oil is used—are available for the townsman in all civilised lands, they are not for the dweller in rural regions. The inhabit; it of the uttermost parts of the earth is dependent upon oil for his evening light.' It is difficult to picture what the cessation of the supply of kerosene would mean to the world without going back for illustration to the days when the illsmelling and smoky whale oil lamp and the tallow dip were illuminants of the home. One can hardly realise that this .was only fifty years ago. Even a description of those days would not give a correct picture, for mankind the world around has become accustomed to the smokeless kerosene lamp. . It lights the hut of the miner in far Alaska and in the gulches of Colorado. By means of a kerosene lamp the conservative Chinaman reads the curious characters in which his language is presented to the eve. WHAT LIGHT MEANS TO THE WORLD. _ Religion, education, industry, social life, all owe a debt to oil. the dimensions of which they do not realise. If the supply of illuminating oil were suddenly to be cut off many religious services in all parts of the world would be stopped, ambitious men and women and youths would have to give up their efforts to add to their stock of knowledge, or else j get out the traditional tallow dip by which self-made men of other days acquired the foundations for their reputations, and human beings trying to add to their earnings by night work at home would do so at great risk to their eyesight. J Add to this the loss to the world if the supply of gasolene, naphtha and benzine were cut off. Gasolene is the standby of the airman and the motorist. The farmer uses it to lighten his farm work. It helps him plough, thrash his grain, cut his fodder, grind his axe, and take his family and produce to market. It aids the fisherman. It helps the lumberman in the forests and the mechanic in his ship. It lifts the water supply into the tank in town and country. Naphtha and benzine go into soap, and the printer would not know what to do without this material for cleaning his types and presses. Many varnishes would suffer for want of benzine. And how would the painter replace the old coat of paint with the new without the aid of the naphtha lamp? LUBRICATING OIL. The next vapor to pass through condensing pipes to the stillman's valve is that which thickens into viscous lubricator. Without lubricator every wheel in the world would have to stop. The railroad train would be unable to leave, the yards. The steamship would have to remain at its pier. The automobile would stand in its tracks until it dropped to pieces. The electric generator would cease its purring hum. The cogs of every machine would squeak and squeal, and finally manufacture would come to a standstill.

•Save for the telegraph and the telephone, man would he as isolated as in the stage coach days. The farmers' produce would rot on the ground or in the storehouses. The depletion of the earth's supplies of coal, iron, copper, gold and silver would be stopped for the time being, and no one would need to worry about the natural resources. They would 1;« amply able to take care of themselves. The tariff question would cease to annoy,, although the question of the cost of living might not be settled. In the lubricating field come.-, vaseline, serviceable not only as a lubricant for machinery, but for the mechanism of man. PARAFFIN'. Next in the scale is pnrallin. For a long time the oil refiner was troubled with the disposal of this clement in Ids oil. Then it was discovered that it made admirable candles. N'ow paraffin is one of the valuable by-products of petroleum, useful not only for illuminating purposes, but in manufacturing processes. In the manufacture of matches it is ii-i-il as a coating for waterproofing the head-:. ft is also used to waterproof fabrics, as a lininsr for barrels, in glazing paper, and in the production of wax and oil paper. 11 i., employed in the maim-,' Inctuiv of ornamoni-. for gypsum and] oilier mineral, in hiumiry work, as a preservative for food, of all kinds, especially in the domestic canning; of fruits: I in waxing (lowers, for the protection of labels and stoppers in bottles of corrosive liquids, in electrical work for insHlalion purposes, and as the basis of chewing 2'Miil. TAR AND C'-OKK. After the paraffin has been distilled there remains tar. From the tar valuable dve.s are made. Nor is this the final product. There is still a residuum of

coke, which is especially valuable because of its freedom from imperfections for electric light cargons and for artists' crayoii3. It is almost impossible to enumerate the various uses to which petroleum lend-, itself. It assists in the extraction of oil from seeds, in the manufacture of linoleum or oilcloth, in taking greases out of leather, in the preparation of jute. It is useful j|i the killing of insects, such as mosquitoes; in the protection of animals against certain post.s, such as the gadlly; the cure of various skin diseases, the preservation of piles and wharf timbers, and for laying the dust on railroads and highways. The great supplies of oil found in Texas and California are especially useful as fuel under the steam boiled, in place of coal. Scores upon scores of steamers and hundreds of locomotives are driven by the economical and clean fuel. The world would be a much less habitable place without petroleum. We want a refinery in New Plymouth. We have the oil and plenty of it. We have not the money to erect it. If you bake up preference shares, however, we will. Send for application forms to Walter Bewley.—Advfc