i 5 6 



TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONT ELY. 



scribed it at length. A current of steam heated to incandescence, 

 meeting crude petroleum as it drips slowly over cast-iron shelves, 

 takes up all the 'oil and carries it to a chamber where it meets an air- 

 blast .and passes on to the combustion-chamber. This is a cellular 

 tier of fire-bricks occupying the space over the bridge-wall of an ordi- 

 nary furnace. Here the combustion begins, and thence the flames 

 pass into the furnace, heating the six piles of iron, of 500 pounds each, 

 which form a charge. Eight tons of boiler-plate can be worked off in 

 ten hours with 300 gallons of crude petroleum, to which should be 

 added 500 pounds of coal for generating and heating the steam. Pe- 

 troleum is also used as a source of power in hydrocarbon engines 

 (G. B. Brayton's), its vapor being mixed with air and ignited. 



Production and Value of Petroleum and its Products. "When 

 the first abundant supplies of petroleum were obtained, the demand for 

 it as an illuminator was small, and it could be bought at the wells for 

 ten cents a barrel, or was even allowed to run to waste (Wrigley), 

 but as the consumption increased the price rose steadily, reaching, in 

 1864, $13.75 per barrel. The average prices per barrel at Titusville 

 are given below, taken from StowelVs Petroleum Reporter, Pittsburg : 



1864. 

 1865. 

 1S66. 

 1867. 

 1868. 

 1869. 



$3 74 

 4 50 

 3 84 

 1 84 

 1 29 

 1 48 



The production of the Pennsylvania oil-region, from 1859 to 1874, 

 according to Wrigley, has been as follows : 



1859 



1860 



1861 2,113,600 



1862 3,056,606 



1863 2,611,359 



1864 2,116,182 



1865 3,497,712 



1866 3,597,527 



3,200 barrels. 

 650,000 " 



1867 3,347,306 barrels. 



1868 3,715,741 " 



1869 4,215,000 " 



1870 5,659,000 " 



1871 5,795,000 " 



1872 6,539,103 " 



1873 9,879,303 " 



1874 10,910,303 " 



The yield for 1859 is put at about 2,000 barrels by Mr. S. H. Stow- 

 ell, who has also kindly furnished the following statistics : 



Total Yield of the United States in 1875. 



Pennsylvania 8,787,506 bbls., of 42 galls. 



Western Virginia (approximated) 182,000 " " " 



All other sources, " 17,150 " " " 



Total 8,986,656 



The total value of the crude oils at the wells, up to the end of 1874, 

 is given by Wrigley as $235,475,120, with an additional value for 



