G68 



PETROLEUM, OR ROCK OIL. 



either to purchase or dispose, wholly or in part. 

 Against undue advantages of this sort, and for 

 eome other points connected with oil mining, it 

 has been supposed that some new legislation will 

 probably yet be required. 



Jn case of a few of the flowing wells it ap- 

 pears that the tubing has been made so to ex- 

 tend above the surface as to accommodate the 

 force of the discharge, and to allow the oil to 

 flow into elevated tanks. As the oil can flow 

 spontaneously only in consequence of the press- 

 ure of a head of liquid or of a body of gas, it 

 has lately been attempted, and it appears with 

 success in some cases, to aid a failing gas press- 

 ure, or to establish (independently of such ac- 

 tion) an upward current, by passing down a sec- 

 ond tube outside that for oil, and forcing down 

 air by means of a powerful air-pump, worked 

 by the engine. The added tube is turned up 

 at its lower end so as just to enter the oil-tube, 

 and the force with which the injected air rises 

 the pump sometimes being worked under a 

 pressure of 200 to 400 Ibs. to the square inch 

 brings up also the oil and water entering the 

 tube. It is anticipated that this method may 

 also restore the productiveness of some wells 

 vidch have ceased to be pumped with profit. 

 In some cases in which the tubing or the open- 

 ing into the oil-cavity has become clogged by 

 parafh'ne, the former being likely to occur dur- 

 ing the cold months, a jet of steam forced down 

 the tube for a sufficient length of time, is said 

 to have removed the difficulty. In order to 

 cheapen and facilitate the boring of the rocks, 

 it has been proposed to bring the " diamond 

 drill " into use. This drill is in tube form, its 

 edge being set with a sort of cheap or " block" 

 diamonds ; and being caused to revolve, it some- 

 what rapidly cuts a "core" into the rock to a 

 certain depth, which could then be broken off 

 and hoisted out, and the process repeated. An 

 invention of still more recent date ttian the 

 last, and unlike it, designed expressly for oil- 

 boring, is that of Col. E. A. L. Roberts, of New 

 York, and known as the petroleum torpedo. It 

 appears intended for use, when necessary, to 

 clear the borings from paraffine and sediment, 

 but more particularly to fracture the rock lat- 

 erally about the place of its explosion, so as to 

 open up communications with surrounding oil 

 cavities, which often, though very near, are com- 

 pletely shut off by the compact and unbroken 

 condition of the surrounding rock. A cylindri- 

 cal tube, four feet in length, and made to fit the 

 bore of a well, is filled with gunpowder, and 

 suitably closed, and this is lowered by a wire 

 into a well to be operated on, to any desired 

 point. It can then be exploded either by per- 

 cussion, as by a weight let fall along the wire, 

 or in other ways. It is anticipated that by its 

 &ction wells previously unproductive may in 

 many cases at once be brought to yield abun- 

 dantly. 



Oil wets are at present (beginning of 1865) 

 sunk in the sandstones of the N. W. Penn- 

 sylvania region, by contract, at $3 per foot. To 



this item of the cosl of sinking a well, amount- 

 ing, for a depth of 600 feet, to $1,800, must be 

 added many other outlays ; as, at present prices, 

 for an engine of ten horse-power, delivered, 

 abc~jt $2,000; derrick, working-beam, and ap- 

 purtenances, $150; band-wheel, belting, &c., 

 $100; set of tools, $400; H inch hawser and 

 small rope, $100; 600 feet tubing, at $1.10, 

 $660; 50 feet driving pipe, $350; 500 bushels 

 of coal, $380 ; pump-barrel and valves, $37 ; 

 wrenches, clamp, &c., $40. These may be re- 

 garded as approximately correct estimates of 

 expenses, at the time, in currency, incidentals 

 not being Included. To their total, $6,017, 

 however, at least 25 per cent, should be added 

 for unforeseen and contingent expenses. 



Qualities of Crude Petroleum. The oil at first 

 appears as a dirty or muddy stream, in which, 

 along with petroleum, earth or sand, and often 

 water, are mixed. If, later, other intermixture 

 ceases, water commonly continues to be brought 

 up with the oil, perhaps in increasing propor- 

 tion. The mixed liquid is discharged or con- 

 veyed from the pumps into tanks, of capacities 

 of from 30 to more than 1,000 barrels, and al- 

 lowed to stand for some time. The water, 

 being heavier, now mainly separates, and sand 

 if present these sinking to the bottom of the 

 tank. The crude oil thus becomes collected by 

 itself, floating upon the water, and acquires its 

 characteristic appearance. That of the Oil 

 Creek region has commonly a greenish hue, 

 sometimes, it is said, changing in the lighter 

 qualities to reddish. It is stated to be generally 

 of different gravities according to depth, the 

 deeper wells giving the lighter and purer oils. 

 The oils of the bituminous coal-fields are gen- 

 erally of a brown color. This is commonly the 

 color of the oils of West Virginia and S. E. 

 Ohio, and to some extent, though not invariably, 

 also of those of Canada West. Most of the last 

 named possess a strong odor of sulphur-com- 

 pounds ; and they have generally proved very 

 difficult of refining. 



To a great extent the oils of the West Vir- 

 ginia and S. E. Ohio region, as were those of 

 the Mecca district, are of the distinctly low 

 gravity sort known as (crude) "lubricating" 

 oils ; and, whenever not unusually impure, such 

 are as yet commercially more valuable than the 

 very light oils, such as those of most of the 

 wells of Oil Creek and some other parts of the 

 N". W. Pennsylvania region. Some oils of the 

 latter region, however, as those of French Creek, 

 are also of low gravity, and are prized accord- 

 ingly. The most abundantly yielding wells of 

 Oil Creek (i. e., those reaching the third rock), 

 afford the lightest oil; and the rule is, in fact, 

 a general one. On the other hand, the wells 

 affording a heavy oil, are almost without excep- 

 tion those the yield of which is comparatively 

 limited. Indeed, the higher price which the 

 heavy oils command, may be said to depend on 

 the fact that as yet they do not in quantity so 

 nearly meet the existing demand growing out 

 of the purposes they serve, as is the case with 



