A whaling ship not only carried the hunters in pursuit; it was a factory that stripped the whale’s carcass of its valuable parts and rendered the fat into oil that could be stored for the duration of the voyage. Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick, although not popular when it was first published in 1851, presented a reasonably accurate picture of the hunt, the shipboard rendering of blubber into oil, and the harvesting of spermaceti. Whale fishery products also included whale bone, a fibrous material taken from the mouths of certain whales that was prized for its flexibility, strength, elasticity, and lightness. It was used for umbrella ribs, stiffening stays, and the frameworks of hats. When heated, whalebone was flexible and retained the shape into which it was molded.
Kerosene and coal oil were distilled from coal. At a later time, kerosene would be known as a distillate of petroleum. Lard oil was made from the fat of butchered swine. Camphene, burning fluid, and rosin oil were all derived from turpentine, which was distilled from the sap of pine trees. Camphene, also referred to as oil of turpentine, was a distillate of turpentine, and burning fluid was a mixture of turpentine and alcohol. Rosin oil was a distillate of rosin, a product of distilling turpentine. Camphene and burning fluid were explosive and responsible for much injury and fire damage. In spite of the danger, people used camphene because it was cheap. Lamps intended for use with camphene or burning fluid generally had one or more narrow cylindrical burners that rose an inch or more above the top of the reservoir that held the fuel – keeping the flame at a distance from the fuel reduced the risk of an explosion.
The Light-House Board, an administrative body that was a part of the federal government, operated 425 lighthouses and lighted beacons and 47 light-vessels along the coasts and waterways of the United States in 1860. A combination of a Fresnel lens and an Argand lamp produced an intense beam of light that made a lighthouse visible for miles at night. The Fresnel lens was a beehive-shaped apparatus composed of glass or glass and metal. Lenses and prisms surrounded the lamp and redirected the light into the horizontal plane.
The Argand lamp burned a hollow, cylindrical wick that encouraged an upward draft to form both inside and outside of it. This caused the flame to burn more intensely. Depending on the importance of the lighthouse, the lamp might have had as many as five wicks burning.
In 1860 all but one of the lights and beacons used Fresnel lenses. At an earlier time, the Light-House Board had used sperm oil in its lamps, but the cost encouraged them to seek a substitute. Colza, or rapeseed oil, gave a satisfactory light at a lower price, but the supply in the United States was not adequate to keep all the lighthouse lamps burning. Although lard oil burned badly in the lamps, when heated it proved to be a suitable replacement for the colza, and so in 1860 the Light-House Board was in the process of switching over.
Illuminating and lubricating oils were distilled from petroleum, which came from pools and springs in various places around the world. Petroleum had not gained much notice as a fuel or lubricant because it appeared to be available only in small quantities that were not commercially valuable. An oil well drilled by Edwin L. Drake in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859 changed that assessment. The burning fluid distilled from petroleum yielded a light deemed superior to sperm oil’s at less than half the cost. Petroleum production, about 20,000 gallons in 1859, rose to 2 million in 1860 and to 20 million in 1861. A cartoon published in the April 20, 1861, issue of Vanity Fair bore the caption “Grand Ball Given by the Whales in Honor of the Discovery of Oil Wells in Pennsylvania” and showed a group of whales in formal evening attire, celebrating and toasting one another with champagne.
No comments:
Post a Comment