A LAMPFUL OF OIL.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 209, 16 October 1888, Page 2

A LAMPFUL OF OIL.

From Harper's Magazine. (Continued.) The torpedo was patented ty Colonel E R berts, and though contested by the oilproducers, the validity of the patent wa> established, and a fortune was made ont of royalties for its n,e. One year ago last May it expired, and since then the cost has been largely reduced. In the beginning of the oil industry great difficulty was experienced in procuring storage and transportation facilities. This was before railroads had penetrated the oil regions and when the principal mode of shipment was by barrels in waggons to the Allegheny, and thence by bu'k boats to Pittsburg. The barrels were at first so imperfect that much of the oil oozed out in transit, but this defect was afterwards remedied by a preparation of glue. Then came the era of railroads and tank cars, which were improved in their construction by an upper valve for loading and a lower one for discharging the oil. During all this lime the great problem was to get the oil to the cars, and tbe necessity for this led to the introduction of iron pipes, or conduits, from the wells to the railways. The pipe line was built in 1835 from Pithole to Miller’s farm, the nearest railway station, which was the germ of the present labyrinthine system of pipes than traverse the oil fields. Teamsters and roustabouts were so hostile to this inoq. vation, which they regarded as an invariMS# of their rights, that the line had to be stantly guarded. The first companies were merely common carriers, and made no provision for the storage of the oil, but about 1834 a regular storage company was established in Pittsburgh to receive oil from the Allegheny boats. The monthly charge for storage at at first was five cents per barrel, and in some exceptional cases ten cents, but later the rate was reduced to two and a half cents, and in 1876 to one and a quarter cents. Between 1869 and 1871 a number of miscellaneous companies were organised to store and transport oil, but their service and management were not always satisfactory. In 1876-7 a general oons-ili-iation of ths leading independent corporations was effected under the name and title of the “ United Pipe Lines.” This organisation with its capital of five millions, came under control of ths Standard | Oil Company, and its pipes and tanks were extended to meet the growing proportions of the oil fields and the accumulating s ock of oil. On April 1, 1884, this company was absorbed by the National Transit Company, a later adjunct of the Standard, the capital of which is thirty-two. millions. The nriginal company is now known as the United Pipe Line division of the National Transit Company, The oil fields are covered with network of pipes and tanks connected with tbe wells. When a new district is discovered, the pipe line connects it with the nearest station of on* of tbe old field*. Each individual erects a tank at his well of a capacity corresponding to his expectations of the well. When the tank fills up with oil he sends for the company’s guager, who measures its contents and turns it into the pipes of the company, A receipt for the number of barrels, teas thro* per cent.-for leakage, evaporation, eta., is given to the owner. This may remain tor thirty or thirty-five- days, storage free, as * credit balance. Then it is oonvertel into what are technically called “ acceptances,", but commonly known as " oil certificates,’’ in round lots of one thousand or ten thou, sand barrels. This acceptance or certificate corresponds to a warehouse receipt, and is the title of ownership passing from the sailer to the buyer on all the petroleum exchanges. The United Pipe Lines is a mutual insurance company, and in the event of destruction by fire of any oil held by it, pro rata *«**«■ ment is levied on all outstanding certifij -. as. The company owns no oil, except such as it purchases fur “ sediment and surplus ” ae. count, to maintain the integrity of its certificates.

As the custodian of this oil it charges 50 cents per 1090 barrels daily, or 81950 per month. This charge covers the use of its plant, loss by evaporation, and the formation of worthless sediment. There must be a very handsome profit in this business, though it should be remembered that when the oil field* give out, the plant will be as worthless as old junk. When the holder of the company’s acceptances presents them, requesting the delivery of a corresponding amount of oil at a certain railway station, an additional charge of twenty oents per barrel is made. This cover* the cost of making connection with the wells, the conveyance and loading of the oil, leaving again an apparently large margin of profit for the service. The oil regions are within an area of one hundred miles square, and it is only at some railway station within this territory that the United Pipe Line will deliver the oil. If the owner desired to ship it to any outside point, he can do so at such railroad freight rates as may be established. If he wishes to have it transported to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, or Pittsburgh, to which point* the National transit Company has trunk pipe lines, he can have it sent in this way at the same rate charged by the railroads. This cost varies from forty to fifty-five cent* to the sea-board. Olean, just north of Bradford, is the north eastern terminus of the United Pipe Linea and the. western initial station of the trunk line to New York. Here are located immense storage tanka, each holding 35,000 barrels. The National Transit Company in its two divisions owns or leases 1554 tanks, with an aggregate capicity of 42 000.000 barrels. They have hel i over 40,000,000. but, owing, to reduction of stocks during the past wear, they now contain about 36,000 ouo barrels. The tmnk line from Olean to New York was completed in October, 1881. It consists of two six inch pipes, which follow the inequalities of surface tne entire distance of three hundred miles. Every twenty flve miles there is a pumping station with double tanks. While tbe oil from the first section is discharging jnto one tank, ttfe contents of tha second are pumping into the next section. This operation is repeated at each succeeding station, until the sea-board is reached, requiring about a week to complete th* trans-

At Saddle River, near Passaic, New Jersey, and eleven miles from New York, a branch Ifoe ffiyerges, and crossing ths North Bivtr, New York city diagonally from Seventy-eeoqp'd to Sixty-third Street, and tbe East River, It supplies the refineries at Hunter's Point, Newtown Creek, Williamsburg, and Brooklyn. The main line continues to the large Stan - dard refineries at Bayonne, on New York Bay. The line to Philadelphia begina-at Colegrove, in McEe*n County, with » branch from Millway, Pennsylvania, to Baltimore. The lines to Buffalo, Pittsburgh,' and Cleveland a'rij shorter and of less interest. The company purchased the right of way, and did not look to the State to exercise ffie right of eminent domain. A private telegraph wire follows th * pipe line, giving the managers perfect control of its opsrations. There are several small lines too insignificant to mention. The only important attempt at rivalry came from the " Tidewater Pipe Company Limited.” It was organised by Ph Ldelphia snd New York in oppoaitiop fo th* Standard, biit it is now’ understood to'be iu entire harmony with interests of fhe latter. Its pipes are confined to th* Bradford field and to a trunk line from Rixfoyd near Bradford, tq Taman end. on tha Reading Railroad, a distance of It built and operated refineries, and hu a storage capacity of about a million and * half barrels. It assumes the fire risk, and it* certificates are only bought and sold tor legitimate commercial purposes, as they are not a good delivery on the petroleum exchanges Olfoe country. Having thus traced the crufle ojl. which it of a greenish color, from its subterraneifo home to the receiving ta ks of the reflaseies at the sea board and elsewhere, we may now study the processes wuereby it is fitted for use. The discovery of petroleum in quantity wts tbe deatb-blow to the distillation of coal oil from coal and shale, but the manufacture of coal oil pared the way for tbe successful refining of petroleuuf. Kiers, the druggist who had experimented with some pfimiHrS refining utensils, was not succstsiul until h* oalled to hi* aid iu 1858 th* nritoes of Q. B. Holmes, an expsrt distillsr of <o*l oil. (to li oomuron.)