The subject about coal in hoppers, etc. got me to thinking about Coal Oil. I’m reading some histories of the Civil War and coal oil is mentioned quite often when talking about stoves in RR cars and lamps. How prevalent was this product? How was it made and how long was it in use? I’m wondering if it was used in place of harder to obtain oils that were made scarce by the war???
Whale oil may have been blockaded during those times; Commerce Raiders probably disrupted the supply as well; particularly in the whaling grounds and perhaps some trade disruptions.
Coal oil is an oil shale oil that was made from the destructive distilation of cannel coal, mineral wax, and bituminous shale. Cannel coal is required to produce it. It was first made in 1850 in Scotland by James Young who was also the first to patent a process for distilling cannel coal into kerosene, which made him quite wealthy. The widespread availability of kerosene caused a big decline in the whaling industry, as people now had a cheaper fuel for their lamps instead of the very expensive whale oil. Coal oil was eventually superseded by less expensive that was refined from seep oil around 1856.
Thanks Jeffrey!
If coal oil smells like coal, I wonder what whale oil smells like…
And I know it don’t be smellin like ambergris.
I don’t know what it smelled like, but here’s some other info on it.
Whale oil is obtained from various whales. Most notably the Greenland (Northern whale oil), B. australis (southern whale oil), Balaenoptera longimana or Balaenoptera borealis (Fin oil, Finner whale oil, Humpback oil). Train oil is the northernwhale oil. The most important whale oil is sperm or spermaceti oil from Sperm Whales. Whale oil is a liquid wax and not a true oil. It is clear, and is bright honey yellow to dark brown, according to the condition of the blubber it came from. The first principal use of whale oil was for illuminantion. It was used in lamps and as candle wax. With the 1986 International Whaling Commission moratorium on whaling, whale oil has all but ceased to be viable.
Coal oil (kerosene) was discovered by Abraham Gesner in Canada @ 1846 along with his many other inventions and patents, he was a very intersting character and led a very active life, evading authorities in both the U.S. & Canada and living in isolation on both sides of the border, He is an important part of Canadian history
If you’re looking for an industry involving coal ,you might look into a coal gasification plant. I don’t know the process but coal was brought into a plant by the carload and somehow was converted into gas(by burning?) and the gas was stored in a big collapsible tank. The gas was used for roasting coffee,lights, bakeries etc.There was one here in Lewiston back in the day . It had a ramp up which they pushed cars full of coal to unload into the plant. Its interesting in that the only picture I’ve seen of the ramp was when the ramp collapsed with a gondola on it, and the gondola was suspended in midair.
I have a quart of whale oil that was found in an old clock repair shop that my father was demolishing in the 1950’s. It smells horrible but is an excellent lubricant for model trains. I use it to lubricate HO and G scale locomotives.
There is/(was?) one in Indianapolis, Indiana called the Citizen Gas and Coke Utility. It was next door to the Twin Drive-In Theater and it was fun to watch it in operation at night. The huge collapseable tank could actually be seen raising when they were making gas.
I was told that they took coal and heated it to drive off the gasses which went to the tank, and the remains were “coke” (no, not the soft-drink) that was used like coal… two products (gas and coke) from one commodity (coal). There were always a couple of guys with torches walking around on some scaffolding next to a huge array of pipes. They were looking for leaks in the pipes. I remember one night the movie was just not to my liking and I spent the whole night watching the fellows setting fire to lots of little places on that big array of pipes. By the end of the movie, there must have been a dozen little flickering lights on it. I assume the next day someone found all the scorch marks and repaired the leaks!
Google Earth shows the tank and rail lines still, but I don’t see the array of pipes I remember. See: 39-deg 45’ 19.4" N, 86-deg 07’ 05.31" W. The “bowtie” land area to the north is the unmistakeable drive-in theater.
O.T.: Follow the rail line southeast about 3 miles
[quote user=“Semper Vaporo”]
There is/(was?) one in Indianapolis, Indiana called the Citizen Gas and Coke Utility. It was next door to the Twin Drive-In Theater and it was fun to watch it in operation at night. The huge collapseable tank could actually be seen raising when they were making gas.
I was told that they took coal and heated it to drive off the gasses which went to the tank, and the remains were “coke” (no, not the soft-drink) that was used like coal… two products (gas and coke) from one commodity (coal). There were always a couple of guys with torches walking around on some scaffolding next to a huge array of pipes. They were looking for leaks in the pipes. I remember one night the movie was just not to my liking and I spent the whole night watching the fellows setting fire to lots of little places on that big array of pipes. By the end of the movie, there must have been a dozen little flickering lights on it. I assume the next day someone found all the scorch marks and repaired the leaks!
Google Earth shows the tank and rail lines still, but I don’t see the array of pipes I remember. See: 39-deg 45’ 19.4" N, 86-deg 07’ 05.31" W. The “bowtie” land area to the north is the unmistakeable drive-in theater.
O.T.: Follow the rail
I don’t know. Haven’t been there for 50 years. It is either Coal going in or coke coming out, assuming it is still a coke operation. (I’d bet coal going in.)
Notice the shadow of the tank and the frame around it. Looks like it is about half way down which could mean it is no longer being used or maybe just half full.
I remember being close to it one evening before dark and seeing the wheels rolling on the frame as the upper part was telescoping up. I was surprised that I could detect the movement. It wasn’t all that “fast” but I had figured it to be like watching the hour hand on a clock. It was probably moving at three or four inches per minute (just guessing).
I never understood how the tank could be sealed to keep the gas in with that telescoping feature. Much too large an area/circumfrence to seal “well”. I remember seeing just one upper section over top and outside of the bottom section, so when the tank was “empty” it would be half height. That is why I don’t know if it is still a gas operation… the tank may be just empty and no longer used… but then I don’t know why there’d be that much coal all over the place either… maybe a coal fired electric generator station, but there are no large electrical transformers near enough to the site either. It sure is fun looking at the images anyway.
“town gas” as it came to be called here (to distinguish it from “natural gas”) only came from specific coals (haven’t a clue which ones). The main "residue/bi-product was coke… which was gobbles up by the iron and steel industry… or, the other way round, coking for the iron and steal industry had a bi-product of gas.
Gas /coke production also produced coal tar which could be sprayed on roads (among other things) and creosote. At one time many gasworks were producing so much creosote that you could get it free if you took your own can. That stuff had a powerful pong and stung like crazy. Everyone used it on wood fences. The Railways/RR pressure treated their ties with creosote once they worked out how to do it. A number of treatment works went up in flames. (Strangely creosote itself isn’t dangerously flamable… but creosoted wood always burns violently… this is one reason that old ties aren’t much use for fuel… they also smoke like mad).
There was also a bi-product of acid… Sulphuric I would guess.
Rolling stock around old style gasworks was therefore… coal wagons (of one kind or another) for loads in. The same cars or (with a big plant) coke cars… usually with wire or slatted extended sides because of the low mass of coke)… tar tanks and the occasional acid tank. I suppose that some of the bigger plants must have shipped creosote out in tank cars.
I’m not sue about the seal between the levels of tanks but the ground level “seal” was achieved by the tank sitting in water in UK practice IIRC
The RR created an enormous demand for lighting oil(s) with all the loco, carriage, station and signal lights to be supplied. Where a gas supply was available it was tried for signal lamps as well as buildings. For a short time passenger cars were gas lit but this always carried the danger of fire and explosion in any accident. I don’t know about t
In the '50’s one of our gang family had a hunting cabin near Allegheny National Forest. As teenagers it was a good place to hunt and fish. We usually arrived at night and we drove the car so the headlights were on the door. We would then bang on the door then open it and all the snakes came out, hopefully that is because we still checked the inside. There were two kerosene lanterns and a kerosene stove.
The stove had a big glass bottle filled with kerosene turned upside down. We cooked many a meal on that stove and the food tasted the same. You could be the best cook or the worse, eat fried eggs or steak and it all tasted like kerosene. [C=:-)]
Know it is a little off subject but it bring back some memories that I thought I would share.
In the '50’s one of our gang family had a hunting cabin near Allegheny National Forest. As teenagers it was a good place to hunt and fish. We usually arrived at night and we drove the car so the headlights were on the door. We would then bang on the door then open it and all the snakes came out, hopefully that is because we still checked the inside. There were two kerosene lanterns and a kerosene stove.
The stove had a big glass bottle filled with kerosene turned upside down. We cooked many a meal on that stove and the food tasted the same. You could be the best cook or the worse, eat fried eggs or steak and it all tasted like kerosene. [C=:-)]
Know it is a little off subject but it bring back some memories that I thought I would share.