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If the site below doesn't answer your question, it's still a good bit of history:
A variety of lamp oils
It makes sense that a variety of lamp fuels would be on the market in the 1800s.
Every sizeable town had a store devoted to a variety of lamps and lamp fuels and a "manufactory" for fuel.
By 1850 a consumer had a choice of:
- Camphene or "burning fluid" -- 50 cents / gallon (combinations of alcohol, turpentine and camphor oil - bright, sweet smelling)
- whale oil -- $1.30 to $2.50 / gallon
- lard oil -- 90 cents (low quality, smelly)
- coal oil -- 50 cents (sooty, smelly, low quality) (the original "kerosene")
- kerosene from petroleum -- 60 cents (introduced in early 1860s)
The amount of camphene on the market was far above 90 million and probably close to 200 million gallons per year. That's about the same level as kerosene in 1870. Whale oil peaked at 18 million gallons in 1845, according to Starbuck's whaling history of 1878.
By all accounts, camphene was by far the leading lamp fuel.
In 1862, a tax of $2.00 a gallon was imposed on beverage alcohol and camphene was forced off the market. Since the Pennsylvania oil fields were in the process of opening, the whales really had nothing to do with the emergence of the kerosene industry.
Thus, kerosene came into an already well established liquid fuel system with full scale production, distribution and end-use technology already well in place. In other words, kerosene replaced an array of lamp fuels of various qualities and prices; it did not suddenly emerge to light up a world quickly going dark as the supply of whales ran out.
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What new use was whale oil used in the 1900s?
Whale oil was used for lamps. This is was very popular because whale oil was brighter and did not smell.
What was whale used for?
whale blubber was used for oil to power lamps etc. the teeth could be carved and put on display
What new use for whale oil found in the 1900s?
Whale oil was used for lamps. This is was very popular because whale oil was brighter and did not smell.
What new use for whale oil was found in the 1900's?
Whale oil was used for lamps. This is was very popular because whale oil was brighter and did not smell.
What is whale blubber used for?
Whale blubber is a traditionally important food for Inuit people. Whale blubber is something everyone might be used to in daily life but often fail to recognize it. Whale blubber is pure fat that is used for almost all cosmetics, soaps, leather etc. It was also used as candle wax and fuel in lamps. Whale blubber is also used in diet due to its resources of vitamin D and carbohydrates.
What is kerosene and for what it could be used?
Kerosene is a fraction of petroleum that is less volatile than gasoline. Kerosene was first used in lamps as a replacement for whale oil. Its main use now is as jet aircraft fuel (usually JP-1 but there are higher grades), it is also used as fuel in some rocket motors (usually RP-1 but there are higher grades), also kerosene heaters, etc.
What kind of oil is used in old wall oil lamps?
Kerosene and before that, whale oil.
What was whale blubber used for before electricity?
The whale blubber was burned down and used to fuel candles.
What was kerosene used for in the US Civil War?
Kerosene was used to fuel lamps and lanterns, to provide lighting in homes. Kerosene had replaced whale oil as lamp fuel, and candles for home illumination. It was several generations after the Civil War before electricity became available and accepted as a power source.
Why whale oil is little used today?
The whale population has decreased dramatically from the time in which whaling was a popular industry to the present. Whale oil is not used often today because whales are being protected.
Why do people hunt whales?
People hunt whales for meat, oil, whalebone and ambergris, and for scientific research. Whale oil is used as a lubricant and as a component of soaps and cosmetics (and was formerly used for margarine and as fuel for lamps). Ambergris is used as a fixative in perfume production. Whale hunting is a way unwealthy people make money illegaly in places like Iceland, Japan, etc.
What was the first city to use natural gas to fuel streets lamps?
It was first used as fuel for a street lamp in Baltimore USA
