Way before the birth of the oil industry in 1859, knowledge of oil had been around for centuries. Archaeologists discovered that the Mesopotamians and the Babylonians used oil in construction and medicines.
Since oil often bubbled up to the surface, for hundreds of years the Seneca Indian tribe in Pennsylvania had collected some from creeks and water wells and used it as an insect repellent and as a medicine to treat stiff joints and ailments. By the 1850s, however, numerous salt miners in western Pennsylvania began to regard oil as a nuisance because it often emerged at the surface of their salt wells, and they didn’t know how to tackle the issue until Samuel Kier came along.
FINDING NEW USES FOR OIL
Kier and his father were owners of several salt wells at Tarentum, Pennsylvania. Initially, Kier was just as irritated as everyone else that oil kept contaminating his salt well. But unlike the rest, Kier initiated a chemical analysis of the oil and discovered that some of its components were identical to the "American Medicinal Oil" his wife used for joint pain.
A good entrepreneur never wastes new opportunities. In 1852, Kier began to sell oil from his salt well as "Kier’s Rock Oil" in 8-ounce jars for 50 cents each, marketing it a "medicine" for burns, asthma, and many more ailments.
Since there was more oil than Kier could sell as medicine, he began to look for other ways to commercialize his excessive supply. He sent a sample to professor James Curtis Booth of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, founder of the first commercial chemical laboratory in the United States. Booth’s analysis proved that the rock oil could be distilled for use in lighting.
Back then, people relied on oil candles and lamps that used whale blubber for lighting. Whale blubber was not a viable option for the poor, however, because it was too costly to produce. It required big ships and manual labor to hunt whales, not to mention it is difficult to keep in storage for a long time and has a very unpleasant smell.
The supply of whale blubber was also limited: An average-sized whale could only produce between 25 to 40 barrels of oil. Starting in the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution drove up demand for whale blubber, and the hunt for whales to meet such demand almost drove them into extinction. Innovators had been searching for different materials that could provide lighting in a cheap, clean, and safe manner.