1840s, the high price of whale oil

Aquarela de 1920 (Mestre Debret)

Esq. R. da Alfndega com R. Regente Feij (1710 a 1906)

1840s, the high price of whale oil 8,000 whales killed in 1853 alone.

Cera de Baleia

leo de Baleia

Gesner experimented with coal new oil keroselain, kerosene. 1859, 34 companies were distilling kerosene from coal.

1200C

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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)

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.

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)

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.

1 Poo: Titusville, Pensilvnia (1859).