In the 1940s and 1950s, people began to extract the needed oil from coal and other hydrocarbons. 1854, Canadian Yinling Harman Geissner applied for a patent for producing wax oil in the United States. 1869, the daily output of wax oil factory in new york, USA can reach 5000 gallons (1 gallon = 3.7545438+0 liters), and the value of wax oil produced by 34 companies in the United States this year reaches 5 million dollars. At the same time, new york businessmen transformed a wax oil lamp with a glass cover used by Viennese and sold it all over the world. In this case, the demand for wax oil is increasing, and the oil source becomes a problem.
After Bierce put forward the above idea, he immediately found someone to cooperate and set up an investment group. They invited Professor Hilliman from Yale University to make a chemical analysis of oil to see if it can be used as lighting material. 1855 On April 6th, Professor Sliman submitted an epoch-making test report. He said in the report: "As a lighting material, the research on the use value of petroleum distillation products has achieved unexpected success. Oil can be heated to different temperatures and separated into several parts by distillation. Each part contains carbon and hydrogen, and some of them are high-quality oil for lighting. "
But where can we get a lot of oil? Oil seeps from the cracks in the stone drop by drop. How can business be based on such primitive collection methods as skimming oil with a spoon or twisting out a blanket full of oil? The key to Bierce's success lies in how to exploit underground oil on a large scale. 1856 One day, Bierce saw a huge advertisement on Broadway in new york, with several drilling platforms painted on it, which read: "1500 years ago, people in China invented drilling for water. Now the technology of drilling water has been greatly improved, and this derrick is the most advanced drilling tool ... ". Beals flashed a light in his mind-if you can drill into water, why can't you drill into oil? He told the idea to his investment partner. Although there was no precedent at that time, investors were convinced that the market needed oil, and it was now or never, so it was worth a try.
But who will put this arrogant idea into practice? Beals and his partner found Colonel Edwin Drake. This is purely accidental. Drake used to be a railway bus conductor, but he left his job because of illness and stayed in a hotel in New Haven. It happened that Thomson, a partner of Beers Company, was staying in this hotel on business. They often chat together after meeting. Thomson told Drake about their oil business and the idea of drilling for oil, and said that they need a persistent person to carry out this idea now. Drake was very interested and decided to carry out this great action himself. In order to be welcomed by the local villagers and facilitate his work, he added the title of "Colonel" to himself.
1858 In the spring, Colonel Drake, as the authorized agent of the company, took the company's 1000 USD and started drilling and oil production near the oil stream in Tetsville. All the drillers he hired thought he was crazy, so the progress was slow. In August of 1859, investors began to waver and were unwilling to continue investing. At the end of August, Thomson sent the last remittance to Drake and told Drake to pay the bill and end drilling. 1On the afternoon of August 27th, 859 (Drake had not received Thomson's letter at this time), when the drill bit was 69 feet deep, it seemed to have drilled into a crack and dropped 6 feet. Because it was a weekend afternoon, drilling didn't continue. The next day, when the drillers visited the site, they found thick black liquid floating on the water. This is the oil they dream of! Drake's perseverance finally paid off at the critical moment. "Colonel Drake has discovered oil!" The news spread quickly, and people from all directions flocked to Titusville to start drilling and oil production. This is the beginning of large-scale commercial oil exploitation in the United States, and it is generally believed that this is also the beginning of large-scale commercial oil exploitation in the world. Someone commented: "1859, the discovery of oil as a new resource in the United States marks the beginning of a new era for mankind."
From then on, a vigorous petroleum history began and the modern petroleum industry was born.