History and Uses of Kerosene

7.3 Kerosene

• In 1830 Baron Karl von Reichenbach (German) discovered a substance he called paraffin (later also known as kerosene).

• In about 1846 Abraham Pineo Gesner (Canadian) produced what he called kerosene from asphalt. He derived the word from the Greek “keros” (wax) and “ela ion” (oil). The word kerosene was patented in 1853.

• In Scotland in 1850 James Young was granted a patent for producing paraffin from oil-bearing shale. Two years later, in 1852, Ignacy Lukasiein (Polish) discovered how to refine kerosene from petroleum.

• Kerosene was the a basis of the oil industry for about 30 years and by the end of the 19th century it was the main source of artificial light in the world.

• The invention of the electric light bulb in 1879 and the motorcar in 1886 marked the start of its decline.