James ‘Paraffin’ Young, inventor, entrepreneur and chemist, obtained a patent for the extraction of paraffin from shale on the 17th of October, 1850. James Young was born in the Drygate area of Glasgow, the son of a cabinetmaker and joiner, who worked from 91 Kirk St, Calton. He became his fathers apprentice at an early age and educated himself at night school, attending evening classes at the nearby Andersons College (now Strathclyde University) while there he met and befriended the famous explorer David Livingstone. In 1844 he moved to Manchester to work for Tennants, Clow & Co. Young had his attention called to a natural petroleum seepage (naphtha) in the Riddings colliery at Alfreton, Derbyshire from which he distilled a light thin oil suitable for use as lamp oil, at the same time obtaining a thicker oil suitable for lubricating machinery. In 1848 Young left Tennants and in partnership with his friend and assistant Edward Meldrum, set up a small business refining the crude oil. The new oils were successful and lucrative, producing illuminating oil and lubricants for the Manchester cotton mills. The supply of oil from the coal mine soon began to fail but Young, noticing that the oil was dripping from the sandstone roof of the coal mine, theorised that it somehow originated from the action of heat on the coal seam and from this thought that it might be produced artificially. Experimenting with this idea he succeeded in producing a petroleum-like fluid by distilling cannel coal at a low heat. By slow distillation he could obtain a number of useful liquids, one of which he named paraffine oil because it congealed into a substance resembling paraffin wax. The production of these oils and solid paraffin wax from coal formed the subject of his patent dated 17 October 1850. In 1850 Young & Meldrum and Edward William Binney entered into partnership under the title of E.W. Binney & Co. at Bathgate in West Lothian and E. Meldrum & Co. at Glasgow. The works at Bathgate became the first truly commercial oil-works in the world, using oil extracted from locally mined torbanite, lamosite, and bituminous coal to manufacture naphtha and lubricating oils. Paraffin for fuel use and solid paraffin were not sold till 1856. Reserves of torbanite eventually expired resulting in the exploitation of West Lothians oil shale (lamosite) deposits. By 1865 Young had returned Scotland and bought out his business partners and built second and larger works at Addiewell, near West Calder, forming Youngs Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company and by the 1900s nearly 2 million tons of shale was being extracted annually, employing 4,000 men. His paraffin oil and paraffin lamps were sold all over the world, earning him the affectionate nickname Paraffin Young Young retired from the operation of the company in 1870 and occupied himself with yachting, travelling, and scientific pursuits. He gave generously towards the expenses of Livingstones African expeditions and contributed to a search expedition, which proved too late to find Livingstone alive. After Livingstone’s funeral he continued to support his family and to finance the anti-slavery movement. He paid for and erected the statue of his lifelong friend which now stands in George Square. He died at age 71 at his estate in Kelly House, near Wemyss Bay on 13 May 1883 and is buried at Inverkip. The death knell for the shale oil industry was sounded by competition from directly extracted crude oil; from wells in the USA and the Persian Gulf. Business slowed drastically from around 1910, the last of the shale mines was closed by Manny Shinwell in 1962. Youngs Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company has since been integrated into one of the worlds largest Companies, BP. Today James Young is widely regarded as the Father of the Modern Petrochemical Industry and a pioneering Chemical Engineer.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 14:40:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015