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Re: Oiling Inside of Musket Barrel...In The Field
A discussion of Rangoon Oil occurs in A Dictionary of the Economic Products of India (1892). Apparently the original deal actually consisted of crude petroleum from Burma:
Up to thirty-five years ago Rangoon oil, which had been well known from remote times, was always used in the crude state. In 1854. Mr. Warren de la Rue obtained a patent for improvements in treating products from petroleum, the crude oil with which he experimented being imported from Rangoon. For some time afterwards the material was much used and refined by Price's Patent Candle Company, and by Messrs. Charles Price & Co. From that time onwards the oil has frequently been made the subject of chemical examination and experiment, and "in 1865-66 Messrs. O. M. Warren and F. H. Storer obtained from Rangoon petroleum the olefines Cw, HM to C1S H„; also probably C, H,8, and the paraffins C7 H,, to C9 Hx. They also found naphthalene, and their experiments indicated the probable presence of xylene and cumene. In this investigation the more volatile portions of the crude oil only were dealt with, and the results obtained appear to indicate a preponderance of olefines over paraffins." The revival of the old Rangoon oil industry under the altered conditions of improved methods of obtaining the crude oil, and the adoption of the principle of manufacturing the commercial products at the port of shipment, dates from 1870, when the Rangoon Oil Company, Limited, erected a refinery at Rangoon. Owing to political difficulties with Upper Burma oil could not be obtained in sufficient quantity to ensure profit, and in 1876 the concern was wound up. Shortly after the annexation of Upper Burma in 1886, the work having been carried on under great difficulties in the interval by Messrs. Finlay, Fleming & Co., the Burma Oil Company, Limited, was formed, and at once proceeded with the extension of the refinery on the bank of the river at Dunniedaw, close to Rangoon. This factory is capable of refining about 500,000 gallons per month, but at present the total yield of the oil-fields is less than half that quantity. "The crude oil is found to yield on the average about 27 per cent, of fair standard kerosine, but the Company manufacture principally a burning oil of higher specific gravity for use by Natives and Eurasians, and of such oil a much larger percentage is obtained. A sample of this product has a sp. gr. of '840 and a flashing point of 121° F. (Abel test). Much of the crude petroleum from the Yenangoung field contains, as already stated, from 10 to 12 per cent, of solid hydrocarbons, but it is important to note that, in consequence of the unfavourable conditions under which the work is necessarily conducted, Messrs. Finlay, Fleming & Co. do not practically obtain from the average raw material more than 4 J per cent, of paraffin.
From discussions elsewhere I got the impression that "armor oil" was the same as mineral oil, but I don't have a primary source for that.
A discussion of Rangoon Oil occurs in A Dictionary of the Economic Products of India (1892). Apparently the original deal actually consisted of crude petroleum from Burma:
Up to thirty-five years ago Rangoon oil, which had been well known from remote times, was always used in the crude state. In 1854. Mr. Warren de la Rue obtained a patent for improvements in treating products from petroleum, the crude oil with which he experimented being imported from Rangoon. For some time afterwards the material was much used and refined by Price's Patent Candle Company, and by Messrs. Charles Price & Co. From that time onwards the oil has frequently been made the subject of chemical examination and experiment, and "in 1865-66 Messrs. O. M. Warren and F. H. Storer obtained from Rangoon petroleum the olefines Cw, HM to C1S H„; also probably C, H,8, and the paraffins C7 H,, to C9 Hx. They also found naphthalene, and their experiments indicated the probable presence of xylene and cumene. In this investigation the more volatile portions of the crude oil only were dealt with, and the results obtained appear to indicate a preponderance of olefines over paraffins." The revival of the old Rangoon oil industry under the altered conditions of improved methods of obtaining the crude oil, and the adoption of the principle of manufacturing the commercial products at the port of shipment, dates from 1870, when the Rangoon Oil Company, Limited, erected a refinery at Rangoon. Owing to political difficulties with Upper Burma oil could not be obtained in sufficient quantity to ensure profit, and in 1876 the concern was wound up. Shortly after the annexation of Upper Burma in 1886, the work having been carried on under great difficulties in the interval by Messrs. Finlay, Fleming & Co., the Burma Oil Company, Limited, was formed, and at once proceeded with the extension of the refinery on the bank of the river at Dunniedaw, close to Rangoon. This factory is capable of refining about 500,000 gallons per month, but at present the total yield of the oil-fields is less than half that quantity. "The crude oil is found to yield on the average about 27 per cent, of fair standard kerosine, but the Company manufacture principally a burning oil of higher specific gravity for use by Natives and Eurasians, and of such oil a much larger percentage is obtained. A sample of this product has a sp. gr. of '840 and a flashing point of 121° F. (Abel test). Much of the crude petroleum from the Yenangoung field contains, as already stated, from 10 to 12 per cent, of solid hydrocarbons, but it is important to note that, in consequence of the unfavourable conditions under which the work is necessarily conducted, Messrs. Finlay, Fleming & Co. do not practically obtain from the average raw material more than 4 J per cent, of paraffin.
From discussions elsewhere I got the impression that "armor oil" was the same as mineral oil, but I don't have a primary source for that.
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