Discovered by Canadian physician Abraham Gesner in the late 1840s, kerosene was initially manufactured from coal tar and shale oils. However, following the drilling of the first oil well in Pennsylvania by E.L. Drake in 1859, petroleum quickly became the major source of kerosene.

What was kerosene first used for?

In 1846 Abraham Pineo Gesner invented a substitute for whale oil for lighting, distilled from coal. Later made from petroleum, kerosene became a popular lighting fuel. Modern and most popular versions of the kerosene lamp were later constructed by Polish inventor and pharmacist Ignacy Łukasiewicz, in Lviv in 1853.

How was kerosene used in the 1800s?

And in the 9th century, petroleum was distilled by the Persian alchemist Muhammad ibn Zakariya Razi into kerosene that was used in lamps. ... Through the 1800s, most oil was used for oil lamps and kerosene lamps--replacing whale oil, which was becoming scarce by then.