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American settlers had little use for oil. In the 1840s, Americans began using kerosene to light lamps after the Canadian geologist Abraham Gesner discovered how to distill the fuel from oil or coal. It wasnât until 1859, however, when Edwin L. Drakesuccessfully used a steam engine to drill for oil near Titusville, Pennsylvania, that removing oil from beneath the earthâs surface became practical. This breakthrough started an oil boom that spread to Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and, later, Texas. Petroleum-reï¬ning industries arose in Cleveland and Pittsburgh as entrepreneurs rushed to transform the oil into kerosene. Gasoline, a byproduct of the reï¬ning process, originally was thrown away.
Steam engines were also used in the textile industry. Boulton and Watt steam engines were used to operate spinning machines. A steam-powered spinning machine could produce vast quantities of yarn very quickly.The first steam-powered textile factory was opened in Nottingham in 1790.his engine also used steam to pump water out of coal mines. The pump used a single cylinder. Hot, high-pressure steam moved into the cylinder and pushed the piston up. Cool, condensed air formed a vacuum in the cylinder and forced the piston down.