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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.
By Martin Kelly. Background of the Steam Engine: While Thomas Savery patented the first crude steam engine in 1698. Thomas Newcomen improved on this design. However, it wasn't until Scotsman James Watt improved on the steam engine in the second half of the 18th century that it became a truly viable piece of machinery that helped start the Industrial Revolution.