JAMES ( Paraffin ) YOUNG

( 1811 - 1883 )

Chemist. Developer of SHALE Oil Industry.

He was the son of a Glasgow joiner and took up his father's trade for a time.
He attended classes in chemistry etc, at Anderson's College and became assistant to the famous Thomas Graham.

In 1837 Young was appointed to College, London, and two years later became manager of a works near Liverpool. At another works near Manchester he discovered more efficient means of producing stannate of soda and chlorate potash. His greatest contribution to industry was his method of manufacturing paraffin wax on a large scale.

After experiments with shale and bituminous coal Young found that by slow distillation he could obtain paraffin oil and paraffin wax, both of which were in universal demand, not only for lighting and heating but for many industrial processes. He took out his patent in 1850. The same idea had been tried out in France earlier in the century but Young brought his initiative and perseverance to bear on the development of a great Scottish industry. It was of course located over the large shale deposits of Mid and West Lothian.

By 1862 the distillation plants began production and for over half a century 3,000,000 tons of shale and coal  year were mined and treated each year. The more easily produced crude oil from oil-wells made the shale industry unprofitable and, although efforts were made, especially during wartime, to continue production from shale, the mines and works were closed during the 1950s. Enormous trapezia of burnt shale or 'blaes' resembling flat-topped mountains several hundred feet high are the monuments to this inventor. Much of the waste is used for various purposes in building and road-making and it is possible that when the marine hydro-carbons are exhausted Young's invention will come into its own again.