Tyrolean stone oil
Map with all coordinates: Tyrolean stone oil is a black, strongly smelling oil that has been extracted from a stone containing kerogen in Tyrol since the Middle Ages and used in folk medicine .
Occurrence
The Tyrolean stone oil is extracted from the rocks of the Seefeld strata , an oil shale from the main dolomite , a sub- Jurassic , kerogen-bearing marl . The main occurrence is the Erlspitz group near Seefeld in Tyrol , later sites are in the Bächental and in the vicinity of the Achensee . The kerogens in the oil shale were formed from dead plankton , seawater and freshwater algae and bacteria in the absence of oxygen . The previously horizontally deposited, fossil-rich sediment layers were solidified and dislocated by the unfolding of the Alps . The oil shale near Pertisau is now stored at an angle of 51 °.
history
The oil shale deposit in Tyrol has been used in the Seefeld area since 1350; the stone oil obtained from it was widely traded. According to legend , it was the blood of the giant Thyrsus , which is why it was sold under the name Dürschöl and the dealers were called Dirschler . In 1576, the alchemist Abraham Schnitzer was granted the privilege of producing stone oil in the Inn Valley by Archduke Ferdinand II. The mining area was the Reither Spitze . The aim was to use the oil to replace the expensive imports of Unschlitt for mine lamps in the then dominant Tyrolean mining industry .
In 1845, with the founding of the I. Tyrolean asphalt union at Gießenbach in Scharnitz, the industrialization of the stone oil distillery and asphalt production began . This turned out to be profitable, so that Archduke Maximilian of Austria-Este financed the iron and steel company named after him near Seefeld. The hope of making big profits with the distillation of the popular lamp fuel, petroleum , which began in 1858 , was dashed with the cheaper petroleum made from petroleum, which was imported a little later . The industrial production was given up and from the mid-1860s the stone oil distillery was operated by local residents again. From 1884 onwards, the sulphonation of stone oil laid the foundation for marketing it under the brand name Ichthyol .
The rocks near Seefeld were mined until 1964, since then the Maximilianshütte located there has been using oil shale from France for the production of their stone oil-based products.
A mineral collector ( Martin Albrecht senior) discovered deposits of oil shale on the western shore of Lake Achensee near Pertisau in 1902 . The first mine operated by him (Lage) with primitive manual mining techniques was destroyed by an avalanche in 1917 . In 1908 another rich oil shale deposit was discovered in the Bächental , a side valley in the Karwendel , at 1,500 m above sea level, which is still being mined to a small extent in the fourth generation and processed into Tyrolean rock oil (Lage) .
processing
The kerogen-containing oil shale is blasted out of the rock, roughly crushed and transported to a smoldering plant for processing. The shale gas escapes at approx. 450 ° C and can be distilled to shale oil in condensing towers . It can be processed into ichthyol or Tyrolean rock oil by sulfonation .
use
Tyrolean stone oil has been an integral part of Tyrolean home and folk medicine for centuries. As early as the Middle Ages, the oil was distributed in Tyrol and Bavaria by so-called oil carriers and pharmacists . The oil shale contains bound sulfur , which unfolds its effectiveness in stone oil. Long before crude oil refining, stone oil was used to make tar , luminous oil ( naphtha ), impregnating agents for wood and fences, as waterproofing for roofs and for road asphalting.
Due to the low productivity of the oil slate, further processing has now been reduced to medical and cosmetic use. Tyrolean stone oil is mainly used in the treatment of skin problems such as acne or psoriasis , bruises and skin abscesses as a so-called draft ointment and rheumatism .
In the cosmetic field, stone oil is used today in the form of oil baths, creams, ointments, lotions as well as soaps, shower baths and shampoos.
House ointment with Tyrolean stone oil
Shower gel with Tyrolean stone oil
Skin tonic with Tyrolean stone oil
Stone oil "Vital Mountain" in Pertisau
In 2003 the “Vitalberg” stone oil visitor center was opened, providing information about the history of oil shale mining, the extraction and use of Tyrolean stone oil (location) . The heart of the center is a functioning smoldering system.
On the 100th anniversary of the discovery of shale oil in Pertisau, a shale oil adventure trail was set up in 2002.
legend
According to legend, it is the blood of the malicious giant Thyrsus , who was killed by the giant Haymon in the battle near Zirl . Haymon injured Thyrsus in the heel. The giant's blood, the so-called Tyrsen's blood, seeping into the ground was enclosed in the stone and preserved as so-called Tyrschenöl .
literature
- Tyrolean stone oil works: 100 years - the stone oil distillers from the Bächental on the Achensee . Company chronicle, 2002, 44 pp.
- Michael Forcher: The giant Haymon. Haymon Verlag, Innsbruck, 2007.
- Rudolf Werner Soukup: Chemistry in Austria. Mining, Alchemy and Early Chemistry from the Beginnings to the End of the 18th Century. Böhlau-Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2007, p. 296 f. with note 803
Individual evidence
- ↑ Origin of stone oil , accessed on July 1, 2018.
- ↑ How Haymo killed Thyrsus , haben.at.
- ^ A b Rudolf Werner Soukup: Chemistry in Austria. Mining, Alchemy and Early Chemistry from the Beginnings to the End of the 18th Century. Böhlau-Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2007, p. 296 f. with note 803 .
- ↑ Wolfgang Irtenkauf: Abraham Schnitzer, the "learned charlatan". Life and work of a mountain master in the 16th century. In: Publications of the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum. Volume 64, 1984, pp. 9–56 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
- ↑ Ludwig Hörmann : Steinölträger und Steinölbrenner , in: Der Alpenfreund, monthly books for the dissemination of alpine knowledge among young and old in popular descriptions from the entire area of the alpine world and with practical waving for enjoyable trips to the same. HG Dr. Ed. Amthor, Volume 4, Gera 1872, p. 321ff. (online at haben.at).
- ↑ How the stone oil is extracted from the stone , accessed on February 3, 2013.
- ↑ Guido Hradil: Die Ölschiefer Tirol (PDF; 4.2 MB), accessed on February 4, 2013.
- ↑ Health encyclopedia - oil baths with rock oil ( memento from April 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on February 4, 2013.
- ↑ Kultur.tirol.at: Tiroler Steinöl Vitalberg-Museum , accessed on February 3, 2013.
- ^ Tyrolean stone oil: Folk medicine from the Alps , accessed on February 3, 2013
- ↑ Susanne Schaber: The slate is a guest - stone oil production in the Tyrolean Bärchental. Online access ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on February 3, 2013. Unavailable May 9, 2017.
