Shaping the industry

- Rockefeller introduced techniques that reshaped the oil industry. In the mid-19th century, the chief demand was for kerosene.

- In the refining process, there are many by-products when crude oil is converted to kerosene.

-What others saw as waste, Rockefeller saw as gold.

- He sold one byproduct paraffin to candlemakers and another byproduct petroleum jelly to medical supply companies. He even sold off other "waste" as paving materials for roads.

- He shipped so many goods that railroad companies drooled over the prospect of getting his business.