By far, the most common use of petroleum products in the 1880s was for lighting. Standard Oil was being pursued by the government as a monopoly, and it had vastly expanded the production of crude oil by the 1880s in the United States. Kerosene was a refined product of oil that rapidly displaced animal-based oils, especially whale oil, as the principle fuel for lamps. Kerosene is a light fraction of crude oil, and it is less volatile than naptha or gasoline, making it the safest petroleum fuel for lighting.
Steam power was widely used for trains and manufacturing by the 1880s. The machinery that was required for steam engines needed lubricants. Without lubricants the machinery was quickly destroyed by friction and heat. Petroleum-based lubricant was a by-product of kerosene production that constituted less than 5 percent of salable material by mass. The utility of lubricating oil for machines, however, made lubricating oil the most lucrative product by mass of the oil industry in the 1880s.
Refinement of crude oil separated light and heavy liquid fractions into fuel and lubricant and left behind solid fractions. Grease, petrolatum (petroleum jelly) and wax were all refined and sold in the 1880s. Grease was used on wheels of various kinds. The trade name Vaseline was already used with petrolatum by 1871, and was used in the 1880s with lotions, medications and hair pomades. Wax was used as a sealant.
Gasoline was refined in the 1880s, but not yet widely used. The volatility of gasoline caused many people to shy away from it. But two inventions, one in 1878 and another in 1885, would see a limited use of gasoline in the 1880s become revolutionary applications shortly after the 1880s. One invention was Edison's incandescent light bulb, which would come to be powered by gas-powered generators; and the other was the invention by Gottlieb Daimler of the internal combustion engine, which would lead to gasoline-powered automobiles.