Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-10-27 | Page 32 | Best Oils for Farm Tractors

BEST OILS FDR HWUG Kerosene-burning Engines Take 600 Degree Fire Test Lubricants. Heat Generated by Heavy Fuel Twice That of Gasoline. A fire test of not less than COO degrees de-grees Pahr. has been found by experience experi-ence to be necessary for a satisfactory oil for the lubrication of kerosene-burning tractors. As most of the ordinary lubricating oils on the market will not test above 300 degrees, it is plain that they cannot be suitable for such machines. ma-chines. The dealer who desires to be of the greatest service to his tractor customers, can realize his desire in no better way than by being able to advise ad-vise them what grade of oil to use in their machines, or, better still, by carrying a stock of suitable oils for sale. First, the dealer should know what is meant by a fire test and what happens to an oil when it is subjected to a heat greater than it is intended to withstand. with-stand. A fire test, or heat test, is the discovery of that point of degreo temperature tem-perature at which an oil gives off a vapor in such quantities that it will burn continuously, or where the oil do-composes do-composes and loses the characteristics of a lubricant. The fire test for many of the so-called high-test oils on the marfiet is around 300 degrees, while a satisfactory oil for kerosene-burning tractors should test twice as high, when oil is subjected to heat which is above that of its fire test either it burns up, decomposes or thins out until it no longer is of any value as a lubricant. Usual Temperatures. The ordinary internal combustion engine, en-gine, burning gasoline, has' a temperature tempera-ture range of from 2000 to 3000 degrees de-grees Fahr. inside thc combustion chamber. cham-ber. The temperature of the piston head runs in the neighborhood of 500 degrees, while" the outer walls of the cylinder show a temperature range of about 300 degrees. The crankshaft bearings ordinarily run at an average temperature of about 1150 degrees. Kerosene Kero-sene is a heavier fuel than gasoline, burns more slowly and imparts a higher degree of heat to the piston and cylinder cylin-der walls. Also to insure the perfect combustion of kerosene, it is necessary to maintain a higher degree of heat within the cylinder than is the case when burning gasolene. It must be evident from this why an oil which will work more or loss satisfactorily in an ordinary gas engine hardly will prove to be suitable for uso iu a kerosone-burniug kerosone-burniug tractor. An authority on lubrication given four necessary qualifications for a satisfactory sat-isfactory lubricating oil. These are: It must be capable of forming and maintaining a thin film of oil between the bearing surfaces. Four Requirements. It must be able to withstand the. heat to which the working parts to which it is applied are subjected without burning, burn-ing, decomposing or thinning out. It must have such internal cohesion that it cannot be squeezed out from between be-tween the bearing surfaces. It must have what is called low internal in-ternal fractional qualities; that is, its composition must be such that the molecules mole-cules composing the oil film will not generate beat by rubbing together. An oil which has these characteristics character-istics and which has a fire test of not less than 600 degrees Fahr. will work satisfactorily in nearly every tractor. The dealer should make it a part of his service on tractors either to supply such an oil himself, or be in a position to tell his customers where they can -obtain it. Thc object of dealer service is to maintain the efficient ami continuous con-tinuous operation of the tractors ho sells. An Improperly lubricated tractor both loses in its efficiency and increases in-creases its cost of maintenance by the rapid wearing of parts. The dealer should do what he can to prevent, this and he can do so by seeing that his tractor trac-tor customers buy and use a suitable lubricating oil.