OCR Text |
Show Droplets Make Oil Last Longer Chemicals Are Introduced Producing Results That Rival Magic. CHICAGO. An annual $20,000,-000 $20,000,-000 worth of chemicals which nature does not put in petroleum are be- intx artrlcirt jn nil at thu rafp nf a droplet a gallon or a cupful per tank car, with results that rival magic. The droplets chemical cocktails impart new properties to lubricating lubricat-ing oils. Sometimes they increase the life of an oil, or of the machine parts, by tremendous percentages. Used before the war, they now have expanded into a" big military development, probably to considerable consider-able advantage. Six kinds of droplets are described de-scribed in a report to the directors of the Socony-Vacuum Oil company. Raises Pressure Limit. One of these enables an oil to stand higher pressures without rubbing rub-bing bare -and permitting the welding weld-ing of overheated metal. The droplet drop-let raises this pressure limit from 5,000 pounds to more than 30,000 pounds a square inch. How they do the trick is not certain. One theory is that they cause a chemical reaction re-action on the metal, which seems to produce a very fine film that acts like oil. The effect also is somewhat some-what like dirt on a soldering iron which renders soldering impossible. Another additive keeps oil flowing freely at temperatures down to 25 i below zero. Many oils solidify in cold because of paraffin waxes present in petroleum. It used to be necessary to filter off the wax for good cold performance. The new additive still allows the wax to solidify, but in particles small and separated, so that they cannot link up to make the oil solid. For oils and greases at colder than 25 below zero, the wax still is filtered off. Another droplet is a soap soluble solu-ble in oil, which keeps pistons and springs free from lacquers and carbonaceous car-bonaceous deposits. The soap picks up the particles and holds them harmless in the oil. Two Kinds Are Used. Two droplets are used to counteract counter-act the deteriorating effect of oxygen which forms acids and sludges. Some of the metals in machines ma-chines speed this oxygen deterioration deteriora-tion by acting as catalysts. Two kinds of droplets are used to stop the oxygen spoilage. One type, such as nitrogen compounds and carbolic acid compounds, protects directly against the air. The other is said to 'poison the metal surface so that it no longer is able to speed the reactions. re-actions. This poisoning of metal is theoretical, and exactly what happens hap-pens is not yet known. A fifth additive increases the oili-ness oili-ness of oil. Oiliness means slipperi-ness. slipperi-ness. When an oil film becomes extremely ex-tremely thin, it begins to lose slip. The additive restores the slip. The sixth additive to protect metal parts from rust moisture is able to get through even oil films on metaL A few tenths of a per cent of the rustless additive fixes the lubricating lubricat-ing film so tightly that moisture is unable to get through. Altogether these droplets are the most important lubrication improvement improve-ment in a decade. |