Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1894-07-06
TANNING THE OCEAN.
WONDERFUL POWER OIL EXERCISES
OVER THE ANGRY WAVE.

The Active Agent Is Oleic Acid, a Discov-
cry Made by German Investigators-A
Thin Layer of This Acid Possesses PO-
tency Which Is Simply Marvellous.
The effect of oil in calming the sur
face of a stormy sea, the original dis
covery Of which was accidental, has OF
late been the subject of scientific inves-
tigation, and it is now possible to
choose such oils as are best suited for
the purpose, and also to point out the
source Of their peculiar power over the
waves. The statistics collected at the
photographic Office Of the bureau of
navigation show, by the reports Of sea
captains themselves, that many vessel
has been saved not only from serious in
jury, but from laundering, by the use
of few gallons Of oil slowly trickled
into the sea- The influence Of the oil is
frequently described in such reports as
wonderful, magical and almost incredi-
BILE.
It is not difficult to see upon what
this calming effect Of oil depends, al
though the complete explanation of it
involves mathematical process of dem
onstration. The oil acts like thin skin
drawn over the water, resisting the
tendency of the latter to break into
spray under the force Of the wind The
danger to a ship from storm waves arises
from the breaking Of the waves. AS long
as their surfaces are smooth and their
crests unbroken the vessel rides them
easily and safely. But when they break,
and secondary waves are formed, it is
quite otherwise. Then the ship plunges
into the foaming walls upreared around
it, with frame racking shocks; immense
masses of water thunder down upon it's
deck, sweeping everything clean, and
sometimes even the strongest hulls and
the best seamanship are unable to pre-
vail in the contest. This is the danger
that the spreading of oil over the waves
removes.
At first sight it seems almost impos-
sible that a thin oily film resting on
the tremendous sea waves could exercise
a controlling influence over them. The
display Of resistless energy made by the
breaking waves is SO imposing and ter
rife that one might well believe no
power less gigantic than their own
could Withstand them. The effect Of
the oil resembles that of the apparently
insignificant force Of chemical combina-
ton holding in restraint the explosive
energy of gunpowder.
1t is to German investigators that we
owe the discovery Of the active agent
which enables oil to exercise its calm
ing effect upon the sea. This agent is
oleic acid, an ingredient found in lard,
olive oil and many other oils. Those
oils that possess the largest proportion
of oleic acid are the most effective in
controlling the waves. 1t is through it's
gradual separation from the rest of the
oil and it's diffusion in the water that
oleic acid acts. When drop of oil rests
upon water, the oil fattens out through
the effects of it's own weight. At the
edge of the flattened disk Of oil the oleic
acid tends most rapidly to dissolve in
the water, and the very act Of dissolv-
ing evolves energy which causes the oil
to spread still farther, thus keeping its
edges constantly in contact with water
that has not yet become charged with
oleic acid This spreading continues
with great rapidity until all Of the oleic
acid has been dissolved. Sometimes the
layer thus formed does not exceed a
Newfoundland of an inch in thickness!
It would not be easy to explain, with
out entering into technicalities, how the
forces involved in the dissolving action
just described result in resistance to
the rising of waves. Mathematical con-
siderations prove that such an effect ex-
lists, and it has been shown experiment
tally that oleic acid spreading over water
is capable of arresting the progress Of
floating chips driven by the wind, and
even of forcing such chips to move
against the direction of the wind
The power of wave is made up Of
the combined energy Of all Of the parti-
cles of water composing it, but every
particle at the surface of the wave is
opposed by the force brought into play
by the oleic acid, and thus the tendency
of the surface Of the wave to break is
resisted. Of course the formation OF
the wave as whole cannot be prevent
ed by this mere surface resistance, but
the character of the action going on at
the surface is controlled by it, and that
is the important thing SO far as the
safety Of ships is concerned.
The discovery Of the essential part
played by oleic acid explains why pc
troleum has never been found SO efficient
as other dissolve oil, for instance, i'll
smoothing waves-for petroleum con-
tains comparatively small proportion
of that ingredient, The German inves-
tigators would recommend the use OF
pure oleic acid except for the fact that
it freezes at about IS degrees above
zero and consequently is useless in very
cold weather. They have found, how
ever, that a mixture Of oleio acid and
alcohol remains liquid at only 5 degrees
above zero, and they accordingly rec
ommend such mixture as being the
best wave calming means yet discover
ed. Almost any animal or vegetable oil
is better than petroleum. Soap water
has been found effective, If a soap COM
tanning plenty Of oleic acid, which all
soaps do not contain, is used.-New
York Sun