The Mankato free press., 1923-06-29
PETROLEUM
DISCUSSED

The first semester OF the Petro-
leum Education club ended Monday
night, at which time the club was
addressed by E. L. Osten on the
subject, Methods Of Analysis Of
Petroleum Products" Owing 10 the
importance of the subject to be dis
cussed and to the knowledge Of the
subject displayed by Mr.. Olsen the
rule Of the club limiting the papers
to twenty minutes duration was
waived.
Mr.. Osten held the undivided at
tention of the members for a period
of an hour and a half while he went
into a thorough explanation of the
various tests used in determining
the value OF gasoline, kerosene, fuel
vising that the procedure in almost
every case is recommended by the
United States bureau of mines, and
is used for its body in testing ma
terial purchased by the government
for its manifold requirements, Mr..
Osten advised until recently that
condition had not been reached
whereby producers and users could
determine the relative desirability OF
gasoline on the basis of simple and
accurate tests. q say gasoline, that
being the first commodity we will
discuss.D 1t was. in fact, declared,
that satisfactory specifications, with
laboratory tests as a foundation,
could not be written for comm ercial
transactions in this product. It was,
Iry1 hn a tfNn l1xyA laty
ed that actual use constituted the
anly real adequate test for the value
of gasoline. Now, however, we have
passed over that period Of diffusion
and have established beyond any
shadow of a doubt that the most
unreliable test praCticed today for
| gasoline is that of the average con
sumer who tries II out in his car.
it is admitted that engine tests II
properly carried out in a laboratory
in conjunction with power measur-
m ents are still the real methods. the
last word, If you please, in deter
/ mining the utility of motor fuel, but
due to the fact that the internal
combustion motor is so complex 1t
cannot be used as tester" or an
analytical agent except in the hands
Of experts. The results Of careful
| ~ d4ldlNSlS III a SIlCiIlSol lo1OI
tory give far more satisfactory in
formation concerning the value of
gasoline. Here again, however,
make exception to those tests con-
Quoted by the use of an engine
| dynamometer-oro on the other hand
the collective experience of a large
number of users. That brings us to
/ the first and simple tests Of gaso-
line, namely: color. 1t is an obvious
fact that gasoline must not be dis
colored, and no refiners, l believe,
would attempt to market a product
which was not water white. The
method of determining color in this
case does not involve any apparatus
other than the human eye. BY look
ing through the bottom of a four
ounce bottle, one can easily deter
mine whether or not the sample
passes inspection with regard to
color. What / have said about color
applies generally to odor. Gasoline
must not have sour, rank, disagree
able odor.s The test is as simple as
the former.
Gasoline obviously should be free
from water which to be sure is
seldom present, and it is easily de-
tected because the two are mutually
insoluble. Sediment is equally easy
to detect on account of the trans
parency Of gasoline"
In view of the fact that the speaker
! of the evening was obliged to
consume such long period of time
in order to adequately cover his
subject the general discussion which
followed was cut short to some ex
tent. There were, however, several
short supplementary talks made by
Messers. ]. c: Lee, E. R. Stolen, G
Mr.. Bergman. F. c. Brown and R. w
Pinney. touching upon points which
were not thoroughly understood BY
various members Of the organization
The next meeting of the club will
be held Monday evening September
10.