The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-04-01
PARAFFIN WAX
MADE INTO OIL
FOR AIRPLANES
Chemists Claim Synthetic
Lubricant Better Than
Petroleum Product.

Paraffin wax, the substitute for
chewing gum in the days Of Daniel
Boone and the landing of the Pill
grims, became an oil for airplane
engines today at the meeting Of
American Chemical Society.
The man-made lubricating oil
Is claimed to be superior to the oil
separated out Of crude petroleum.
This accomplishment, which
further allows the oil producer to
mt his product to the market re-
CARELESS of his crude oil supply, was
reported to the society by F. W. Sui
Ivan, V. Voorhees,, A. w. Nicely and
r. " Shankland chemists of the
Standard Oil Company Of Indiana.
II costs more money to make at
present. But it can be made in de-
sired viscosity, it has the desired
pale straw color, it does not oXidize
easily, and it is more resistant to
temperature changes than any
known natural OIL
Now Complex Mixtures
In developing the new lubricant,
the chemists first determined
through theory and experiment just
What kind Of hydrocarbons would
make the best lubricating oil. Lu-
bricating oils now in general use
are complex mixtures Of natural
hydrocarbons left after gasoline and
kerosene are distilled away and the
asphaltic and waXy materials are
separated.
They found that the ii they
wanted had its molecules q 2de up
Of approximately two hydrogen
atoms for each carbon atom, and in
its chemical formula the carbon
atoms we're arranged in a long
chain Having thus designed their
new oil, the next job was to build it
in accordance with the chemical
blueprint.
In looking around for raw mate
rails out of which to make the new
oil, grain alcohol was considered
and discarded. Finally parafin
wax, a petroleum by-product itself
was selected. It must be put
through an intricate pricess.
Cracked in Some Way
First it is cracked" in much the
same way that heavy fractions of
crude petroleum are treated to
yield gasoline sufficient to keep
Americas autos moving. This pro-
duces compounds known as ole
fines, which when combined by
process the chemist calls polymer-
ization, yield the desired oils.
At present the new synthetic
lubricant is being given special Jobs
such as the oiling of gear shifts,
shock absorbers and airplane
engines.
Other chemists reported improve
ments in the fuels used in autos.
Lloyd Withrow and T. A. Bovd of
the General Motors research Iabora-
tories, Detroit, told how thev had
attached a special Photographic de-
vice t Ga gasoline engine in order to
get a moving picture of how the ex-
plosions within the cylinder pro-
ceeds.
They discovered just what makes
an engine knock when it is using
the wrong kind OF fuel or laboring
up a hill. In both a nonknocking
and knocking explosion the firing
OF the charge starts the same way.
1t starts at the spark plug and
moves outward. The knock is pro-
duced when the fuel, after having
started to burn relatively slowly.
suddenly ignites, increasing the
pressure and causing the knock.
Group meetings of the various di-
visions of chemistry in the society
continued today with a breakfast
session of divisional officers this
morning in the Claypool.