The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-11-08
OIL REQUISITES
FOR MOTORING
IN COLD LISTED
Standard Company Re-
search Worker Puts En-
phaSiS on Three Points.

~ Science Serrice
CHICAGO. Nov. Satisfactory
operation Of motor cars in cold
weather requires three things Of
lubricating oils: First. an oil Of
proper grade or body; second, an oil
whose viscosity changes as little as
possible with changes in Temporal
ture, and third, an oil which has a
pour point below the temperature of
starting.
Thus DR.. Robert E. Wilson, vice
president in charge Of research and
development, Of the Standard Oil
Company Gndiana) summarized the
dominating factors in cold weather
motor oil, in an address given here
this afternoon under the auspices
OF Science Service. and broadcast
over the Columbia network.
1t Is also desirable to have an oil
which is as resistant as possible TO
the thinning action of dilutIon with
the heavy ends Of gasoline which
always takes place when a car is
operated in cold weather with fire.
quent starting and stopping, DR..
Wilson continued.
Desired Qualities Change
The qualities which engineers con-
sidered important in motor oils a
decade ago, such as gravity, fire and
flash are no longer considered i'm
portant, the speaker said in opening
his address. Nowadays they look
first at its viscoSity.
The fundamental property of any
motor oil, good bad or Indifferent.
IS It's viscosity or what is sometimes
loosely referred to as its body" DR..
Wilson said. "Viscosity means liter
ally resistance to flow and is the
property which distinguishes lubri-
eating oils in general from very
free-doWing petroleum products
such as kerosene, on the one hand.
or extremely heavy, sticky products
such as asphalts, on the other.
The first problem in lubricating
an automobile, or indeed anv ma
chine, is to choose a lubricant which
has the proper viScoSity or body to
do the job. If the oil is too thick
1t causes difficulty in supplying oil
10 all the parts which need lubri-
cation and it means a considerable
waste of energy in unnecessary
friction. II, on the other hand. the
oil IS much too thin. the engine is
hKeIy to be rather noisy and give
rather high oil consumption because
1t feeds too rapidly through the
bearings and past the piston rings"
Carbon Forms Problem
Two negative qualities. from
which no oil is entirely free, are to
be avoided; the tendency to COM
blne with oxygen from the air and
form sludge or asphaltic material.
and carbon formation. Sluggish per-
Torrance and stuck piston rings
are largely to be blamed on sludge.
DR.. Wilson stated, and so are
clogged oil lines and oil filters. as
well as other engine ills. Recent
Improvements in refining have re-
duced the sludge-forming tenden-
cieS of oils so that crankcases no
longer need to be drained so fire.
quently as they did a few years ago.
AS for carbon formation, DR.. Will
son said:
1T now appears that the most
important factor in determining
the amount of carbon deposit
formed by a given oil is It's VIOLA
tility. and that no oil which distills
readily off a very hot surface is bet
ter than an oil which stays behind
and is decompoSed by the excessive
heat, forming carbon. 1t is for this
reason that so-called distillate oils
have lower carbon forming ten
denotes than those which are made
from undistilled or so-called bot
tom stocks in the refinery. This
also explains why carbon formation
is almost invariably worse with
heavier oil than with lighter oil,
because the heavier oils are harder
to distill.'