Petroleum jelly started as “rod wax”, a by-product of the oil-refining process. Don’t be alarmed by where it all started: Vaseline has come a long way since then!
American chemist Robert Chesebrough discovered that rod wax had healing properties. He refined it through various distilling and purification processes to eventually produce what we know today as petroleum jelly.
Using the thinner oil products from the rod wax after distillation and filtration, young Chesebrough purified it even further. This resulted in a colourless and odourless gel which he patented.
In 1870 he started producing this gel under the name Vaseline. The name Vaseline derives from the German word for water (wasser) and the Greek word for olive oil (elaion).