LUBRICANT SPECIFICATIONS

Abstract

In the short period that has elapsed since the genius of Watt made possible the modern industrial progress which has culminated in the fourth decade of the present century in the release of atomic energy, the rate of mechanical invention has continually accelerated and the number and variety of machines in daily use is almost bewildering. This, in its turn, has led to the manufacture of large quantities of lubricants of many kinds and this parallel growth has raken place over an even shorter period, for the full utilisation of petroleum derivatives did not take place until the twentieth century was well established. The variety of oils and greases needed for the various divisions of modern industry, produced by independent firms and under individual brand names, must have presented a somewhat confusing picture to the user and frequently given rise to the wish that some simpler way of classifying and identifying these indispensible materials might be found. In any branch of industry the manufacturer is able to purchase basic raw materials—naturally occurring, alloyed metals or synthesised chemicals—to widely accepted and published standards. There should, therefore, so the user might naturally imagine, be no fundamental reason why such methods could not be adapted to lubricants. This, however, has not generally been the case ; lubricants have usually been identified with a particular supplier frequently by a name which, for its pleasing alliteration or suggestiveness has no doubt suited the maker, but which has very seldom given the user much indication either of its character or its purpose. Wartime experience with its necessary simplification of supplies certainly stimulated the growth of lubricant specifications and the practice has definitely increased during the last two decades. Both this fact and the apparent utility of the lubricant specification must be recognised, but opinion on their merits is by no means unanimous. In these articles we propose to examine the situation in general and, for the convenience of readers, to quote from a selection of those published, in detail.