At 10:45 PM 10/2/2005, Pat Barthelow wrote:
> >From: "Tom Osborne" <w7why@verizon.net>
> >To: "Towertalk" <towertalk@contesting.com>
> >Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] wd40
> >Date: Sun, 02 Oct 2005 21:48:26 -0700
>
>Just for clarification: Paraffin in my American Usage, refers to a
>synthetic form of candle wax.
>Paraffin (sp?) in the British usage refers to Kerosene. de Pat....
>aa6eg@hotmail.com
>
>Tom Osborne Said:
> >3-in-1 oil is a parafin based oil. Where I work, we service sewing
> >machines
> >and you can see a real build up of gunk in there when 3-in-1 has been used.
> >Go to a sewing machine shop and get a good non-parafin based oil--much
> >cleaner. 73
Man.. are we getting away from towers.. however, I suppose a discussion of
lubricants is on topic..
Both usages derive from the same reason. There are Paraffinic and
Napthenic bases in petroleum. To a certain extent, it depends on where the
oil came out of the ground. For instance, crude from Pennsylvania (home of
Snake Oil) is high in paraffin. Crude from California is high in napthenic
bases.
When you distill the stuff into grades, you boil off the gasoline, then the
heavier fractions. With paraffinic crude, what's left over at the bottom
of the still is a waxy substance. With napthenic crude, you get tar or
road oil.
Back in the "good old days", refining wasn't nearly the well controlled
thing it is today, so whatever you got out of the still had little bits of
everything in it: i.e. lubricating oil was "mostly" oil, but had some light
fractions (gasoline, kerosine) and some heavy fractions (paraffin, tar)
mixed in. Obviously, you slather some of this lube oil onto something and
after some time, it changes.. the light stuff evaporates, the oil itself
evaporates, and what's left is the residue. Particularly in something with
lots of heat (like an engine!).
As it happens, the residual lubricity of paraffin is better than that of
tar, hence the preference for "pure Pennsyvania Crude Oil" a'la Quaker
State. But this is back when people bought their oil from local producers
and refiners and "terroir" was just as important in lube oil and fuel as in
wine.
Not today. Refining technology is so well developed, you can control
exactly what you get. You can also turn one form into another. These days,
given the demand for gasoline.. they "crack" the longer chain stuff
(lubricating oil, e.g.) into gasoline. If you just fractionally distilled
crude oil (even "light sweet" crude), you'd get nowhere near the 50% yield
for gasoline that is needed today. It just costs money to do this cracking
and reforming stuff.
Anyway... modern lubricants are FAR FAR superior to traditional ones, if
only because of consistency in their properties. However, for lots of
applications, old style lubes are just fine, and sometimes, the gloppy mess
has incidental properties that are useful (and undocumented).
You might find something from the 1940s that recommends a particular style
of lubrication, and that is based on the properties of the commonly
available lubricants back then. The same device, designed today, might
(almost certainly would) have totally different recommendations.
If you are building a concours car, and need absolute fidelity to the
original manufacturer's intent, then you'll have to hunt down some old
style lubes. If you're just trying to make something work, though, you
have a lot more choices today.
_______________________________________________
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Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
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