Gasoline
History of Gasoline
The numerous processes
and agents invented to improve the quality of gasoline
Gasoline was not invented, it
is a natural by-product of the petroleum industry, kerosene being the
principal product.
Gasoline is produced by
distillation, the separating of the volatile, more valuable fractions of crude
petroleum.
However, what was invented
were the numerous processes and agents needed to improve the quality of
gasoline making it a better commodity.
The Automobile
When the history of the
automobile was heading in the direction of becoming the number one method
of transportation. There was created a need for new fuels. In the nineteenth
centure, coal, gas, camphene, and kerosene made from petroleum were being used
as fuels and in lamps. However, automobile engines required fuels that needed
petroleum as a raw material. Refineries could not convert crude oil into
gasoline fast enough as automobiles were rolling off the assembly line.
Cracking
There was a need for
improvement in the refining process for fuels that would prevent engine
knocking and increase engine efficiency. Especially for the new high
compression automobile engines that were being designed.
The processes that were
invented to improve the yield of gasoline from crude oil were known as
cracking. In petroleum refining, cracking is a process by which heavy
hydrocarbon molecules are broken up into lighter molecules by means of heat,
pressure, and sometimes catalysts.
Thermal Cracking -
William Meriam Burton
Cracking is the number one
process for the commercial production of gasoline. In 1913, thermal cracking
was invented by William Meriam Burton, a process that employed heat and high
pressures.
Catalytic Cracking
Eventually, catalytic
cracking replaced thermal cracking in gasoline production. Catalytic cracking
is the application of catalysts that create chemical reactions, producing more
gasoline. The catalytic cracking process was invented by Eugene Houdry in 1937.
Additional Processes
Other methods used to improve
the quality of gasoline and increase its supply including:
·
Polymerization: converting gaseous olefins, such as propylene
and butylene, into larger molecules in the gasoline range
·
Alkylation: a process combining an olefin and a paraffin such as
isobutane
·
Isomerization: the conversion of straight-chain hydrocarbons to
branched-chain hydrocarbons
·
Reforming: using either heat or a catalyst to rearrange a
molecular structure
Timeline of Gasoline
and Fuel Improvements
·
19th-century fuels for the automobile were coal tar
distillates and the lighter fractions from the distillation of crude oil.
·
On September 5, 1885, the first gasoline pump was manufactured
by Sylvanus Bowser of Fort Wayne, Indiana and delivered to Jake Gumper, also of
Fort Wayne. The gasoline pump tank had marble valves and wooden plungers and
had a capacity of one barrel.
·
On September 6, 1892, the first gasoline-powered tractor,
manufactured by John Froelich of Iowa, was shipped to Langford, South Dakota,
where it was employed in threshing for approximately 2 months. It had a
vertical single-cylinder gasoline engine mounted on wooden beams and drove a J.
I. Case threshing machine. Froelich formed the Waterloo Gasoline Tractor Engine
Company, which was later acquired by the John Deere Plow Company.
·
On June 11, 1895, the first U.S. patent for a gasoline-powered
automobile was issued to Charles Duryea of Springfield, Massachusetts.
·
By the early 20th century, the oil companies were
producing gasoline as a simple distillate from petroleum.
·
During the 1910s, laws prohibited the storage of gasoline on
residential properties.
·
On January 7, 1913, William Meriam Burton received a patent for
his cracking process to convert oil to gasoline.
·
On January 1, 1918, the first U.S. gasoline pipeline began
transporting gasoline through a three-inch pipe over 40 miles from
Salt Creek to Casper, Wyoming.
·
Charles Kettering modified an internal combustion engine to
run on kerosene. However, kerosene-fueled engine knocked and would
crack the cylinder head and pistons.
·
Thomas Midgley Jr. discovered that the cause of the
knocking was from the kerosene droplets vaporizing on combustion. Anti-knock
agents were researched by Midgley, culminating in tetra ethyl lead being added
to fuel.
·
On February 2, 1923, for the first time in U.S. history ethyl
gasoline was marketed. This took place in Dayton, Ohio.
·
In 1923, Almer McDuffie McAfee developed the petroleum
industry's first commercially viable catalytic cracking process, a method that
could double or even triple the gasoline yielded from crude oil by
then-standard distillation methods.
·
By the mid-1920s, gasoline were 40 - 60 Octane.
·
By the 1930s, the petroleum industry stopped using kerosene.
·
Eugene Houdry invented the catalytic cracking of low-grade fuel
into high test gasoline in 1937.
·
During the 1950s, the increase of the compression ratio and
higher octane fuels occurred. Lead levels increased and new refining processes
(hydrocracking) began.
·
In 1960, Charles Plank and Edward Rosinski patented (U.S.
#3,140,249) the first zeolite catalyst commercially useful in the petroleum
industry for catalytic cracking of petroleum into lighter products such as
gasoline.
·
In the 1970s, unleaded fuels were introduced.
·
From 1970 until 1990 lead was phased out.
·
In 1990, the Clean Air Act created major changes on
gasoline, rightfully intended to eliminate pollution.
Mary Bellis has been writing about inventors since
1997. She also loves to tinker (invent) and spends too much time in her
workshop developing her ideas.
Experience
Forbes Best of the Web credits Mary for creating
the number one online destination for information about inventors and
inventions. Her writing has been reprinted and referenced to in numerous
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outlets on a constant basis. In addition, she has produced and directed a
number of films, including a documentary on Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor
of the telephone, and has worked as a curator specializing in computer
generated art.
Education
Mary has two degrees in film and animation from
the San Francisco Art Institute. She is a big fan of both history and
technology and an avid reader of books and periodicals on those topics.
Mary Bellis
I have a passion for inventing and a deep
respect for all inventors. I know firsthand the difficulties that inventors
face and I want to help by making the path from idea to marketplace a clearer
process.
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