CHEVROLET CLUB.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 521, 2 August 1932, Page 10

CHEVROLET CLUB.

“Oil, and the Testing of Oils,” was the subject of an address by Mr H. Walls, chemist to the Texas Oil Co. (Australasia) Ltd., to the Chevrolet Club last evening. Mr W. F. Blackwell, president of the club, welcomed the speaker. Oil, he said, played an all-important part in the life of an automobile and motorists could not know too much about it. Mr Walls prefaced his remarks by outlining the tests he proposed to make and detailed the reactions he anticipated the oils would make under them. He described the chief testing apparatus, the Universal Viscosimeter, a device which was used by all oil manufacturers in determining the viscosity of oils. All oils, said Mr Walls, were practically equal in viscosity at 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The difference became apparent at 210 degrees, which was 70 degrees higher than the oil was subjected to in the sump of the car. The best type of oil was a heat-resisting oil. The speaker continued his tests by outlining the methods adopted to secure heat-resisting qualities. He showed, by means of the hot-plate test, the deposit of carbon that was left by some of the materials used. With the aid of samples. Mr Walls traced the distillation of Texaco oil from the two crudes used in its manufacture. The asphaltic crude was used to give the oil small carbon deposit and clear golden colour. The paraffin base gave it heat-resisting quality. The various stages of distillation giving the grades of oil used by different makes of cars were described with the aid of samples. All these oils were distilled to body, not blended.