How Whale Oil Helped Cars Survive Before Modern Lubricants

You're astir apt expecting this article to talk whale lipid lubricants successful aged cars. Really aged cars that utilized tillers and engines that had to beryllium started by hand-spinning a flywheel, and had adorably anachronistic names for illustration nan Aldrich Runabout  or Marot-Gardon Rear Entrance Tonneau. 

But shockingly, nan past clip whales needed to springiness up their lives for automotive purposes was during nan 1972 exemplary year. No, not 1872, 1972. The twelvemonth "The Godfather" came out and Richard Nixon was reelected U.S. president is nan aforesaid twelvemonth General Motors was fretting complete a deficiency of spermaceti. Because sperm whales were classified arsenic endangered successful 1970 and placed nether nan protection of nan Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, nan institution nary longer had entree to nan goo that protects whale brains and made GM-branded Dexron bully astatine lubricating automatic transmissions.

If you had a pre-1973 GM car pinch a TH400 aliases TH350 transmission, aliases a Chrysler automatic transmission until 1966, you tin squarely convey sperm whale for its reliability. Yes, sperm whale brain-cushion wax was truthful integral to nan cognition of immoderate automatic transmissions that they went from nether a cardinal failures per twelvemonth anterior to 1972 to complete 8 cardinal failures yearly by 1975. Spermaceti was truthful effective arsenic an additive that earlier it was removed, group expected their transmissions to past nan life of nan car, meaning that erstwhile upon a time, there benignant of was a "sealed for life" transmission that really meant it. 

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Whale lipid could beryllium recovered in GM-developed Dexron Type A and Type B transmission fluid until 1972, arsenic good arsenic Chrysler's pre-1966 Mopar re-branded GM-spec Type A automatic transmission fluid. Sure, "whale oil" sounds for illustration an antiquated lubricant that had nary spot successful nan 20th century, but utilizing it successful car transmissions wasn't nan moon-brained thought it sounds like, arsenic its properties were good known and exploited for centuries. It's really bully astatine fighting rust and tin grip precocious temperatures, particularly erstwhile mixed pinch sulfur. If you needed analyzable machinery to tally without a hitch, from watches to rifles, sperm whale lipid was smooth, consistent, and didn't gum up nan works.

If you're aged capable to person had margarine successful nan 1940s, you astir apt cognize what whale lipid tastes like. Unilever, firm genitor to Dove, Vaseline, and Ben and Jerry's, was utilizing loads of nan worldly to make that "tasty" food substitute. In 1935, 84% of each whale lipid was utilized to make margarine. Whale lipid was moreover a awesome constituent successful nitroglycerin passim World War II. Divorce whale lipid usage from its ethics, and you tin spot that it's beautiful versatile stuff.

Once whale lipid was gone from Dexron, corrosion became nan norm for TH350s and TH400s. The problem was that nan transmission cooler lived successful nan radiator, and this led to corroded fittings allowing transmission lipid and antifreeze to switch places. In 1975, GM estimated that it would return $2.2 cardinal to hole each nan ruined, whale oil-less transmissions, aliases astir $13.21 cardinal today. Fortunately, modern transmission fluid tin past anyplace from 60,000 to 120,000 miles earlier you request to alteration it, nary whale lipid required.

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Without spermaceti, perhaps Turbo Hydra-Matics, nan main transmissions affected, could person started rusting themselves retired of existence, but a substitute was discovered. Frank Erickson founded International Lubricants Inc. successful 1984, and teamed up pinch Phillip Landis of Mobil Oil successful 1986 to create a substitute for nan aged whale-oil-infused automatic transmission fluid that relied connected jojoba lipid instead. You tin moreover breeze done their patent, US4873008A, if you're into legalese. 

Jojoba plants are godforsaken shrubs, and nan wax successful their seeds is truthful chemically adjacent to sperm whale lipid that it conscionable slots correct in. The resulting product was nan ground for Lubegard transmission fluid. It's not nan first clip humans utilized slippery works squeezings successful machinery connected a ample scale, arsenic canola lipid did a awesome occupation astatine lubricating engines successful World War II.

Unfortunately, by 1992, jojoba itself became difficult to get, perchance because group didn't yet cognize really to turn it effectively, so replacements had to beryllium found. Fortunately, Erickson and Landis figured it out, creating synthetic Liquid Wax Ester (LXE) to switch nan replacement for whale oil. Lubegard says, "LXE Technology is bio-based, and composed of nan fatty acerb of a precocious erucic acerb containing seed lipid esterified pinch an costly and uncommon alcohol." In different words, "We recovered a substitute. As for nan specifics, it doesn't usage whale, truthful mind your ain jojoba wax."