48 



National Resources Planning Board 



standard Oil Company of New Jersey 



Centralized industrial research ui the Standard Oil 

 Company of New Jersey began in a modest way with 

 the organization of the development department in 

 September 1919. The technical staff of this new de- 

 partment consisted of 2G analytical and research 

 chemists in the research laboratorj^, and 3 chemical 

 engineers in the experimental division. In addition a 

 general engineering department of some 60 men 

 worked in close collaboration with, but not as an integral 

 part of, the development department. 



The rapid technical advance in methods of cracking 

 and the growing use of more efficient fractionation 

 equipment bj^ the petroleum industry w^ere accompanied 

 by an expansion of the experimental division, and a 

 small increase in the staff of the research laboratory 

 of the development department, which, by the end of 

 1926, had a total persormel of some 150, including chem- 

 ists, engineers, and nontechnical assistants. Motor fuel 

 and lubrication laboratories were estabUshed in the 

 early 1920's for testing and developing improved fuels 

 and lubricants. 



Standard Oil Development Company 



The Standard Development Company was incorpo- 

 rated in Delaware in September 1923 as a patent-hold- 

 ing and licensing organization. Its corporate name 

 was changed to the Standard Oil Development Com- 

 pany in October 1927, and the new company took over 

 the research and development activities previously 

 carried out by the development department of the 

 Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. The general 

 engineering department and the standard inspection 

 laboratory were incorporated into the new organi- 

 zation. 



In December 1927 the motor fuel laboratories were 

 enlarged and the refining research group (process lab- 

 oratories) moved into new quarters. The facilities then 

 made available to the refining research group consisted 

 mainly of pilot plant equipment and permitted a more 

 systematic study of refinery processes, thermal crack- 

 ing, atmospheric and vacuum distillation, and acid 

 and solvent treating. This work was carried out on a 

 scale large enough to secure basic data for design of new 

 equipment. 



Early in 1927 negotiations, begun in 1925 with the 

 owners of the Bergius and Pier patents on hydrogena- 

 tion, culminated in the acquisition of the American 

 rights to this process by the company. Shortly after 

 this agreement was reached a hydrogenation labora- 

 tory was estabhshed. The research and development 

 work of this organization led to the commercial appli- 

 cation of the hj'drogenation process to petroleum dis- 

 tillates and heavy residues. Thus it became possible 



to make high qualitj' fuels and lubricants from feed 

 stocks which could not be utilized by existing processes. 



The Hydro Engineering & Chemical Company was 

 incorporated as a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Devel- 

 opment Company in February 1930 to supervise devel- 

 opment work on hydrogenation and to design hydro- 

 genation plants in the United States. Including this 

 newly formed unit with a staff of 67 engineers, the 

 Standard Oil Development Company had approxi- 

 mately 600 employees by the end of 1930. 



The company completed a new research laboratory in 

 1931 to provide much needed facilities for the techni- 

 cal library of the patent department. This librarj^ has 

 one of the largest technical reference sections in the 

 petroleum industry and a staff which keeps the research, 

 development, and engineering groups informed con- 

 cerning the latest advances in the petroleum and allied 

 fields. 



The staff of the comapny increased rather rapidly to 

 approximately 1,000 persons by the end of 1937. Sub- 

 sequent additions to the staffs of the various laboratory 

 and engineering groups have gradually increased the 

 personnel of the Standard Oil Development Company 

 to its present 1,300 employees. 



The Standard Oil Development Company by agree- 

 ment with the major refining units of the Standard Oil 

 Company of New Jersey acts as a central research and 

 development agency for the operating companies. Such 

 centralization of research work prevents uimecessary du- 

 plication of staffs and laboratories and results in much 

 better research facilities than would be possible had 

 each operating group tried to proceed independently. 



Universal Oil Products Company 



In 1907 Jesse A. Dubbs, owner of the Sunset Oil and 

 Refining Company and the Globe Asphalt Company of 

 Obispo, Cal., was faced with a serious problem. One 

 of his oil wells had developed water which could not be 

 separated from the oil by simple heating in a pipe still, 

 the process which he had been using on other emulsified 

 crude oils. After 2 years of investigation and experi- 

 ment, he solved the problem and applied for a patent. 

 Dubbs had discovered the first heat cracking process, 

 but he did not realize it until 1913, when Dr. William 

 M. Bm"ton secured a patent on another heat cracking 

 process. Dubbs then amended his application, and 

 when his patent was issued, in 1915, it covered cracking 

 and condensation under the pressure of self-generated 

 vapors. 



A group of men interested in the commercial pos- 

 sibilities of the patent acquired it, estabUshed a labora- 

 tory at Independence, Kans., and engaged a staff of 

 research workers, including Carbon Petroleum Dubbs, 

 son of the inventor, to develop the cracking process. 

 From this beginning the Universal Oil Products Com- 



