Industrial Research 



153 



ments in ocean transportation. The expansion in the 

 use of oil in marine transportation, particularly of 

 Diesel oil in recent years, can be seen from the following 

 table: 



Table 2. — Expansion in world-wide marine travsporlalion between 

 1914 and 1939 ' 



I Figures given in Lisle, B. O. European war's influence on world bunkering 

 trade. World Petroleum, 10, No. 11, 43 (November 1939), from information given in 

 Lloyd's Register of Shipping. London, Lloyds, 1939-40. 



' Expressed as percentage of total tonnage. 



The marked progress in range-burner and oil-burner 

 performance can in many instances be attributed to 

 improvements in fuel quahty. The expansion that 

 has taken place in the field of oil burners can be meas- 

 ured in terms of an mcrease in the number of domestic 

 oil-burner installations — from 1 million units in 1934 

 to nearly 2 million units in 1939, now consuming an 

 aggregate of 90 million barrels of fuel per year. Of 

 the millions of homes using automatic heating systems, 

 approximately 57 percent use oil fuel, 28 percent gas, 

 and 15 percent stoker-fired coal. 



Developments in distillate fuels, besides their impor- 

 tance in the general field of oil fuels, are also closely 

 related to the progress in Diesel transportation. Both 

 stationary and automotive Diesel engines have con- 

 fronted the petroleum technologist with complex prob- 

 lems in both lubricants and fuels. 



The development of liquefied hydrocarbon gases and 

 of equipment for their use have led to their application 

 in automotive transportation and in special industrial 

 operations — such as the bright annealing of brass — and 

 to a particularly important application in supplying 

 rural districts with a convenient type of fuel. 



The expansion in automotive transportation has 

 called for more and more extensive road building. Here 

 the petroleum industry has discharged its obligation by 

 contributing improved grades of asphalt and road oils. 

 It is significant that asphalt consumption for street, 

 highway and airport pavements has increased tenfold 

 in the past 10 years. Bituminous-surfaced roads con- 

 stituted over 80 percent of all of America's surfaced 

 roads in 1939.^ 



Specialty products have been developed for the proc- 

 ess industries. By way of illustration, improved petro- 

 leum-base-soluble oils are to an increasing extent replac- 



' Asphalt consumption for paving increases tenfold in decade. Nationtil Petrokum 

 News, SI, No. 12, R-91 (March 20, 1940) 



ing fatty oils in the leather and textile industries. 

 Considerable success has also been met with in researches 

 on such products as insecticides and fungicides. 



In recent years, the petroleum industry has entered 

 the strictly chemical field to an increasing extent. In 

 general, the developments in any instance arc contin- 

 gent upon the industry's ability to supply a cheap raw 

 material, or to show a low processing cost — or frequently 

 a combination of both — or else the ability to make 

 available an entirely new derivative that does not 

 merely duplicate an existing chemical product. Note- 

 worthy results achieved here are the various alcohols 

 that are being produced in increasing quantities, along 

 with other solvents — such as highly aromatic naph- 

 thas — of importance to current developments in paints, 

 lacquers, plastics, etc. The subject of synthetic rubber 

 is being given increasing attention. Important develop- 

 ments are now in progress in this country, and it would 

 seem that the petroleum industry should be in a par- 

 ticularly good position to supply the raw materials 

 required should it ever become desirable to compete 

 with the imported natural product on a volume basis. 

 According to recent announcements, the production of 

 sjTithetic rubber from petroleum derivatives will soon 

 be carried out commercially in this country. 



General Effects on the Public Economy 



The public at large has benefited in many ways from 

 the achievements of petroleum research reviewed in the 

 previous sections. Tliis fact is illustrated by the in- 

 creased efficiency in refinery processing which con- 

 tributes to the conservation of available crude supphes, 

 by the unproved car performance resulting from better 

 fuels, and by the decreased cost of repair and upkeep 

 that can be attributed to more stable lubricants and 

 cleaner burning fuels. 



Our entire mode of living has been profoimdly in- 

 fluenced by the advances in automotive transportation. 

 We find petroleum research contributing directly to 

 the increased passenger car registration, low cost of 

 travel by bus, low cost transportation of merchandise 

 by motortruck, and decreased cost of air travel. The 

 low-cost, high-quality roads made possible by improve- 

 ments in asphalt and road oils have helped to open the 

 country to the motoring public. Even the increase in 

 tire mileage and equally amazing lowering in tire cost 

 can to no small extent be attributed, at least indirectly, 

 to hydrocarbon solvents and other petroleum deriva- 

 tives. At some future date the petroleum industry 

 may perhaps also contribute the rubber that goes into 

 the manufacture of automobile tires. 



The advantages that have accrued to the public have 

 by no means been restricted to the automotive field. 

 Far from being engaged chiefly in supplying fuels for 

 industries in competition with older means of trans- 



