Mobil Delvac™ 100th Anniversary
How multigrade oil changed the world
The trucking industry has always been technology-driven, from the engines that power the vehicles to the CB radios drivers use to communicate to the advanced analytics that keep the machines running. But one of the most significant advances — one that made possible not only the industry itself, but the world that industry occupies — is also one of those most taken-for-granted: multigrade oil.
What is multigrade oil?
Invented in 1952 by Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, the company that would become ExxonMobil, Uniflo Motor Oil was the first multigrade oil recommended for both summer and winter use.1 This revelation of convenience and reliability would very quickly reshape the way people travel — but first, let’s explore how it works.
Like most fluids, lubricants become thinner as they heat up, and inside an engine this presents a practical challenge: when an engine starts, the oil will be thick and may inhibit the engine from operating efficiently. However, once the oil heats up to its normal operating temperature along with the rest of the engine, it could then become too thin and fail to protect vital (not to mention delicate) components.
Multigrade oil changed that. Adding polymers (large molecules) raised the viscosity index of the lubricant, shifting its chemical nature to achieve similar viscosity at different temperatures. This allowed engines to operate reliably and more efficiently in a great variety of regions, and even through different seasons.
First, multigrade oil changed trucking…
Naturally this was a huge boon for truckers. Not only could they travel from the frigid north to the sweltering south without necessarily having to change their engine lubricant, but they could go longer (from summer to fall) without having to change their fluids to an entirely new product, making routine maintenance cheaper, easier, and far less frequent. And when trucking became cheaper and easier, it drew even more drivers and became far more attractive to companies looking for the best way to ship their products.
…then, it changed the world.
Perhaps most important was the indirect affect multigrade oil had on the trucking industry by popularizing passenger vehicles. By making personal vehicles more convenient, multigrade oil incentivized the development of paved roads across the world — notably in countries like the United States, who developed their interstate highway system in the 1960s. This global, intricate network of roads for passenger vehicles greatly expanded the scope and potential of the trucking industry, expanding the scope of product proliferation, and even allowed them to enjoy a brief surge in pop culture relevance in the 1970s when songs like “Convoy” and films like “Smokey and the Bandit” dominated popular culture.
It's amazing how much one little innovation can change the world when smart, ambitious people get ahold of it. And it’s easy to get carried away imagining what incredible chain reaction the next breakthrough could set off…
