Made by the Kendall Refining Company, this promotional film from the 1960s shows “Nature’s Golden Touch” and explains how crude oil is refined and processed. The Kendall Refining Company was founded in 1881 in Bradford, PA, to refine local grade crude oil into kerosene, lubricants and greases. The Kendall Allegheny brand introduced a number of significant industry firsts, including the first oil designated for winter use, the first prepackaged and factory sealed one-quart oil can, as well as the first 2,000-mile motor oil, which prompted the introduction of the brand’s iconic Two Finger logo.
The film begins with an oil well in full gusher mode, with the oil the color of gold — and more valuable than gold. This is Pennsylvania crude oil the finest and most costly crude oil in the world. A unique product of nature’s golden touch. For a century men have pounded their drill bits through the soil, cut through rocks, the land still flow with oil for oil industry age. At mark 2:24, we have the refinery, 2 towers and stacks above the city of Bradford, Pennsylvania. Here you have the heat to the golden crude oil which is been refined into fractions, we have the cylinder stacks at mark 2:35, a major part motor oil for lubricant base stack. More lubricant fractions are made one part fuel oil, one part kerosene, then naphthalene and gasoline. The fractions are gotten separately. But most of all you concentrate on the lubricant stocks. Raw materials of motor oil, grease, hydraulic fluids, industrial lubricants, sewing machine oil and oil for everything that moves. Wax is not a lubricant and so it is taken out in a propane de-waxer at below 0 temps. The wax will become dinner candles or a sealer for jellies and can peaches. Resins are a natural part of the crude at mark 3:38.
The silent silver refinery is a huge chemical lab a pattern of pipes and towers which separate fractions of the crude at mark 3:56. We have chemists here and he takes test on samples. If an adjustment is needed to be made he sees that it is done. The golden crude of the Bradford field hasn’t change since the day its been discovered. We have several tests been done on the crude in the lab at mark 5:20. If you want to improve the motor oil made at the Bradford field you put it in lorries, automobiles, cars for sports, test cars that run the rugged trails, as seen in mark 6:30. You take the lubricants and study and from a pattern made by the spectrograph you learn what is happening on the surface as seen in mark 6:53. From various tests and researches made, you learn more about the crude. For more than 80 years, scientists in this company have been studying this unchanging crude oil until it is the best crude in the world and after this years they believe that nature has given them a maze to follow a seemingly endless track of molecular structure of possibilities and promise, they have a crude with highest known chemical stability, a crude that resist oxidation and every other form of chemical reaction at mark 7:43. Lubricants refined from it possess high viscosity index, they flow freely when cold. Low horse power engine has changed to a full horse power or more. It powers the steering, brakes, driver seat, windows, ac, windshield wiper, and even the back seat TV set. It will carry you farther. All thanks to automotive engineers and lubricants at mark 10:05. They have increased the compression ratios of the ignition. Also impurities have been worked upon like HCl, H2SO4, ROH etc at mark 10:55. In an engine running hard on the turning path, heat is the enemy of steel and oil, in an engine moving slowly through town, the crank case can become a chemist nightmare, hence lubricants is necessary. Hence chemists in the golden oil try to make lubricants that settles this cases available at mark 11:34 and you call it multigrade motor oil. Then other products are also developed for engines and automatic transmissions at mark 12:00. Researches are developed from the golden crude for lubricants on engines, automobiles etc. so valuable is this crude oil that today men are trying to retrieve it from the Bradford Allegenhy fields at mark 13:16. The first oil from this field flow freely but slowly for years a secondary method have been used by pumping water into all sides of the well forcing the oil to the centre at mark 13:40. Now we have the tertiary method forcing the crude towards the pumping well which is promising but expensive but yet it goes on. The crude oil is an uncommon fined among natures treasure. It plays its role perfectly and there are no limitations to the crude oil that has nature’s golden touch.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
