Laura Bell
Statistics Editor
After spending countless hours scouring through annual reports, financial documentation, and press releases for this week's special report on the OGJ150/100 (see p. 30), this editor took the opportunity to enjoy a little pleasure reading. Browsing through the American Oil & Gas Historical Society web site supplied abundant narratives that were both informative and entertaining. Some of these I share with you now. Enjoy.
'Seuss I am, an oil man'
Most parents with children have probably read the popular Dr. Seuss series of books. What they may not realize, however, is that some of Dr. Seuss' famous, wonderful creatures in his books resemble the same characters found in advertisements for products for Standard Oil of New Jersey and Essolube during the Great Depression.
For many years, Theodore Seuss Geisel created advertising campaigns for Standard Oil by illustrating various creatures to sell petroleum by-products. A peculiar dragon carton would set the stage for Dr. Seuss' incredible career. An ad for the popular bug spray "Flit" showcased the beginning of Dr. Seuss' collaboration with the oil giant for nearly 17 years.
This ad, along with the "Zero-doccus," "Karbo-nockus," "Moto-raspus," and "Oilio-Gobelus" zoological characters he created, cautioned drivers about the effects of driving without the protection of lubricants produced by Standard Oil. These illustrations for Standard Oil along with other companies helped pay his bills throughout the Great Depression. Dr. Seuss went on to publish more than 50 children's books.
Entrepreneurial aspirations
Few people associate mascara and crayons to the oil industry, but with the help of early refining processes, entrepreneurs capitalized on developing new products from an existing one.
In 1865, young chemist Robert Chesebrough returned to his Brooklyn, NY, home from the oil fields of Titusville, Pa., to experiment with a waxy, goopy matter that clogged oil field well heads. Chesebrough patented his first of several patents on "purifying petroleum or coal oils by filtration." The filtered matter became known as "petroleum jelly."
Chesebrough found numerous uses for this product, such as an analgesic for minor cuts and burns. In 1872, a new product was patented that still stands today: "Vaseline." Vaseline took stains out of furniture, lubricated chapped hands and lips, and enhanced leather products. Americans were buying it as fast as it was being distributed.
Eventually, young ladies were finding different uses for Vaseline. Chesebrough's clients found that mixing Vaseline with "lamp black," a residue created by holding a saucer over a candle, or coal dust, would make do-it-yourself mascara. In 1913, Miss Mabel Williams' beauty trick of preparing such a potion for her eyelashes made her brother Tom Williams thoughts soar. His entrepreneurial aptitude would later develop into a multibillion dollar company. This new mascara product would be renamed as "Maybelline" in honor of his sister Mabel and the product Vaseline.
Another product stemming from the oil fields of Pennsylvania came from an 1891 patent from entrepreneurs Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith. Their patent was for an "Apparatus for the Manufacture of Carbon Black." They would mix their carbon black product with oil field paraffin and other waxes to create black crayon markers that were promoted as "Staonal" for "stay on all" items.
The product was a great success, but Binney's wife, a school teacher, wanted a safer version of Staonal for her school children. Binney and Smith would go on to develop a product that would forever change children's lives. With the development of oil field paraffin, pigments, talc, and other waxes-each carefully measured-"Crayola" was formed.
Crayola's factory in Easton, Pa., now receives oil field paraffin from refineries all over the US.
