Anti-freeze : A Story Of Scientific Research (1940s)

in Washington DC is a modest building which houses the most extensive weather recording and forecasting organization in the world the United States weather bureau here each day to the desk of the bureau's able chief commander Francis Wilton rled derer come reports from the 750 weather stations scattered throughout the nation and her territorial possession wind velocities and their directions barometric readings and complete meteorological data high and low pressure areas are recorded hourly at each station by a staff of trained observers and sent in code to the Central Bureau in Washington or it is from these reports correlated at the US we Bureau and recorded on weather maps made available to the public that the citizen gains knowledge and news of his number one topic of conversation the weather he may also if he so desires receive by mail the government's daily weather map as some 18,000 individuals and organizations now do of special interest is the state of the weather to those whose livelihood depends on rain or shine the farmer with his crops the ship's m at Sea the Air transport pilot but just as important are weather conditions to the owners of nearly 30 million cars which today crowd the highways for whatever the weather hot or cold The Complex Motor of the modern automobile must function efficiently and as each year millions of new cars are turned out by motor manufacturers each model a machine more complex than the one before one factor has remained essentially unchanged since the internal combustion engine was invented the principle that the motor must be cooled long ago the national carbon company commissioned its chemists to develop an efficient anti-freeze kosene molasses glycerin alcohol almost anything that would lower the freezing point of water had been used by the the general public for years alcohol survived the longest but National carbon chemists hoped to find something better eventually they hit upon a compound which combined ideally a low freezing and a high boiling point ethylin glycol the base of Prestone antifreeze and today Prestone antifreeze is the perfect cold weather protection not only because its ethylin glycol base 97% of the solution is highly refined and purified but because the ingredients exclusive with Prestone antifreeze in the remaining 3% ingredients called Inhibitors by chemical Engineers have been scientifically selected to prevent many of the failures associated with ordinary anti-freeze Solutions and today the manufacturer and distribution of this scientific anti-freeze solution is in its own right a highly developed industry but behind the plant at Charleston West Virginia is a research lab labatory at Buffalo New York as modern as any in US industry while the makers of Prestone anti-freeze consider it their job not only to supply the motorist with the best anti-freeze solution that they are capable of manufacturing but of determining through research exactly what goes on inside the cooling systems where anti-freeze Solutions circulate of helping the motorist through science to get the most out of his equipment and of continual research to keep Pace with the swiftly changing tempo of Motorcar manufacturer Prime cause of trouble in any cooling system is rust and corrosion and in the Buffalo laboratory a special department has been set aside for its investigation here under rigid controls are tested the corrosive effects of a score of different solutions on the iron copper solder brass and aluminum used in motor cooling systems but before each strip of metal is tested it must be weighed on scales so delicate that they can detect a variation of 1 7 millionth of an ounce or only by the most precise measurements can the exact amount of corrosion be determined when the test has been completed then after its weight has been recorded the metal sample is placed in a bath of the solution which is under investigation for its corrosive action here in the laboratory corrosion test the conditions of a motor cooling system are simulated kept under constant surveillance day and night for at least 200 hours here temperatures can be regulated by electrical control to simulate a motor running at normal heat and because with the rapid circulation of modern cooling system pumps a mixture of air is inevitably present in the circulation liquid air must be blown into the solution being tested its flow most carefully controlled for air increases the corrosive power of water as much as 3,000% and it is plain water that is found to be the most corrosive of all motor cooling liquids at the conclusion of every test each metal sample is again weighed its weight matched against the figure recorded before the test began to determine loss through corrosion tests with actual radiators prove that the rust preventing Inhibitors of the essential 3% in prone antifreeze Reduce by 75 to 95% the corrosive action of water National carbon chemists note well the corrosion on the alum aluminum heads being tested and from these tests have learned that only a product such as Prestone antifreeze renewed each fall can give full protection against rust and corrosion for a whole Winter's driving and the importance of using a rust inhibitor such as rust Stone corrosion preventive in spring and summer a source of cold weather indignation to many a motorist and a danger to his motor as well is the discovery that a radiator recently filled with a supposedly reliable antifreeze solution is suddenly half empty but through experimentation with a miniature cooling system National carbon Laboratories have long known the answer that most radiator cooling fluids due to the presence of air will foam and froth when circulating even untreated ethylene glycol when tested in this experiment can be seen forming in the cooling system with consequent loss due to overflow but when this same test is applied to Prestone antifreeze a far different picture is presented for carbon Engineers have included in the essential 3% of Prestone antifreeze a specific inhibitor to prevent their refined ethylene glycol from forming to prevent loss of protection from overflow long standard to its buyers has been the guarantee of Prestone anti-freeze that it will not leak out of any cooling system tight enough to hold water to back up this guarantee National carbon Laboratories have designed an operatus to measure leakage exactly behind the petcock of this apparatus is an assembly containing a split gasket cut to simulate a leak such as might occur in any water jacket water is heated to motor temperature by electrical coils for exact temperature control circulation through the system now has started and water begins to leak out while its rate of flow is measured drop by drop 1 2 3 4 100 odd drops of water every minute then on this same apparatus the comparison with Prestone anti-freeze a 50% solution of Prestone antifreeze and water is prepared for testing is subjected to precisely the same conditions of motor heat and leakage as the water again the loss is measured 1 2 2 3 4 only about 48 drops to the minute some 50% less leakage than plain water and more than making good on the Fain Prestone guarantee for further study of leakage National carbon Laboratories have set up equipment to approximate actual conditions of Road vibration and shock and although the best radiator built could not stand up under such treatment each one that succumbs to the long and punishing hours of abuse adds valuable data to to National carbon store of knowledge vulnerable parts of any motor cooling system are hose connections and many a motorist his cooling system clogged has placed the blame squarely on the anti-freeze solution in his radiator today in National carbon Laboratories may be seen an entire wall covered with different types of Hose connections through which are being circulated water and various anti-freeze Solutions while long ago National carbon Engineers determined to learn all there was to know about motor hose connections each hose is here in constant use day and night for a full year before it is removed for examination on the outside all hose connections look much alike but put to such a test the real quality of each hose will soon appear for most significant fact to be demonstrated is that hose Decay is in direct proportion to the quality of the hose that an inferior will rot with any cooling fluid cause radiator clogging but a good grade of Hose under precisely similar conditions will show no deterioration and National carbon men learn that pressone anti-freeze does no more harm to hose connections than water that hose should be checked bad hose replaced before installing anti freeze that bad hose not anti-freeze is the cause of most hose connection trouble [Music] number one purpose of an anti-freeze solution or of anti-freeze research is to prevent freezing water jackets costly repairs to engine heads in a specially constructed freezing room where temperatures can be brought down to 40° below Z National carbon technicians must work in aviation suits and because of danger from intense cold no one may enter the cold room unless the technician at the control board is present to watch every action through a window of triple glass it is here with temperature readings from every vital part of the motor cooling system recorded at regular intervals that freezing problems resulting from insufficient anti-freeze protection are studied at firsthand but paradoxically it is heat not cold that subjects an antifreeze to its most severe test boiling point of plain water most common of cooling system liquids is 212° at sea level since Motors normally operate at about 160° this provides reasonable safety for ordinary driving but the boiling point of a 50% solution of water and alcohol common strength for cooling system use is only 182° perilously near the danger point of motor heat to demonstrate this Danger on a motor actually running National carbon Engineers use three stock cars of standard make attached to radiators filled with a 50% solution of alcohol and water are extensions on the radiator overflow thermostats are standard equipment as installed at the factory one gauge records the solution temperature in the cooling system but the other is connected to one of the several points in a modern motor known to Automotive Engineers as hot spots all goes well while motors are running but when the ignition is turned off cooling system circulation ceases then the needle of the dial connected to a hot spot begins to climb or around the hot spot far inside the water jacket the temperature is rapidly being raised up and up and from the low boiling alcohol and water solution steam is being formed expanding at a ratio of 1600 to1 steam which must escape through the radiator overflow the steam has reached the overflow pipe forcing out the alcohol antifreeze before it in the common cooling system complaint called after boil but the boiling point of a 50% solution of water and press Stone anti-freeze is 226° more than 40° higher than the alcohol solution to provide an ample margin of safety from after boil for users of press Stone anti-freeze but the final check on all laboratory and experimental work is done on cars in actual daily use in a series of experiments specially designed by national carers for application to Prestone antifreeze a selected core of company Personnel carry instruments for testing the results of their work in a NeverEnding series of practical road tests in every type of car and under every condition of weather and of Roads in the New York offices of national carbon company makers of Prestone anti-freeze is the general service department less than one complaint in 5,000 purchases are registered against Prestone anti-freeze but each one is carefully investigated and reported for the records of this department behind Prest known antifreeze as a field service organization covering every section of the country the company service Engineers are able to show in most cases that the cause for complaint was not due to the failure of Prestone anti-freeze in rare cases laboratory investigation seems advisable and a sample of the solution is sent to Buffalo first step in a rigid system of analysis is to place a sample in a cuge here it is rapidly Whirled for 20 to 40 minutes after all solid matter is precipitated to the bottom of the container it is observed that rust is present in the solution a technician immediately checks to see if the Prestone anti-freeze rust inhibitor is depleted for this purpose it is tested on a potentiometer the needle shows the rust inhibitor to be at full strength as a double check the sample is run through the corrosion test which demonstrates that rust must have been in the radiator before Prestone anti-freeze was installed such is the likely end of every complaint which can be put to scientific test for a sample can of Prestone antifreeze from every new lot manufactured at the factory is tested at the laboratory before any of the lot is placed upon the market and so throughout the years Stone anti-freeze has maintained its standard of fine service a modern plant and modern research and experimental facilities kept up to date and added to year after year with the single object of rendering service to its dealers and to the public but most important of all its work has been the constant research to develop the Inhibitors present in that essential 3% of Prestone anti freeze for that small percentage is as vital to Prestone antifreeze as the elements added to high-grade Steel for the special requirements of modern industry as some 3% of Alloys and gears crankshafts piston rods without which the Perfection of the high-speed motor would be impossible as some 5% of nickel and chromium in dreadn armor plate without which a direct hit by a large caliber shell would pierce the heaviest armor of any battleship [Music] boat and the national carbon company takes pride in the knowledge that Prestone anti-freeze with its 3% of Inhibitors scientifically developed has become the leader of all anti freeze preparations in the world