History
OA was first used after World War II by the US railroad industry to monitor the health of locomotives. In 1946 the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad's research laboratory successfully detected diesel engine problems through wear metal analysis of used oils. A key factor in their success was the development of the spectrograph, an instrument which replaced several wet chemical methods for detecting and measuring individual chemical element such as iron or copper. This practice was soon accepted and used extensively throughout the railroad industry.
By 1955 OA had matured to the point that the United States Bureau of Naval Weapons began a major research program to adopt wear metal analysis for use in aircraft component failure prediction. These studies formed the basis for a Joint Oil Analysis Program (JOAP) involving all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. The JOAP results proved conclusively that increases in component wear could be confirmed by detecting corresponding increases in the wear metal content of the lubricating oil. In 1958 Pacific Intermountain Express (P.I.E.) was the first trucking company to set up an in-house used oil analysis laboratory to control vehicle maintenance costs. In 1960 the first independent commercial oil analysis laboratory was started by Edward Forgeron in Oakland, CA.
Read more about this topic: Oil Analysis
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Every literary critic believes he will outwit history and have the last word.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of the prophets. He saw with an open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history he estimated the greatness of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“This above all makes history useful and desirable: it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)