Posted by David Sherman on January 06, 2000 at 18:04:50:
In Reply to: Re: I was only kidding, but what a story! posted by Bob Carriere on January 05, 2000 at 17:09:02:
From the 11th edition (1938) of Kent's Mechanical Engineer's Handbook:
"Animal, vegetable, and fish oils frequenly are called fixed oils, because
they are not volatilized without decomposition. Distillation causes them to
decompose, leaving a carbonaceous residue. The oils most frequencly used are:
Animal; lard, tallow, neatsfoot. Fish; sperm. Vegetable, castor and rape seed.
With the exception of sperm oil, they consist mainly of glycerides of saturated
and usaturated long-chain acids. ... All contain unsaturated compounds which
oxidize more easily than petroleum oils. This fact has retarded their general
use at high temperatures. Fixed oils adhere more tenaciously to metal than
straight mineral oils. Consequently, they are used for compounding purposes
where water vapor has a tendency to condense on bearing surfaces...."