What is the history of gasoline?
In the late 19th Century the most suitable fuels for the automobile were coal tar distillates and the lighter fractions from the distillation of crude oil. During the early 20th Century the oil companies were producing gasoline as a simple distillate from petroleum, but the automotive engines were rapidly being improved and required a more suitable fuel. During the 1910s, laws prohibited the storage of gasolines on residential properties, so Charles F. Kettering ( yes – he of ignition system fame ) modified an IC engine to run on kerosine. However the kerosine-fuelled engine would “knock” and crack the cylinder head and pistons. He assigned Thomas Midgley Jr. to confirm that the cause was from the kerosine droplets vaporising on combustion as they presumed . Midgley demonstrated that the knock was caused by a rapid rise in pressure after ignition, not during preignition as believed [7]. This then lead to the long search for anti-knock agents, culminating in tetra ethyl lead [8]. Typica
