Valvoline - From Petroleum Jelly to Making Engines Purr
In 1866, a new company started operations in Binghamton. Founded by Dr. John Ellis, he called the firm the Continuous Oil Refining Company. Ellis was a Massachuestts-born physician who had practices in Michigan at the time of the discovery of oil.
Ellis saw the oil as a potential medical compound that could provide benefit to mankind. Within a short time, Ellis began to see that as not medicine, but as a lubricant for moving parts in machines.
Center for Technology and Innovation Archive
By 1868, Ellis saw that marketing was an important part to the growth of the Continuous Oil Refining Company. Ellis and his partners decided that a name change might improve sales of the product. They decided on something much simpler — Valvoline! That simple change literally changed everything.
Courtesy of the National Museum of American History - 2005-11198
A year before his death in 1895, the first official auto race was held outside Chicago, IL. The winning car raced with Valvoline protecting its engine.
Ford recommended this lubricant for the Model T, making Valvoline a household name.
Valvoline is now a part of Aramco, who continues to provide the high-quality lubricant that began as a domestic comestic aid in Binghamton more than a century ago.