| Did you know that, at the start of the 20th century, Henry Ford formed the Ford Motor Company only after quitting the first automotive manufacturing company he’d founded, the Henry Ford Company (which would later produce Cadillacs)? Or that gasoline was originally a castoff “fraction” of kerosine, which was becoming popular in the mid-19th century as a replacement for the household use of whale oil? Or that 1958 was the first year that the total number of air passengers crossing the Atlantic Ocean exceeded the total number of steamship passengers?
These and other fascinating facts are peppered throughout “In Context,” a timeline-format history of the accomplishments of ASTM International Committee D02 on Petroleum Products and Lubricants in the context of milestones in related industries. D02 member George E. Totten, Ph.D., compiled the timeline from his own research and the able assistance of several D02 members and industry experts to mark the committee’s 100th anniversary on the pages of SN.
The timeline feature is followed by other articles by D02 members that look to the present and future work of a committee whose subject matter — petroleum — is key to the world economy. Of special interest is Michael Collier’s article, “The Next 100 Years,” which picks up where the timeline leaves off by predicting how the petroleum industry will cope with growing demand for their products as well as the growing regulatory demand around the world for those products to be cleaner than ever before.
In whatever path the petroleum industry takes, Committee D02 will be instrumental for many years to come. From standardization, to training courses in the use of its standards, to quality assurance, this committee has for a century provided indispensable services to the manufacturers and users of a resource that literally fuels the world in which we live. Check out this month’s feature section and join the celebration.
Maryann Gorman
Editor in Chief
Copyright 2004, ASTM International
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