Gas, Fluid, or Solid Lubricants and Their Future

Thought is being given to experiments and   perhaps usage of gear lubricants in each of the above states. Application will be found  for   both  gases  and  solids as gear lubricants, the  major  portion of operating  gears  in  the  future  will  continue to be lubricated with fluids.

Naturally these fluids will be improved for many applications. For such purpose, the first thought concerns synthetics. However, the abundance and relative cheapness of petroleum oils rules out synthetics for most application in the immediate future. It can  be expected  that  mineral  oils will continue to be  upgraded  by  greater  selectivity , more  chemical  processing, and use  of  improved additives.        

Compressors and Gear Lubrication

Gearing in connection with compressors, whether for air, gas or refrigeration, is almost entirely confined to auxiliary functions. Some  air  conditioning units  have  gear  pumps to provide  forced  feed  lubrication  for  the  equipment. Also, some portable air compressors have gear driven rotary oil pumps. In either case lubrication of the gears may be by the crank case oil.