Robert Augustus Chesebrough, (January 9, 1837 – September 8, 1933) was an American chemist who discovered

petroleum jelly Petroleum jelly, petrolatum, white petrolatum, soft paraffin, or multi-hydrocarbon, CAS number 8009-03-8, is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons (with carbon numbers mainly higher than 25), originally promoted as a topical ointment for its h ...

—which he marketed as

Vaseline Vaseline ()Also pronounced with the main stress on the last syllable . is an American brand of petroleum jelly-based products owned by transnational company Unilever. Products include plain petroleum jelly and a selection of skin creams, soa ...

—and founder of the

Chesebrough Manufacturing Company Chesebrough Manufacturing Company was an oil business, founded in 1859, which produced petroleum jelly or Vaseline, which was marketed with the brand name Luxor. Robert Augustus Chesebrough, a chemist who started the company, was interested in mar ...

Life and career

Born in London to American parents on January 9, 1837, Chesebrough was raised in New York City. He married Margaret McCredy on April 28, 1864, and they had four children. Chesebrough began his career as a chemist clarifying

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

from the oil of

sperm whales The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the Genus (biology), genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the s ...

. The discovery of

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

Titusville, Pennsylvania Titusville is a city in the far eastern corner of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,601 at the 2010 census and an estimated 5,158 in 2019. Titusville is known as the birthplace of the American oil industry and for ...

, rendered his job obsolete, so he traveled to Titusville to research what new materials might be created from the new fuel. As he was strolling around the oil field, he found out about something called rod wax, also known as

. It's a jellylike substance that was cleaned off of the pumping equipment often. Chesebrough was told it was a nuisance, except when someone had a cut or burn. If it was rubbed on an injury, then it would lessen the pain and make the injury heal quicker. He then trade-named the jelly as

. In 1875, he founded the

, a leading manufacturer of personal-care products. Chesebrough patented the process of making petroleum jelly (U.S. Patent 127,568) in 1872. By 1874, stores were selling over 1,400 jars of Vaseline a day. Chesebrough's success stemmed from a firm belief in his product. Before he began selling petroleum jelly, he tested it on his own cuts and burns. Chesebrough was still unable to sell any to drug stores until he traveled around New York demonstrating his miracle product. In front of an audience, he would burn his skin with acid or an open flame, then spread the clear jelly on his injuries while demonstrating past injuries, healed, he claimed, by his miracle product. In reality, it doesn't heal cuts and burns, the jelly forms a layer, causing dirt to not get in (one of the leading causes of death and disease in his day were due to open wounds being infected) and trapping the moisture in. To further create demand, he gave out free samples, one of the first instances of it ever being done. Chesebrough opened his first factory in 1870. The first known reference to the name Vaseline is in his U.S. patent: "I, Robert Chesebrough, have invented a new and useful product from petroleum which I have named 'Vaseline…'" . The word is believed to come from German ''Wasser'' (water) + grc, έλαιον (''élaion'', oil). Chesebrough lived to be 96 years old and was such a believer in Vaseline that he claimed to have eaten a spoonful of it every day. He died at his house in

Spring Lake, New Jersey Spring Lake is a borough situated on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 2,993,pleurisy Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant dull ache. Other sy ...

in his mid-50s, had his nurse rub him from head to foot with Vaseline. He soon recovered, and credited his recovery to Vaseline. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York City.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chesebrough, Robert American chemists 19th-century American inventors 1837 births 1933 deaths People from Spring Lake, New Jersey Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)

Life and career

See also

References

External links