Nye Lubricants, Inc
Encyclopedia
Nye Lubricants, Inc. traces its origins back to 1844 in New Bedford, Massachusetts
. As the whaling
industry’s epicenter, New Bedford proved a hot spot to start an oil and lubricant company.
farm to carve his niche in the world of commerce
. Before his death 70 years later, he would create a line of lubricating oils sought around the globe – and a company that still bears his name today.
Apprentice to a master carpenter, Nye began his long career in New Bedford, Massachusetts
. But he had a wanderlust to quench before settling into what would eventually become a lifelong pursuit.
He left New Bedford to build organs in Boston
, took to sea as a ship’s carpenter, worked at an ice house in Calcutta and went to California
for the Gold Rush
, where he built a profitable business as a stair builder after the San Francisco fire. He returned to New Bedford to start an oil and kerosene
business, and then left to serve in the Union Army
as a sutler
, a traveling merchant – the first to set up shop in Richmond
after the defeat of the Confederate Army.
In 1865, he returned again to New Bedford
and the oil
business, first out of the kitchen of his Fairhaven home, then from a small store front in New Bedford. He sold a wide assortment of oils: burning oils, lubricating oils, even castor oil and salad oil. But the market niche he set out to capture was lubricating oils for delicate machinery: watches, clocks, chronometers, and later, sewing machines, typewriters, bicycles and electrical instruments.
He capitalized on the work of New Bedford watch maker Ezra Kelley. Kelley discovered that oil from the jaw and head of the porpoise
and blackfish
proved superior to any other known lubricant for delicate mechanisms, and his oil, which he began selling in 1844, had become a benchmark industry.
Nye became Kelley's chief competitor. He developed his own brand of “fish jaw oil,” but had to overcome strong market resistance to a new brand name. He started at the top. With the help of a trade journal publisher, he persuaded Cross and Beguelin, a leading manufacturer of watch and clock components in New York, to try his new formulation. Impressed with its quality, they adopted it as their own, and word about Nye's oil quickly spread throughout the industry.
Within ten years, Nye had acquired Ezra Kelley's company and moved from his small, rented storefront to his own stone factory on Fish Island
in New Bedford. Now he was well on his way to building a solid reputation for having “the best watch oil in the world.” In fact, you can even find samples of some of these oil bottles today, at the New Bedford Whaling Museum
.
. They had originally bought the business only for the real estate, but then decided to rejuvenate the company after seeing its client list which included GE
and IBM
. They continued to obtain raw blackfish head oil from Newfoundland
. Later, they formed new supply agreements with a fishing cooperative in the British West Indies
, where natives still hunted blackfish
for food.
They also saw the writing on the wall; the harvesting of ocean mammals was threatening their extinction. They also understood the technical advantages of the emerging synthetic oils and highly-refined mineral oils. In the early 1960s, more than a decade before the Marine Mammal Protection Act
outlawed the importing of the company's traditional raw material, the new owners began the transition from porpoise oil to synthetic
functional fluids.
Today, synthetic hydrocarbons, esters, polyglycols, silicones. polyphenyl and fluorinated ethers are the "raw materials" for Nye lubricants. But the tradition that began more than 150 years ago continues.
chemistries, including polyalphaolefins, esters, glycols, polyphenylethers, silicones, alkylated naphthalenes, and all commercially-available perfluoropolyethers(PFPE). Nye is also the exclusive global reseller of Pennzane® multiplyalkylated cyclopentane
fluids, oils and greases.
Nye Lubricants, Inc. formulates, manufactures, and sells synthetic lubricants, thermal coupling compounds, index-matching optical gels and fluids. Its headquarters are in Fairhaven, MA.
Nye supplies different industries, including automotive, computer printer
, disc drive
, mobile appliance, aerospace
, defense and HB-LED
OEM
markets. The company also manufactures industrial maintenance lubricants for incidental food contact, high temperature and other extreme environments.
Nye is a corporate member of the National Lubricating Grease Institute
(NLGI), the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers
(STLE) and the European Lubricating Grease Institute (ELGI).
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
. As the whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
industry’s epicenter, New Bedford proved a hot spot to start an oil and lubricant company.
William F. Nye
In 1840, William Foster Nye, barely 16 years old, left his family’s Cape CodCape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
farm to carve his niche in the world of commerce
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
. Before his death 70 years later, he would create a line of lubricating oils sought around the globe – and a company that still bears his name today.
Apprentice to a master carpenter, Nye began his long career in New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
. But he had a wanderlust to quench before settling into what would eventually become a lifelong pursuit.
He left New Bedford to build organs in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, took to sea as a ship’s carpenter, worked at an ice house in Calcutta and went to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
for the Gold Rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
, where he built a profitable business as a stair builder after the San Francisco fire. He returned to New Bedford to start an oil and kerosene
Kerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
business, and then left to serve in the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
as a sutler
Sutler
A sutler or victualer is a civilian merchant who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp or in quarters. The sutler sold wares from the back of a wagon or a temporary tent, allowing them to travel along with an army or to remote military outposts...
, a traveling merchant – the first to set up shop in Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
after the defeat of the Confederate Army.
In 1865, he returned again to New Bedford
New Bedford
-Places:*New Bedford, Illinois*New Bedford, Massachusetts, the most populous New Bedford**New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park*New Bedford, New Jersey *New Bedford, Ohio*New Bedford, Pennsylvania...
and the oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
business, first out of the kitchen of his Fairhaven home, then from a small store front in New Bedford. He sold a wide assortment of oils: burning oils, lubricating oils, even castor oil and salad oil. But the market niche he set out to capture was lubricating oils for delicate machinery: watches, clocks, chronometers, and later, sewing machines, typewriters, bicycles and electrical instruments.
He capitalized on the work of New Bedford watch maker Ezra Kelley. Kelley discovered that oil from the jaw and head of the porpoise
Porpoise
Porpoises are small cetaceans of the family Phocoenidae; they are related to whales and dolphins. They are distinct from dolphins, although the word "porpoise" has been used to refer to any small dolphin, especially by sailors and fishermen...
and blackfish
Blackfish
Blackfish may refer to:* Several kinds of fish:** Alaska blackfish, Dallia pectoralis.** Black sea bass, Centropristis striata.** Sacramento blackfish, Orthodon microlepidotus.** Tautog, Tautoga onitis.** Parore, Girella tricuspidata....
proved superior to any other known lubricant for delicate mechanisms, and his oil, which he began selling in 1844, had become a benchmark industry.
Nye became Kelley's chief competitor. He developed his own brand of “fish jaw oil,” but had to overcome strong market resistance to a new brand name. He started at the top. With the help of a trade journal publisher, he persuaded Cross and Beguelin, a leading manufacturer of watch and clock components in New York, to try his new formulation. Impressed with its quality, they adopted it as their own, and word about Nye's oil quickly spread throughout the industry.
Within ten years, Nye had acquired Ezra Kelley's company and moved from his small, rented storefront to his own stone factory on Fish Island
Fish Island, Massachusetts
Fish Island is an island in Massachusetts, United States of America. The island is located by New Bedford.The USRC Salmon P. Chase was at one time moored here, where she served as a berthing area for the cadets.-See also:...
in New Bedford. Now he was well on his way to building a solid reputation for having “the best watch oil in the world.” In fact, you can even find samples of some of these oil bottles today, at the New Bedford Whaling Museum
New Bedford Whaling Museum
The New Bedford Whaling Museum is located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA. The museum, through its collections and exhibitions, tells the story of the international whaling industry and the history more generally of the "Old Dartmouth" area, the Southcoast of Massachusetts...
.
Nye Lubricants Today
William Foster Nye's company is still in business today. Nye Lubricants, Inc is now owned by its third set of owners and can be found in William Nye's hometown of Fairhaven, MassachusettsFairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located on the south coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean...
. They had originally bought the business only for the real estate, but then decided to rejuvenate the company after seeing its client list which included GE
Gê
Gê are the people who spoke Ge languages of the northern South American Caribbean coast and Brazil. In Brazil the Gê were found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piaui, Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins, Maranhão, and as far south as Paraguay....
and IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
. They continued to obtain raw blackfish head oil from Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
. Later, they formed new supply agreements with a fishing cooperative in the British West Indies
British West Indies
The British West Indies was a term used to describe the islands in and around the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire The term was sometimes used to include British Honduras and British Guiana, even though these territories are not geographically part of the Caribbean...
, where natives still hunted blackfish
Blackfish
Blackfish may refer to:* Several kinds of fish:** Alaska blackfish, Dallia pectoralis.** Black sea bass, Centropristis striata.** Sacramento blackfish, Orthodon microlepidotus.** Tautog, Tautoga onitis.** Parore, Girella tricuspidata....
for food.
They also saw the writing on the wall; the harvesting of ocean mammals was threatening their extinction. They also understood the technical advantages of the emerging synthetic oils and highly-refined mineral oils. In the early 1960s, more than a decade before the Marine Mammal Protection Act
Marine Mammal Protection Act
The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 was the first article of legislation to call specifically for an ecosystem approach to natural resource management and conservation. MMPA prohibits the taking of marine mammals, and enacts a moratorium on the import, export, and sale of any marine mammal,...
outlawed the importing of the company's traditional raw material, the new owners began the transition from porpoise oil to synthetic
Synthetic oil
Synthetic oil is a lubricant consisting of chemical compounds that are artificially made . Synthetic lubricants can be manufactured using chemically modified petroleum components rather than whole crude oil, but can also be synthesized from other raw materials...
functional fluids.
Today, synthetic hydrocarbons, esters, polyglycols, silicones. polyphenyl and fluorinated ethers are the "raw materials" for Nye lubricants. But the tradition that began more than 150 years ago continues.
Synthetic Lubricants
Nye's products are based on a range of syntheticChemical synthesis
In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions to get a product, or several products. This happens by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions...
chemistries, including polyalphaolefins, esters, glycols, polyphenylethers, silicones, alkylated naphthalenes, and all commercially-available perfluoropolyethers(PFPE). Nye is also the exclusive global reseller of Pennzane® multiplyalkylated cyclopentane
Cyclopentane
Cyclopentane is a highly flammable alicyclic hydrocarbon with chemical formula 510 and CAS number 287-92-3, consisting of a ring of five carbon atoms each bonded with two hydrogen atoms above and below the plane. It occurs as a colorless liquid with a petrol-like odor. Its melting point is −94 °C...
fluids, oils and greases.
Nye Lubricants, Inc. formulates, manufactures, and sells synthetic lubricants, thermal coupling compounds, index-matching optical gels and fluids. Its headquarters are in Fairhaven, MA.
Nye supplies different industries, including automotive, computer printer
Computer printer
In computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a text or graphics of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable or, in most new printers, a...
, disc drive
Disk storage
Disk storage or disc storage is a general category of storage mechanisms, in which data are digitally recorded by various electronic, magnetic, optical, or mechanical methods on a surface layer deposited of one or more planar, round and rotating disks...
, mobile appliance, aerospace
Aerospace
Aerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Typically the term is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintains vehicles moving through air and space...
, defense and HB-LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
OEM
OEM
OEM means the original manufacturer of a component for a product, which may be resold by another company.OEM may also refer to:-Computing:* OEM font, or OEM-US, the original character set of the IBM PC, circa 1981...
markets. The company also manufactures industrial maintenance lubricants for incidental food contact, high temperature and other extreme environments.
Nye is a corporate member of the National Lubricating Grease Institute
National Lubricating Grease Institute
The National Lubricating Grease Institute is an international trade association that serves the grease and gear lubricant industry. It exists to promote research and development of lubrication technology. It also publishes industry standards for greases....
(NLGI), the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers
Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers
or "STLE" is the premier technical society that serves the needs of more than 10,000 individuals and 150 companies and organizations that comprise the tribology and lubrication engineering business sector, bringing together managers, engineers, scientists, technicians, academics, and government...
(STLE) and the European Lubricating Grease Institute (ELGI).
See also
- Whaling in AmericaWhaling in AmericaThe origins of whaling in the United States date to the 17th century in New England and peaked in 1846-52. New Bedford, Massachusetts, sent out its last whaler, the John R. Mantra, in 1927.-History:...
- Whale oilWhale oilWhale oil is the oil obtained from the blubber of various species of whales, particularly the three species of right whale and the bowhead whale prior to the modern era, as well as several other species of baleen whale...
- Fairhaven, MassachusettsFairhaven, MassachusettsFairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located on the south coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean...
- New Bedford, MassachusettsNew Bedford, MassachusettsNew Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
- History of WhalingHistory of whalingThe history of whaling is very extensive, stretching back for millennia. This article discusses the history of whaling up to the commencement of the International Whaling Commission moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986....
- LEDLEdLEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
- NLGI
- STLE