 Success Story
Sales
Hit Billion Gallons on Offers of Service
Plus Aviation-Grade Fuels
Technological service to car owners began in
1920 with publication of Sinclair's Law of
Lubrication--a new scientific program to
reduce engine wear. At the time the public was
offered 160 brands of automobiles, 240 kinds of
trucks, 150 different farm and industrial
tractors. These varied widely in maintenance
requirements and quality, but owners made no
distinction in servicing them. Sinclair was a
leader in educating drivers in vehicle care.
 The next step was
the modern service station, also pioneered by
Sinclair. The first one opened in Chicago in
1922, taking maintenance out of the
do-it-yourself class in back alleys. Now filling
stations offered oil change, greasing, tire
repairs, wash jobs, free air, minor mechanical
repairs and a profitable sideline in tires,
batteries and accessories, which in the trade
have been called TBA ever since. The automobile
tourist was also
a phenomenon for him, Sinclair's super-stations
installed rest rooms.
 The big money was
in gasoline. The oil companies competed fiercely
and expensively for that business. To cut costs,
Sinclair refineries installed stills which
"cracked" gas oil to yield double the
amount of gasoline, fewer hard-to-sell
byproducts. This in turn put pressure on
distributors to
 market
the higher volume--an endless round robin.
Sinclair's refining capacity jumped from 45,000
barrels a day in 1920 to 100,000 barrels in 1926
to 150,000 barrels in 1932. The cost for
refinery construction in this expansion was more
than $87 million.
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