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A Look at the History of Oil
Filtration
(See AMSOIL's Current Line Up in Oil Filtration:
Oil Filters -
By-Pass Filters)
One of the most important functions of motor
oil is to capture and suspend contaminants and wear particles, preventing
premature wear on an engine’s internal parts. Acting alone, motor oil would
quickly become saturated with these contaminants and wear materials and would
require very frequent changing, perhaps as often as every 500 miles, in order to
effectively guard against wear. An engine’s oil filter allows motor oil to last
for an extended period of time.
The earliest automobiles had no oil filtration,
and it was common to change oil every 500 to 2,000 miles. Later, as pressure
lubrication became standard on automobiles, some kind of oil filtration was
necessary to protect the oil pump from damage and wear. Early designs were
primitive, often consisting of nothing more than steel wool, wire meshes or
screens placed in the oil pump intake. Many designs were cleanable and reusable.
The earliest incarnation of the modern oil filter
came about in 1923, when Ernest Sweetland introduced his invention known as the
“Purolator,” a combination of the words “Pure Oil Later.” Incorporated into the
lubricating system after the oil pump and before the oil flows into the engine
bearings, the original Purolator featured an upright series of seven twill weave
cloth-covered, perforated plates encased in a heavy-duty cast container. It also
had a sight feed glass on one side, enabling the owner to see the oil flow and
change the filter when flow slowed to a trickle.
James A. Abeles saw enough potential in the
Purolator to convert a New York City garage into a company called Motor
Improvements Inc., developed primarily to manufacture Purolator filters. The
Maxwell Chalmers Company also saw promise in this new product, installing a
Purolator on a Maxwell automobile which was test-driven on a round-trip from
Detroit to the West Coast in 1924. The longer oil drain intervals, cleaner oil
and reduced engine wear offered by the Purolator ensured endorsement by the
automotive industry, and they soon became standard on many popular automobiles
of the day, including Studebaker, Pierce Arrow, Hupmobile, Peerless, Cadillac,
Oakland, Gardner, Moon, Jordan, Buick and Dodge.
Oil filter technology continued to progress
over the years. In the late 1930s, cotton waste material was introduced as filtration
media, providing the first filter replacement capability. Various woven fabrics
were also used in some filter designs. By 1946, as disposable filter models became
the norm and interest in saving production costs increased, materials such as
pleated paper and cellulose became the filtration media materials of choice,
materials that are still widely used in today’s oil filters.
Prior to 1943, most oil filters were of the
“by-pass” variety, only filtering about 10 percent of the oil at a time. The first
“full-flow” oil filter, capable of filtering 100 percent of the motor oil, was
introduced in 1943 and became standard on mass production vehicles by 1946.
The modern disposable “spin-on” oil filter
design was introduced in 1955, replacing “cartridge-type” filters which had to be
placed in a special housing or canister. The technology progressed throughout
the 1960s and spin-on oil filters soon became standard on virtually all American,
European and Japanese automobile designs.
Today’s spin-on oil filters resemble metal cans
that encase the filtration media, which capture and hold the various organic and
inorganic contaminants and wear metals within the motor oil. Organic
contaminants include bacteria and other organisms that make up sludge, while
inorganic contaminants include dust and dirt.
An engine’s oil pump pumps motor oil from the
oil sump to the oil filter. Dirty oil passes through the oil filter media, where
it is cleaned before flowing to the central tube and back into the engine through
the mounting stud. Oil is then distributed by oil passages throughout the
engine.
By-Pass Oil Filters
Secondary by-pass oil filters act separately from an engine’s full-flow filter and
only filter a small portion of the oil in a system at a time, subjecting it to
additional and more thorough cleaning than the full-flow filter is able to
provide.
Various styles of by-pass systems exist on the
market today. Some feature centrifuge or thermal action, spinning or boiling out
contaminants, while others feature extremely efficient media that remove smaller
contaminants. Originally marketed as a way to effectively extend equipment life,
by-pass filters are also effective in keeping oil clean and capable of extended
drain intervals.
The
AMSOIL
Advantage
As previously mentioned, many of today’s conventional oil filters make use of
pleated paper or cellulose as their filtration media. Although these filters
usually display good flow characteristics when new, they tend to become
obstructed fairly quickly. In addition, these conventional filters exhibit
limited capacity, longevity and ability to catch fine particles.
AMSOIL Ea Oil Filters feature advanced full-synthetic
nanofiber technology, making them among the highest efficiency filters
available for the auto/light truck market. AMSOIL is also the first in
the industry to offer a full-synthetic media in a cartridge-style
filter.
Absolute
Efficiency
Efficiency is
the filter’s ability to capture contaminants. The more efficient a
filter is, the more contaminants it will remove from the oil. To make a
filter more efficient the spaces between the fibers in the media are
made smaller, creating more resistance and limiting the oil’s ability to
flow through the filter. Achieving maximum efficiency along with limited
resistance is critical to good filtration.
Extensive testing shows that AMSOIL Ea Oil Filters
achieve a near-perfect absolute efficiency rating. The exclusive
technology used in AMSOIL Ea Oil Filters provides filtering efficiency
to 98.7 percent at 15 microns. Ea Oil Filters are among the most
efficient filters available for auto/light trucks.
When used in conjunction with AMSOIL synthetic motor
oil, AMSOIL Ea Oil Filters are guaranteed for extended service life:
• Ea Filters designated with product code Ea15K are
recommended for 15,000 miles/one year, whichever comes first, in normal
or severe service.
• Ea Filters designated with product code EaO are
recommended for 25,000 miles/one year, whichever comes first, in normal
service or 15,000 miles/one year, whichever comes first, in severe
service.
AMSOIL
By-Pass Filtration
AMSOIL Ea By-Pass Filters are high-efficiency by-pass
filters that also remove soot. They provide the ultimate in protection
against wear, oil degradation and corrosion.
By-pass oil filtration features a secondary filter with
the purpose of eliminating nearly all contaminants in engine oil. They
have high capacities and eliminate much smaller particles than full-flow
filters, including soot. By-pass filters reduce engine wear and increase
oil volume, but their high efficiencies mean they also have higher
restriction and must be used in conjunction with a full-flow filter.
By-Pass Basics By-pass filters operate by filtering oil on
a “partial-flow” basis. They draw approximately 10 percent of the oil
pump’s capacity at any one time and trap the extremely small, wear
causing contaminants that full-flow filters can’t remove. Bypass filters
have a high pressure differential, causing the oil to flow through them
very slowly and allowing for the removal of smaller contaminants. It is
called by-pass filtration because the oil flows from the by-pass filter
back to the sump and bypasses the engine. This continual process will
eventually make all of the oil analytically clean, reduces long-term
wear and can extend drain intervals.
Higher Efficiency EaBP Filters
provide higher filtering efficiency, soot removal and increased oil
capacity due to superior media composition and configuration. AMSOIL
EaBP Filters have an efficiency of 98.7 percent at two microns. At
normal operating RPM the EaBP Filter will filter all of the oil in a
typical five-quart sump in less than 10 minutes.
Longer Lasting
When used in conjunction with AMSOIL motor oil and an AMSOIL Ea or
Donaldson® Endurance™ Full-Flow Oil Filter, Ea By-Pass Filters should be
changed every other full flow filter change up to 60,000 miles. When
used with other brands of motor oil or full-flow filters, Ea By-Pass
Filters should be changed every other full-flow filter change. AMSOIL
recommends using oil analysis when extending oil drain intervals.
Soot Removal
AMSOIL has designed a high-efficiency by-pass filter element that is
also a soot removal device. AMSOIL Ea By-Pass Filters use a
synthetic/cellulose sandwiched media. The inner layer of the element is
composed of a highly efficient cellulose media covered with a
full-synthetic media outer layer. These filters remove 39 percent of
soot contaminants less than one micron. Soot removal efficiency can
increase approximately 10 to 14 percent when EaBP Filters are used in
conjunction with a standard full-flow filter, even higher in conjunction
with Ea Filters or Donaldson Endurance filters.
See AMSOIL's Current Line Up in Oil Filtration:
Oil Filters -
By-Pass Filters
T's Advanced Synthetics
Greg and Marcy Thurman
Your Nationwide
AMSOIL
Authorized Independent
Dealer
Nationwide US Warehouses,
Canada and Palm Harbor, FL
727-798-8552
E-Mail:
greg@tsadvancedsynthetics.com
If you
experience problems or have questions or comments about
our website please email us at
greg@tsadvancedsynthetics.com
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