Petroleum Jelly: Chemical substance used as lubricating agent
Petroleum jelly, is a common household product sold in chemists (pharmacies).
It comes in small flat tins as in the illustration.
Although it is known as “Petroleum”, Petroleum Jelly is not made of Petroleum. Chemically, it is a gel mixture of hydrocarbons. It is used as an ointment to put on skin. It has antiseptic and healing properties.
In origin it is an American product got from oil (petroleum). Its properties were first discovered by native Americans in Pennsylvania 1415–1450. Later it was refined by chemist Robert Chesebrough, who patented it in 1872. He opened his first factory in 1870 in Brooklyn using the trade name Vaseline.
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