Nye Lubeletter - April 2001
New President, New Corporate Structure, Same Steady Course
George B. Mock, III, became the eighth president and CEO of Nye Lubricants last June, setting off a management buy-out effort that culminated with his family’s purchasing the majority of the Company’s stock and sharing ownership with employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). George’s father is credited with transforming what was once a moribund whale-oil company in the late 1950s into what Nye is today: a world class formulator of custom synthetic lubricants with sales offices throughout the United States and local distributors serving every major industrialized region of the globe.
New Vacuum-Rated Lubes Shine at Beta Sites, Move Mainstream
After kudos at three beta sites, NyeTorr® vacuum lubricants are being rolled out as “the new standard” for vacuum and clean room applications. Robot, lead screw, and turbomolecular pump manufacturers, each well-known vacuum-rated equipment suppliers, switched to NyeTorr lubricants after reporting significantly improved wear resistance and up to 10 times longer component life.
New R&D Manager Keeps Nye on the “Cutting Edge” 
When Dr. Michael Dube joined Nye as a staff chemist, his talents in synthetic chemistry quickly caught the attention of NASA. Mike was able to synthesize and characterize experimental batches of silahydrocarbons, a relatively new class of liquid lubricant that shows promise in aerospace applications. Mike is now co-authoring studies on these new lubricants with leading scientists at AYT Corp., NASA, and Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Mike said,” I believe a willingness to step out of the box, to move into the experimental realm, will help keep all our efforts on the cutting edge.”
Nye Nears Commercialization of Synthetic Replacement for Exxon’s Andok® C
AST, Barden, and other leading bearing manufacturers are reporting that a new experimental synthetic grease by Nye looks as good as or better than Exxon’s recently discontinued Andok C. Nye’s substitute for Andok C is a polyalphaolefin, lithium-complex grease. Compared to Andok C, Nye’s grease exhibited comparable oil separation, improved evaporation rates and improved Four-Ball Wear Scar results.
REM Added in Ohio
Charles “Chuck” Denison joined Nye’s Ohio office in April as a regional engineering manager. His responsibilities include managing key accounts in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Western Pennsylvania. Chuck brings extensive mechanical engineering experience to Nye. Formerly he was manager of special projects at M&M Precision Systems Corporation, a leader in gear metrology. Chuck joins Jeff Lay, Nye’s senior Ohio engineer, who will focus on the lubricant needs of power tool and appliance manufacturers throughout the US.
UniFlor Converts To Cell Manufacturing
UniFlor™, Nye’s brand of perfluoropolyether (PFPE) oils and greases, converted from traditional large-batch to cellular manufacturing, part of a company-wide strategy to eliminate activities that add no real value to products and services. Studies have demonstrated that cell manufacturing increases inventory turns, enhances product quality, supports on-time deliveries, and improves supplier and customer relationships.
New PTFE-Thickened Damping Greases Boost Shear Stability
Nye’s Fluorocarbon Gel 868 series is a new family of PTFE-thickened damping greases that goes where no other damping grease has gone before: high-shear, metal-on-metal components that have to operate smoothly and quietly for extended periods. Recently, Nye engineers noticed that after extended, high-shear durability testing, the most viscous of the NyoGel 774 greases did not maintain desired damping characteristics. Searching for a more robust damping grease, Nye engineers discovered that when the same high molecular weight base oils used in the NyoGel 774 series were mixed with PTFE, the new grease retained its damping characteristics after 153 hours of continuous high shear and the Fluorocarbon Gel 868 series was born.
