Cylinder Oil

a slightly refined petroleum oil used to lubricate the cylinders, slide valves, pushrods, and valves of steam engines. Some cylinder oils are used in motorship crosshead diesels. Cylinder oils have good lubricating properties, are not prone to carbonization, and inhibit the corrosion of metal surfaces. A distinction is made between cylinder oils for engines that use saturated steam and cylinder oils for engines that use superheated steam. Cylinder oils have a relatively high viscosity (up to 70 × 10^–6 m²/sec at 100°C), which is responsible for their hermeticizing properties and their resistance to removal by condensate or by wet steam.