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Vaseline discoverer

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JUL 5, 2023

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Meet the man who claimed to have eaten a spoonful of Vaseline everyday for most of his life. Guess for how long did he live?!

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Meet Robert Augustus Chesebrough — the discoverer of petroleum jelly also known as Vaseline.

Born in London, raised in NYC, Robert began his career as a chemist clarifying kerosene from the oil of sperm whales.

But the discovery of petroleum rendered his job obsolete. How would a typical person you know respond to such a dire situation? That too, in 1860s.

Robert, unlike many, traveled to Titusville to research what new materials might be created from the new fuel 😱

A couple of strolls later, he found out about something called rod wax, a jellylike nuisance of a waste that was cleaned off the pumping equipment often. He was told that when applied to an injury, this jelly would lessen the pain and make the injury heal quicker.

Chesebrough patented the process of making petroleum jelly in 1872. By 1874, stores were selling over 1,400 jars of Vaseline a day. In 1875, he founded the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company, a leading manufacturer of personal-care products.

Before he began selling petroleum jelly, he tested it on his own cuts and burns. Robert once traveled around New York demonstrating his miracle product in front of an audience. He would burn his skin with acid or an open flame, then spread the clear jelly on his injuries while demonstrating past injuries, healed, he claimed, by his miracle product.

In reality, it doesn't heal cuts and burns, the jelly forms a layer, causing dirt to not get in (one of the leading causes of death and disease in his day were due to open wounds being infected) and trapping the moisture in. To accelerate demand, he offered free samples, the first of such strategies.

Robert lived till 96 years of age! Reportedly, during a serious bout of pleurisy in his mid-50s, had his nurse rub him from head to foot with Vaseline. He soon recovered, and credited his recovery to Vaseline.