What began as a lubricant manufacturing operation in a garage became a Fortune 500 chemical company. In 1928, brothers Kent H. (CSAS 1917), Vincent K., and Albert K. Smith (CSAS 1922) along with Francis A. “Alex” Nason (CSAS 1922) founded Graphite Oil, which would become the globally traded chemical manufacturing company Lubrizol.
The company ceased retail operations in 1942 to transition to a research and production focus, and built its Wickliffe, Ohio, research facility in 1946. By 1995, the company recorded annual sales of $1.6 billion and nearly 30 subsidiary companies.
