Field briefing
A friction-control material for bearings, gears, engines, and sliding tools, sourced from animal, plant, mineral, or petroleum routes.
For an anachronist technology tree, the useful target is not a museum-perfect reproduction. It is a path through materials, tools, measurements, records, and institutions that makes the capability understandable and auditable.
What you are trying to make
Build or specify a dependable early version of lubricating oil that can be inspected, repaired, and taught in a workshop or factory setting. The first version should prove the core relationship before chasing speed, power, comfort, or mass production.
Minimum viable version
A minimum version demonstrates the working principle with conservative loads, visible parts, and simple access for inspection. It should use known materials, avoid hidden failure modes, and leave enough records that another workshop can repeat the successful parts of the build.
Better versions
| Version | Added capability | Main new dependency |
|---|---|---|
| Bench or pattern version | Proves geometry, fit, and sequence without full service loads | [[technical-drawing |
| Workshop version | Works repeatedly with inspection and repair access | [[quality-control-records |
| Factory version | Can be made and serviced in quantity | [[interchangeable-parts |
Materials and sourcing
- Animal fat (substitute): Available in many local economies.
- Flaxseed oil (substitute): Plant oils can serve some light-duty uses.
- Petroleum (optional): Industrial vehicles rely heavily on mineral oils.
Materials should be tracked by source, batch, preparation, substitutes, storage limits, and local geography. For vehicle-scale work, the social supply chain matters as much as the physical stock.
Prerequisite tree
- Animal fat: Provides one early lubricant family.
- Flaxseed oil: Provides a plant oil path for light uses.
- Petroleum: Provides mineral oil feedstock for industrial lubrication.
- Viscosity comparison: Screens flow and film behavior without modern instruments.
These edges are explicit graph relationships. Prose wikilinks provide reading paths, but the frontmatter edges are the source of graph truth.
Verification and quality control
Use fit checks, visual inspection, batch labels, and conservative proof tests before trusting this node in a larger vehicle. Keep inspection records close to the part or process so failures can be traced back to material, tooling, training, or design changes.
Edges left as empty pages
- Viscosity comparison: A simple comparative test page should cover oil flow and film checks.
Where it leads
This node supports later automobile, factory, repair, and transport systems. It is most useful when paired with Workshop organization, Technical drawing, and Quality-control records.