William Burton and Robert Humphreys

Two of the brilliant minds at the Whiting Refinery, William Burton and Robert Humphreys, “basically saved the auto industry, at least at that time,” according to local historian John Hmurovic. They developed a cracking process that essentially doubled the gasoline yield per barrel of oil. Without that process, there wouldn’t have been enough gasoline to meet the fledgling auto industry’s demand.

In January 1913, Standard Oil of Indiana put 12 pressure stills into operation at Whiting. By 1922, there were nearly 900 pressure stills in use there.

These stills are no longer in use, but modern refining process are resulted from the thermal cracking principles developed by Burton and Humphreys.

The original still used in 1913 is now at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

(Photo provided by Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society)

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