The first known reference to the name Vaseline was the inventor of petroleum jelly, Robert Chesebrough in his U.S. patent for the process of making petroleum jelly (U.S. Patent 127,568) in 1872. "I, Robert Chesebrough, have invented a new and useful product from petroleum which I have named Vaseline..."
The name "vaseline" is said by the manufacturer to be derived fromGerman Wasser "water" + Greek έλαιον (elaion) "olive oil".[3] A better etymology is from Greek βασίλιννα (a form for βᾰσίλισσα) "queen".
In 1859, Chesebrough went to the oil fields in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and learned of a residue called "rod wax" that had to be periodically removed from oil rig pumps. The oil workers had been using the substance to heal cuts and burns. Chesebrough took samples of the rod wax back to Brooklyn, extracted the usable petroleum jelly, and began manufacturing the medicinal product he called Vaseline.[4]
Vaseline was made by the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company until the company was purchased by Unilever in 1987.
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