As Arendt details in the book's second chapter, he was unable to complete either high school or vocational training, and only found his first significant job (traveling salesman for the Vacuum Oil Company) through family connections.
A British patent was granted in 1911 and this lubricator was then manufactured by the Vacuum Oil Company (later Mobil Oil) as the British Detroit Lubricator.
In 1907 the Vacuum Oil, Standard Oil, New York Central Railroad, and Pennsylvania Railroad were all indicted for violations in Inter-State Commerce laws.
American Broadcasting Company | Fox Broadcasting Company | Ford Motor Company | The Walt Disney Company | Royal Shakespeare Company | Hudson's Bay Company | East India Company | oil | Dutch East India Company | McKinsey & Company | Standard Oil | H. J. Heinz Company | Company | Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company | company | Bad Company | Gulf Oil | production company | Deepwater Horizon oil spill | Three's Company | Shell Oil Company | Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company | Glenn L. Martin Company | The Coca-Cola Company | Southern Pacific Transportation Company | Midnight Oil | 1973 oil crisis | Pullman Company | oil refinery | Marconi Company |
He worked as a representative for the book publishers, Ginn & Co., 1901-1911; controller, Warren Motor Car Company, Detroit, Michigan, 1911-1913; manager, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, of Michigan, 1913-1918; secretary, Detroit Pressed Steel Company, 1918-1921; assistant to president, Cadillac Motor Company, of Detroit, 1921-1925; vice president and later president, White Star Refining Company, 1925-1933; general manager, Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, 1933-1946.
In 1886, Powers became a freelance copywriter, and worked for other companies including MacBeth's Lamp Chimneys, Beecham's Pills, Vacuum Oil, Scott’s Emulsion and Murphy Varnish.
It was founded as a joint venture between the Standard Oil company of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil), Standard Oil of California (Chevron), The Texas Company (better known as Texaco, now a part of Chevron), and Socony-Vacuum Oil Company (ExxonMobil), however, it eventually became a fully owned subsidiary of Aramco.