when did anti-freeze come into use?

[Land Yacht]

Hello, it's kind of an odd question I guess. I was wondering if anyone remembers using straight water in the "old days"? I assume in the winter something besides water was used.

John

[2rods]

Good question. Always wondered about this and what was used. Maybe some of the old timers will tell us.

[purplepickup]

When I was a kid in the '50s a lot of cars still used alcohol (methanol I think) for antifreeze.  I remember it boiling out and evaporating.  If you didn't add more every so often the block would freeze.  When I started driving in the '60s it was still available, and cheaper, but permanent antifreeze (ethylene glycol) was mostly used.  

I'm pretty sure methanol was used in the very early years too, instead of plain water.

[phat rat]

then of course there the old thing about creek water. The question of using it was usually answered "You never see a creek freeze do you?"

[enjenjo]

Methanol was most widely used, but since it boiled off, you had to add a quart or so once a week. Ethelyene glycol was advertised as permanent since it didn't boil off. When I had my gas station in 1971, I carried methanol antifreeze, there were still some people that wanted to use it.

A lot of people just drained the engine at night, and filled it with hot water in the morning. That's one of the reasons you find so many old engines with cracked blocks. When the weather would first turn cold in the winter, I would spend a couple days unfreezing cooling systems in my service station.

Most of the old farmers around here used kerosene in the cooling systems in winter, it worked until you sprung a leak on a hot engine.

In trucks, they just kept them running all the time, never shutting them off until the weather warmed up.

[Dave]

Man you old guys amaze me  Know I know
Purple pick up  is really old  
Dave

[Crosley.In.AZ]

there was a  salt based antifreeze too.