Rocol was founded by Victor Ivanovitch Ragosine, a Russian, who developed a new lubricant made from astatki, a mineral oil of higher quality than vegetable and animal oils, and considered a waste product. The company began trading in London in 1878 continuing to grow and expand its range of lubricants to include military aircraft and ships - its lubricants were used on the Queen Mary when she was launched in 1934.
In 1953 the company changed its name from Ragosine to ROCOL Ltd. As demand for consumer goods increased Rocol continued to produce more advanced lubricants for the assembly of components for domestic appliances. The company also expanded to produce lubrication for machinery in power station turbines, engine oil additives, valve lubricants for oil rigs and, in the 1970s, an aerosol marking paint was featured on Tomorrow’s World. In the 1980s one of Rocol’s major achievements was their collaboration with Richard Nobel in breaking the land speed record in Thrust 1 and working with William’s technicians to build a winning formula 1 race car. A number of new products were launched around the end of the 20th century including: Sapphire®, Ultracare®, Foodlube® and Tri-Logic®, Accu-Lube® and Wiresheild™. They now have offices all over the world and the company is part of ITW a multi-national US owned company.
Rocol has been awarded ISO 9002, Investor in People, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001. Rocol products are developed in accordance to ISO 9001 and certified to international standards enforced by rigorous testing. The company works closely with NATO and International Food standards bodies as well as companies such as Rolls Royce and Airbus. Rocol manufactures lubricants and associated products for a whole range of industries from aerospace, military, automotive, food and beverage, plumbing, gas and oil, mining and marine.