According to what I have read on the subject of Sperm Oil the oil from the head cavities was primarily reserved for fine lubricating oil for precision machinery. Most of the illuminating (Lamp) oil was rendered from the blubber. I once purchased some sperm oil from another source (Haven't had any of Brownell's) & it was the worse oil I have ever had to Gum & Gel. I can only assume it was not the fine quality oil from the head cavity, also known as Cachalot oil. I have a pre 1900 4oz bottle (empty) so marked, bottled in New Bedford, Mass for the Free Sewing Machine Co.
It is also my understanding that when GM starting making their first automatic transmissions that sperm oil was the only suitable oil found to use in them. Realizing the days of availabilty of Sperm Oil were drawing to a close they set out to develop a substitute. The result was Dexron ATF, basically a synthetic sperm oil. This was the reasoning behind Dexron being used in Ed' Red, a modern day substitute for an old army formula which used sperm oil in its composition.
