Document pBy56myEzg74ZLXDDXewvJw7E

KGK/SB 18th July, 1957. Mr. D.H. Lyons, Director of Purchasing, Johns-Manville International Corporation, Bast 4oth Street, K'-u rora. x6. n.y. Dear Sir, We acknowledge your letter of July 1st enclosing reports No.30 and 31 showing the results of the 3auer McNett test on the `'Anna Bakke" and "Elizabeth Bakke" shipments to your Watson plant. The test results shown in your report are confirmed by check tests which we have carried out recently. However, as advised in our previous letter the shipments on the "Gertrud Bakke" to Los Angeles and the "Pioneer Gulf" to New York, according to our tests, show an Improvement in the caught l4 mesh fibre and we trust that your tests will confirm this-. The detailed results shown in your reports were of considerable use to us and we would be obliged if you would continue to forward these reports to us of subsequent shipments. It would assist us to know whether the test results on reports No.30 and 31 were obtained using the Bauer McNett equipment according to Johns-Manville method TX 10.15 or by the hand wet washing test on l4 mesh and 100 mesh screens according to Johns-Manville method TX 10.16, and we should be obliged if you would advise us on this point. Following your recent letters we have made a detailed investigation into our wet testing methods and in some cases have found that the test results from our Bauer McNett equipment does not agree with the results obtained by hand washing and this is still being investigated. About three years ago when we commenced wet screening tests to meet the Johns-Manville specification a sample of fibre was submitted to you for check testing on your Bauer McNett equipment and the results agreed closely with our own. There appears to be a possibility that an increase in the amount of - <d - -*C0 mesh fines is resulting in our testing no longer giving a reliable result. Our Research Department will, therefore, shortly forward to you for check testing a sample of fibre which has been tested on our own equipment and we would be pleased if you would test it both with the Bauer McNett equipment and with the hand screening method TX 10.16, and advise us of the results. tfe have check tested all fibre shipped since the "Pioneer Gulf" shipment in May and our tests Indicate that the + 14 mesh fibre is from 65 - 70jP and thus is a substantial improvement over the previous shipments. However, the -100 mesh fines are still unusually high and we are still seeking means of bringing this aspect of fibre quality under control. Following the visit to vvlttenoon by two of the senior technical officers of the Company we have decided to replace some of cur existing milling equipment and install additional screening capacity with the object both of reducing the formation of fines and eliminating from the fibre any fines that are produced. As regards foreign matter an effective electromagnet Installation has been arranged for collecting small pieces of wire and additional equipment of this kind is to be Installed. Kon-magnetlc foreign matter such as wood and cardboard still presents us with a problem and further steps have been taken underground to replace wood wherever possible. Additional cleaning equipment Is being Installed in the mill also which we believe will remove some of the larger pieces of non-magnetic foreign matter. As regards the large pieces of scrap metal shown in the photographs attached to your letter of July 1st we regret to say that there is some evidence that this may have been done deliberately. The shift boss involved was dismissed some time ago. As regards the closing of the bags by metal clips we have examined alternative means of closing the bags by hand sewing or machine sewing and believe that this would involve us in some substantial additional labour cost, v'e have not received complaints from other overseas users of our fibre and we are somewhat reluctant to undertake to make any change in the method of bag closing at this stage. We are working on the development of mechanical packing equipment for our fibre and we consider it possible that when this equipment is introduced we may be able to eliminate the use of metal clips for bag closing. C 1931 au - 3- e should like to say that we appreciate the assistance you have Riven us by way of reporting test resulfs. Cur asbestos 111 log operations In particular have been going through a very iff1 cult period but we believe that we now have the quality problem under control. Yours faithfully, pro General Manager DATABASE: EAP *** Reference number- 4810 :NO 570718.100 :TL Copy letter CSR Sydney to Johns Manville, Copy) : SO AUTHOR King, MG OCCUPATION Pro General Manager ORGANISATION CSR PLACE Sydney NSW :TY LETTER sCI NAME Lyons DH OCCUPATION Director of Purchasing ORGANISATION Johns Manville PLACE New York, USA NAME Broadhurst CH OCCUPATION Superintendent ORGANISATION ABA PLACE Perth WA NAME Wallace GP OCCUPATION Perth Engineer ORGANISATION ABA PLACE Perth WA :TT MGK /SB July, 1957 New York (ABA 18 Mr D H Lyons Director of Purchasing Johns Manville International Corporation 22 East 40 th Street, NEW YORK 16 NY Dear Sir, We acknowledge your letter of July 1st enclosing reports No 30 and 31 showing the results of the Bauer McNett test on the "Anna Bakke" and "Elizabeth Bakke" shipments to your Watson plant. The test results shown in your report are confirmed by check tests which we have carried out recently. However, as advised in our previous letter the shipments on the "Gertrud Bakke" to Los Angeles and the "Pioneer Gulf" to New York, according to our tests, show an improvement in the caught 14 mesh fibre and we trust that your tests will confirm this. The detailed results shown in your reports were of considerable use to us and we would be obliged if you would continue to forward these reports to us of subsequent shipments. It would assist us to know whether the test results on Reports No 20 and 31 were obtained using the Bauer McNett equipment according to Johns Manville method TX 10.15 or by the hand wet washing test on 14 mech and 100 mesh screens according to Johns Manville method TX 10.16, and we should be obliged if you would advise us on this point. Following your recent letters we have made a detailed investigation into our wet testing methods and in some cases have found that the test results from our Bauer McNett equipment does not agree with the results obtained by hand washing and this is still being investigated. C 1934 About three years ago when we commenced wet screening tests to meet the Johns Manville specification a sample of fibre was submitted to you for check testing on your Bauer McNett equipment and the results agreed closely with our own. There appears to be a possibility that an increase in the amount of -200 mesh fines is resulting our testing no longer giving a reliable result. Our Research Department will, therefore, shortly forward to you for check testing a sample of fibre which has been tested on our own equipment and we would be pleased if you would test it both with the Bauer McNett equipment and with the hand screening method TX 10.16, and advise us of the results. We have check tested all fibre shipped since the "Pioneer Gulf" shipment in May and our tests indicate that the +14 mesh fibre is from 65 - 70% and thus is a substantial improvement over the previous shipments. However, the -100 mesh fines are still unusually high and we are still seeking means of bringing this aspect of fibre quality under control. Following the visit to Wittenoom by two of the senior technical officers of the Company we have decided to replace some of our existing milling equipment and install additional screening capacity with the object both of reducing the formation of fines and eliminating from the fibre any fines that are produced. As regards foreign matter an effective electromagnet installation has been arranged for collecting small pieces of wire and additional equipment of this kind is to be installed. Non magnetic foreign matter such as wood and cardboard still presents us with a problem and further steps have been taken underground to replace wood wherever possible. Additional cleaning equipment is being installed in the mill also which we believe will remove some of the larger pieces of non magnetic foreign matter. As regards the large pieces of scrap metal shown in the photographs attached to your letter of July 1st we regret to say that there is some evidence that this may have been done deliberately. The shift boss involved was dismissed some time ago. As regards the closing of the bags by metal clips we have examined alternative means of closing the bags by hand sewing or machine sewing and believe that this would involve us in some substantial additional labour cost We have not received complaints from other overseas users of our fibre and we are somewhat reluctant to undertake to make any change in the method of bag closing at this stage. We are working on the development of mechanical packing equipment for our fibre and we consider it possible that when this equipment is introduced we may be able to eliminate the use of metal clips for bag closing. We should like to say that we appreciate the assistance you have given us by way of reporting test results. Our asbestos milling operations in particular have been going through a very difficult period but we believe that we now have the quality problem under control. Yours faithfully, Pro General Manager Addenda Stamp Page 1, centre top, AUSTRALIAN BLUE ASBESTOS LTD. 25 JULY 1957 Notes 1. Page 1, top right, initialled by C H Broadhurst. 2. Bottom each page, initialled by C H Broadhurst. 3. Page 3, bottom left, initialled by G P Wallace ( C 1 935