Document wgqBERO487d5ZEmZOMDKgxRad

Y&fc !%& Rfe?E*l VED AY- 1983 /^ ^EGAL DEPARTMENT t/s4~ dUaf /CJ?7' HISTORY OF THE INSULATION INDUSTRY PmtnMd fey J. H. Layton, Jr., Pittsburgh Coming Corporation, ot th* masting of th* Tharmol Insulation Society lasting. Said in Williamsburg, Vo.,Nov. 1, 1956 ASBESTOS 5n the aarly doys whan temperatures ond prassuras war* lo~, coo! eheop ond plentiful, ony old thing woi usad to covir the pipas. in ono stoomboat installation, for in J tones, it was found vary aconomical to usa the old corpat from th* saloon, which, at that vary timv, was Suing replaced by o naw Brussals on* ond th# old ona, when usad for pipa covering, was therefore so much salvage.. This was in 1858. Othor mixtures w*ro; clay and cottlo hair or othor binding motorial; firo cloy, charcoal ond sawdust, ground fins, mixed with wji.v, and cattls hair for a bindor; hoir foit was usad axtansivaly and ona of tha favor it* binders was cattails. . ... For boilers, plastic materials were used as aarly cs 1865, but asbestos wet not known in th# business. Ono of the first installations of cement covering consisted of o layer of plaster of Paris, covered with chicken wire, then a layer of fire clay held in ploce with chicken wire, the finishing being done with sand end plaster of Paris. Th* indifference with which pipes war* covered or l*ft uncovered was troceablo, of course, to th* fact that tha pressures were too low to prove troublesome, and also beccus* little attention was paid to the conservation of h*at or the saving of coal in thois early doys.In fact, it was considered more important to keep the heat out of the angina room than in th* pipes. Appocrenco was also more important than oitrier the conserving of coal cr heat, if w* are to believo the story told of the 3clesjr.cn who approached a quite not-sd engineer in New York end endeavored to sail him covaring for the pipas of o fairly large job. "Why should we cover the pipes," soid the engineer, "they ere very nicely painted." The first insulation containing asbestos was used in 1866, in* a-matario! made by Robert F. Too?* end consisted of asbestos fibre and silicate of sods. Curiously enough this same insulation was clso the first sectional insulation material to be mede,. Mr. Toope's place of business wos on E. 79th Street, New York City, ond he sold his potent rights in the United States te the Johns Company (now Jo'nns-Menville). The first asbestos cament for use on boilers, was tried about 1870, and contained 15% of asbestos fibre." "ft was made by the Chalmers-Spence Company, at tha foot of E. 9th Street, New York City. Magnesia Sectional Covering appeared in 1885 while the first asbestos aircell covaring was produced in Brooklyn in 1898. / ./ / / 2 TK< discovery of the hoot incoloting proporriea f mognvsia cerboncte is credited to Hifo N. Htimer*, whs H been in h* pipe covering business for many yeers in o Minor way. Ha was troubled with whet the doctors than coifed a sour stomach end was rwccmmnnc to carry with him o little pieeo ci Carbonate of Magnesia and ot a smoll piece of it when h folt that hit stomach was cut of order. One night whiU sitting in a bar room in the coal mining rogien of Pennsylvania when* ha had a big job on hand, ha took tha Magnesia from his pocket end while toying wilh It suddenly realized its tightness, indicating to him that .it might make a goad non-conductor of hast. He wolkad over to tha stove, which wes vary hot, end laid tho pi act of magnosio on the top. At the and of tan minutes ha picked ' it up and finding h was practically cool, remarked "This is going to ravolutionize the pipe covering business." Soma tall tha story differently; but there is little doubt that Hone.ro got :the idea of its insulating qualities from tha vary light weight in proportion to the bulk of Magnesia Carbonate, end there is no doubt at all that his dlseovsry did revolutionise the insulation business. . - Hon war* found that tha Xeosbay & Mottiten Company made Carbonate of Mognesia, end bought o quantity in eroar to experiment with it os a substitute for the piaster of Paris he was than using in his cement. His first patent covered a non-heot-conductlng covering mode of Megnusia end shredded rope. Ho found it very herd werh, however, to chop up tha second hand sbip*3 reps, end also o vary slow process. At that time ho did not use anouc of it to warrant parting in a machine to chaw up the rope. So he tried out silk noils, end found that the*# gave the mixture worn strength then tho rope. About-this time so serene told Dr. Mettison of the lory* orders forCarbonate of Magna coming from Mr. Hnncre. /hen ono of Mr. Hanaioro's workman droy* up to tha Kensbey & Mott is on Company's plant end coked for ICCO pounds of Magnesia Carbonate, th* shipping clerk was csfounded as tha largest orders previously hoJ been for a keg containing 30 pounc or somatimes a barrel of 60 pounds, but since the man had the cosh to pay for it, tho mar in the shipping department got busy and packed up os much as they had on hand which wo about SCO pounds. Mr. Hen mom's man sold he would cal! the next day for the balance. Whan ha coma beck be scld that ha needed five tons. Tha shipping dark could hardly believe that ha hod hoard correctly. "Do you know how much a ton of this stuff Is?" ha daetandad. "Why you' couldn't begin to gat it in your wagon." The man sold he did know and would make several trips to get the full amount, which he did, paying cosh each time. Tha dark finally asked him wiiot in the world ha was doing with tha stuff, end was told that Mr.-Koamera-bed patented tha Idea of using carboneto of magnesia .os a pipe covering ond was at that tie* -covering the pipes of . Uncle Sam's Havy vessels which than lay in tha Philadelphia Havy Yard.:--. - i - 3 TSis being new jdoo it g promptly brought to th* attention of Dr. Mottiscn with th* finol result tnot on arrangement wo* mad* with Mr. Honmcr* for th* mnnufoctur* of tf* covering. At tnot time tn# mognesio mixed with silk noil* wo* simply put on the pip* In o plastic form but shortly oftorwcrd.*, Dr. Mottison took over tho manufacture of th# materlol, 1 r. formed th* Magnolia Sectional Car*ring Company ond mould* were mod* for forming th* mots ? into s*ctions and block. Dr. Mottison, who hod long boon intarostad in asbestos as a mineral, sugg*tod tho us* of tho osbostos fibro intood of silk noils bocouso th# esbostot was fir*. proof, but it is not cortoin just whan tho chon go from silk noils to osbostos was mode. .-.I * (Nolls--waste silk prodwcod in tho production of spun silk.) Tho prosont Johns-Mono ill* Corporation trocos its origin to 1853 whon H. W. Johns, roofing manufacturer end founder of tho osbostos industry, startod out os o {obbor end monu- lecturer in o smoli bosom*nt shop at 73 Williams Stroot, Now York City, under ths now* of th* H. W. Johns Manufacturing Company. . . His first business was th* production of a roofing mode horn rag folt and coot, tor, together with paints end costings fer roofs end fer preserving wood, motais and fabrics. in 13d3 th* H. W. Johns Manufacturing Company first mad* known th* rssults of long and continued research end experiment with asbestos fibres, end bag on the manufacture of numerous products composed wnoliy or in part of asbestos fibres, mery of which cam* to be recognised a* stendord articles for mechanical, structural end electrical uses. By 133d, there wore four departments In tho company; and Asbestos Fibericing end Textiles. Paints, Roofing, insulations, While Mr. Johns was carrying on his experiments with asbestos, Charles 3. Mcnvilie and his thru* sens wore pioneering ia othor'industrial fields and in 1335 they founded th# Mcnvilie Covering Company in Milwoukoe, Wis. Th* early days of the Man* Ufa Coepa.iy were lorgoly occupied in determining the best materials for covering bailers end steam pipes. Mixtures of paper pulp end bluo cloy, common in the vicinity of Milwaukee, were tried successfully. Later, wool felt shoddy was used as a binder in the clay, instead of paper puip, and failure from contraction ond expansion of the metal surfaces as well os loss of temperature was considerably lessened. (Shoddy--reclaimed wooi.) Since production metiled s in industry were ropidiy chenging, corresponding dernond for higher temperature insulations resulted. This led to on arrangement by which th* Monvlll# . Covering Company took over the H. W. Johns Manufacturing Company branch in Chicago, handling the repialy developing osaestos products for high temparatvro insulations. . .4- Wr. John* died In 189B ond three yeors later, in 1901, the Mcnvllle Covering Compcny. of Milwoukc*, in busines* since 1336, *oi merged with the H. W. Johns Monvfoeturing Compony of New York, foxing the firm now) of H. W. Johns-Monvllle Company. From ihe H. W. Jahniddonville Campony the present Johns-Manviile Corporation inheritsd th* line of insulating cements, asbestos cud asphalt roofings, osbettos paper, hign^ond low tmp*rotwr* insulations and other specialties. * \ When T. r . Monville, President, died in 1925, the company began a transition from limited to widespread public ownership, and in 1927 become known as Johns-Monvills Corporation. .... .;..V..v ' . . . MINERAL WOOL Mineral wool was first produced by Noture during an eruption of the volcano of Xiiaueo, which, native Howofian legend explained, we* the goddess. Pel*, holding court. Aftr the croter had cooled, natives would yenture up the mountain and collect strands of a wool-lixo substance which they reverenced as "Pole's Hoir", thought to hove been torn out by the goddess in a rage. Geological survey revealed this substance to be lava, blown info soft threads by th gigantic forces af the volcano. Minercl wool from blast furnace slag is supposed to have boon in commercial production in Woles in 1340 ond in Germany as early os 1370. Her* in the United States production alerted in 1397. As for os the United State* is concerned, experiments! work was carried on several years before this cemmsreial production dote. A potent issued August 21, 1377, describes the fabrication of bonded products from bulk mineral wool using o bituminous binder. This potent might be considered th* forerunner of current batt ond felt production, os we know it today. - a. _ - A patent issued August 7, 1B33, describes a thermal insulating cament composed or mineral wool, clay to give binding octfon end the oddition of animal hair. Minvral wool insulation in block form was first described in a patent issued July 10, 1888, These blocks were made from mineral wool fiber that was dispersed in woter ond formed In e filter mold to remove the water, followed by e drying of the wet block. Mr. Charles C. Hall, founder of the commercial Rock .Wool industry moved to Alexondria, Indiana, in 1895 from Belleville, Illinois, to become Superintendent of Construction af a small steel plant then being built in Alexandria. Th# steel plont wot completed ond reedy for operation In the fall of 1896, .but never operated beeuse it was merged with other steel interests to farm the original Republic S*el Company. 8 5 7. M agnesia