S. E. Williams to H. M. Jackson on a Customer's Question About Colorlith Dust (1956)

A one-page memo of June 25, 1956, from S. E. Williams of J-M's Research Center to H. M. Jackson, manager of J-M's industrial health program, headed "Shampaine Company - St. Louis, Mo. Colorlith" (Research Center file 4224). Williams forwards a letter received by R. V. Lohse about "the health hazards of Colorlith dust" and asks Jackson to answer it. For Jackson's information, he explains that Colorlith "is really steam cured Transite (asbestos fiber, Portland cement, silica) with a small amount of pigment."

What it shows

Colorlith was a colored version of J-M's Transite asbestos-cement board. The memo shows customers asking J-M about the dust from cutting it, and the question going to the company's industrial health manager. Jackson's answer to a similar question three months later is in his letter to Western Gold and Platinum Company.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

Memorandum from S.E. Williams to H.M. Jackson dated 6/25/56 refers to correspondence from Shampaine Company of St. Louis, Missouri, inquiring of R.V. Lohse concerning health hazards of Colorlith which Williams advises is "really steam cured Transite (asbestos fiber, Portland cement, silica) with a small amount of pigment (carbon black, burnt umber, or chrome green depending on the color)." The memorandum refers to Research Center File:4224.

Related documents

• J-M General Engineering Report on the Waukegan Transite Pipe Dust System (1949)