Asbestos Magazine, 1945

Johns-Manville's notes

1. Jan. 1945, pp. 24-27 summary p. 148

   Market Conditions. Raw Fiber - possibility of spinning fiber shortage unless Navy demand for textiles is further reduced. Textiles - new uses are directly related to war production.

2. Jan. 1945, p. 27 summary p. 148

   V-2 rocket contains asbestos-wrapped turbine mixture line.

3. Jan. 1945, p. 30 summary p. 148

   WPB revokes Conservation Order M-79 restricting use of South African fiber. "Slackened demand for the long fibre Rhodesian asbestos, particularly in naval requirements for heating units, and increasing supplies, prompted removal of these restrictions …"

4. Jan. 1945, p. 32 summary p. 148

   "The Magnesia Insulation Manufacturers Association has been formed as a voluntary and unincorporated organization to render service to the different manufacturers and the trade in connection with heat insulation materials as manufactured by its members." L. R. Hoff of J-M is Treasurer and member of Board of Governors. Utley Smith is Manager.

5. Jan. 1945, p. 33 summary p. 148

   Johns-Manville has entered into an agreement with Asbestos de Mexico, S.A., under which a new plant now being constructed by the Mexican firm will be operated under J-M management and technical supervision and its products marketed in Mexico under the J-M trademark. This announcement was made on December 29, 1944 by E.C. Crosby, president of J-M International. Emilio Lanzagorta, Mexican industrialist, is president of Asbestos de Mexico. The new plant under construction in Tlalnepantla, will manufacture asbestos millboard for industrial uses, asbestos-cement roofing and siding for industrial buildings and asbestos-cement shingles, wainscoting and wallboard for homes.

6. Jan. 1945, p. 34 summary p. 148

   W.E. Sinclair leaves Cape Asbestos to become technical assistant at DeBeers Consolidated Mines.

7. Feb. 1945, pp. 2-3 summary p. 149

   Article on the future outlook for asbestos. "No asbestos mines in the world have been damaged due to the War." Factories in Europe had short supplies and/or used substitutes. "(n)o important use of asbestos has been replaced by any substitute, while, on the contrary, there are new uses for asbestos which did not exist before the War."

8. Feb. 1945, pp. 4-14 summary p. 149

   Article on the manufacture of penicillin and the role asbestos products play - Philip Carey products referenced.

9. Feb. 1945, p. 16 summary p. 149

   J-M Sea Ring packings have been manufactured for about 50 years. Recently, some were removed from an air compressor where they were installed 22 years ago, and they showed very little wear.

10. Feb. 1945, pp. 18-24 summary p. 149

    Market Conditions. Raw Fiber - Canadian mines moving fiber as quickly as it can be produced. Ample stocks are on hand in the U.S. of all grades. Allocation by the WPB has proven very successful. Textiles - sizable cutback in shipboard cable requirements. A-C products - marked increase in gvmt. requirements for flat and corrugated sheets, a substantial quantity needed for constructing war plants. Government owned buildings having non-permanent sidewalls will probably be resurfaced with a-c siding.

11. Feb. 1945, p. 26 summary p. 149

    Wage rates for pipe coverers - lists changes by city.

12. Feb. 1945, p. 28 summary p. 149

    Canadian Bureau of Statistics published "Asbestos Products Industry in Canada, 1943" giving statistics of the 13 such factories.

13. Feb. 1945, p. 30 summary p. 149

    K.W. Huffine named JMPC vice president in charge of the company's new Engineering Dept. in NY. Mr. Huffine's former position, Waukegan plant manager, will be filled by C.R. Wikel.

14. Feb. 1945, p. 30 summary p. 149

    France has purchased over 3,000 tons of Canadian spinning and shingle fiber, the largest order yet for rehabilitation of any European country.

15. Feb. 1945, p. 33 summary p. 149

    Obit. - C.F. Ames, Jr. Manager of J-M's residential building materials (age 50).

16. Feb. 1945, p. 33 summary p. 149

    "Unmanufactured asbestos was removed from import control on February 1st by WPB thru amendment of Order M-63, according to Release WPB (LD-1194). This action was taken because adequate stock of unmanufactured asbestos for present needs have been built up in the United States and military requirements have been reduced."

17. Mar. 1945, pp. 16-23 summary p. 150

    Market Conditions. Raw Fiber - demand high but shipments down due to shortage of freight cars. U.S. has ample stocks of all types. High Pressure Insulation - Demand should remain good for years, based on ship repair needs, reconversion and new building.

18. Mar. 1945, p. 28 summary p. 150

    J-M personnel changes - advertising group.

19. Mar. 1945, p. 32 summary p. 150

    J-M appoints R.P. Townsend as V.P.

20. Mar. 1945, p. 32 summary p. 150

    J-M's H.M. Shackelford speaks on the objectives of the building industry at recent conference of Middle Atlantic Lumbermans Assoc.

21. Mar. 1945, p. 34 summary p. 150

    Mining and Metallurgy publishes Bowles article on Nonmetallic Minerals. A section is devoted to asbestos, including the new asbestos/fiberglass textile.

22. Mar. 1945, p. 38 summary p. 150

    J-M personnel changes.

23. Apr. 1945, pp. 23-24 summary p. 150

    Market Conditions. Textiles - manpower shortage so great that several manufacturers have defaulted on their allocation commitments.

24. Apr. 1945, p. 32 summary p. 150

    Obit. - J.W. Jacobsen, Sales Manager of Asbestos Fiber Distributors (J-M subsidiary). "In one of his last assignments he journeyed to London, late in 1942, in an advisory capacity to a U.S. Government mission to purchase South African asbestos fibre for use by American war industry." He was employed by J-M from 1933 until his retirement in July, 1943.

25. Apr. 1945, pp. 32-34 summary p. 150

    J-M establishes veteran re-employment plan. Total J-M employment is 31,000; more than 4,500 have joined the military.

26. Apr. 1945, p. 36 summary p. 150

    "An increase in the available supply of asbestos, due largely to reductions in military requirements, has permitted the relaxation of Order M-79 to allow consumers their choice in the use of Grades C and G 1, 2 or 3 asbestos; this according to War Production Board release No. 7542, issued March 20th. Previously consumers were required to fill part of their needs with the lowest grade asbestos, - C and G 3.

27. May 1945, p. 4 summary p. 151

    BuMines published Mineral Market Report 1276, "The Asbestos Industry in 1944." For security reasons, no statistics are included.

28. May 1945, p. 12 summary p. 151

    Great Britain builds asbestos-cement huts to serve as temporary housing for those who lost their homes by bombing.

29. May 1945, p. 16 summary p. 151

    Graph showing Canadian asbestos production 1914-44.

30. May 1945, pp. 18-24 summary p. 151

    Market Conditions. Raw Fiber - crudes/spinning fibers scarce and under careful allotment by WPB. Textiles - Navy requirements continue unabated. High pressure insulation - gvmt. buying actively for military/navy use as well as lend lease and foreign projects. A-C products - scarcity of iron pipe has increased sales of a-c pipe.

31. May 1945, p. 24 summary p. 151

    BuMines has issued Information Circular No. 7313 (March 1945) on "Paligorskite, A Possible Asbestos Substitute" which describes a deposit of this material (commonly known as "mountain leather") located on Lemesurier Island, Alaska.

32. May 1945, p. 26 summary p. 151

    Wage rates for pipe coverers by city - changes only.

33. May 1945, p. 32 summary p. 151

    J-M POST-WAR NOTES (From J-M Stockholders News) Reconversion of American industry is expected to provide good markets for Johns-Manville, since the building materials and industrial products made for war will be needed in changing over the plants and equipment of other industries to peacetime production. J-M anticipates employing, in the period between V-E day and 1948, about 15,000 workers, or one-third more than it did immediately before the war. Employment at present is about 13,000. Many new and improved products for postwar markets are planned. The expansion of research activities is one of the basic objectives of the company's planning for the future. Financial provision is being made for carrying out company-wide improvement and expansion plans, a Fund for Deferred Expenditure now amounting to more than $14,000,000 having been established. Exports of J-M materials are expected to be larger after the war than they were before, but will still constitute only a small part of the company's business. They expect a substantial export market for insulations, packings and other industrial products as such products will be urgently needed in rebuilding bombed-out plants and equipment and getting the European industrial machine back in operation.

34. May 1945, p. 34 summary p. 152

    ATI formed to render service to manufacturers, the trade, and users of asbestos textiles. Membership is open to all who manufacture textiles from raw asbestos in the U.S. - J-M a Member.

35. June 1945, pp. 14-16 summary p. 152

    British building temporary homes using asbestos-cement.

36. June 1945, pp. 18-24 summary p. 152

    Market Conditions. Textiles - Controls of allocation "are having their effect on total production as each firm is permitted to manufacture only certain types of asbestos textiles." High pressure insulation - no slackening of demand expected. A-C products - steady demand by gvmt. for corrugated sheets.

37. June 1945, pp. 27-28 summary p. 152

    Amendment to L-41 makes more construction possible. Describes permitted building.

38. June 1945, p. 32 summary p. 152

    L.A. Baldwin, J-M vice president, inducted into Quarter Century Club.

39. July 1945, pp. 2-3 summary p. 152

    Dept. of Labor published Wartime Technological Development of 400 pages listing some of the methods/products developed for the war, some still being secret. "In the asbestos field alone there are several new products or processes which we doubt would ever have been invented or discovered without the incentive of war."

40. July 1945, pp. 4-10 summary p. 152

    Navy uses prefabricated asbestos cement board buildings for 15 of its buildings, including hospitals (Celotex). Developed through Bureau of Yards and Docks and Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

41. July 1945, pp. 18-24 summary p. 153

    Market Conditions. Raw Material - Some shortages - big shortage predicted in fiber used in a-c products because of the re-opening of plants in France, Belgium and Holland. Textiles - changes in Navy requirements are necessitating changeover of production items, and producers of fine tapes may better serve their civilian customers due to tapering off of military requirements. Any relief will come through agencies concerned with asbestos textile allocation. Brake lining - Army contracts are being terminated. High pressure insulation - Cotton for canvas jacketing is critically short and unless the situation improves, high pressure insulation shipments will be curtailed.

42. July 1945, p. 24 summary p. 153

    All asbestos grades are exempt from WPB limitations (M-161).

43. July 1945, pp. 26-27 summary p. 153

    Minerals Yearbook chapters on asbestos for 1942 and 1943 have been released by BuMines.

44. July 1945, p. 39 summary p. 153

    WPB appointed reconversion chairmen for about 400 industries - Chairman for Cork, Asbestos and Fibrous Div. is J.E. Cole.

45. Aug. 1945, p. 16 summary p. 153

    WPB lifts restrictions (M-161) on asbestos tape.

46. Aug. 1945, pp. 18-24 summary p. 153

    Market Conditions. Raw Fiber - Mines low on shingle and spinning grades. Amosite stocks have been depleted in the U.S. Insulation High Pressure - Manufacturers forced to curtail operations due to lack of canvas; whenever possible, pipe covering is supplied without the cotton covering.

47. Aug. 1945, pp. 26-27 summary p. 153

    Wage rates for pipe coverers listed by major city.

48. Aug. 1945, p. 32 summary p. 153

    J-M's John Kottcamp has returned from a special 2-1/2 mo. mission to Germany for the Foreign Economic Administration studying German building materials and being loaned to the gvmt. by J-M.

49. Aug. 1945, p. 32 summary p. 153

    F.M. Biffin appointed chief of Chemical Service Section at J-M's Research Lab.

50. Sept. 1945, pp. 18-24 summary p. 153

    Market Conditions. WPB has made it possible to deal more quickly with reconversion due to its withdrawal of many restrictions. High pressure insulation - Cancellations from war agencies makes supply exceed demand.

51. Sept. 1945, p. 24 summary p. 153

    BuMines released 1944 mineral yearbooks chapter on asbestos.

52. Sept. 1945, p. 34 summary p. 154

    J-M's employee magazine News Pictorial lists in its Aug. 15 issue the products J-M supplied to the Manhattan Project (lists).

53. Oct. 1945, pp. 2-10 summary p. 154

    Article "Milling Asbestos, Part II" by J.C. Kelleher, J-M's Manager of Asbestos Fibre Distributors Division. Discusses filtration method, grading techniques, testing, etc.

54. Oct. 1945, p. 12 summary p. 154

    Census of Manufacturers taken every odd year until the war. Substantial cost of taking it again for 1946 raises the possibility that Congress won't approve the expenditure.

55. Oct. 1945, pp. 12-14 summary p. 154

    College in Black Mountain, NC uses corrugated a-c for outside walls.

56. Oct. 1945, p. 16 summary p. 154

    Lab tests on mountain leather indicate no value in industrial applications. References BuMines Circular IC 7313 - Paligorskite - A Possible Asbestos Substitute.

57. Oct. 1945, p. 16 summary p. 154

    BuMines Mineral Trade Notes indicates 20 tons of asbestos were produced in Ethiopia during the Italian regime.

58. Oct. 1945, p. 18 summary p. 154

    WPB's Cork, Asbestos and Fibrous Glass Div. issued asbestos textile allocation figures and end uses for 1944 and the first half of 1945 (listed). NOTE: These figures listed for shipbuilding are less than those of electric cable and friction materials.

59. Oct. 1945, pp. 20-26 summary p. 154

    Market Conditions. Wartime products "are being dumped on the markets, in an effort to dispose of them before the better made products are ready for distribution." Raw fiber - market will definitely fall off. Textiles - Cancellations have been fairly general on Navy cloth and special textiles for the aviation industry. Large postwar market should result from the new uses developed during the war.

60. Oct. 1945, pp. 26-28 summary p. 154

    Hutchison, Kansas experimenting with asbestos grain storage bins.

61. Oct. 1945, p. 28 summary p. 154

    Tremolite mined in Alaska is used as filtering agent for blood plasma.

62. Oct. 1945, p. 28 summary p. 154

    Philadelphia department store selling prefabricated summer cottages made of asbestos boards for $199.50.

63. Oct. 1945, pp. 32-34 summary p. 155

    J-M announces plans for new research center, consisting of six buildings on 93 acres in N.J. This will provide "the largest research facilities in the world devoted to building materials and industrial products development."

64. Oct. 1945, p. 37 summary p. 155

    CJM personnel changes.

65. Oct. 1945, p. 40 summary p. 155

    Obit. - Homer Sherry, CJM vice president and former mgr. of Jeffrey Mine.

66. Nov. 1945, pp. 6-12 summary p. 155

    "Milling Asbestos, Part III" by J.C. Kelleher (JM). Equipment, prices; uses described. Use of various fiber types: Long fibres are used as a textile fibre; are felted to make long fibre paper; as a filtration medium; and as a reinforcing filler in asbestos-cement products where great strength is required. Medium length fibres which include the short spinning, the shingle and the paper grades, are used as a reinforcing filler in asbestos-cement products; as the major component of asbestos paper and millboard; as a reinforcing and binding agent in magnesia and other molded insulation; are felted with cellulose fibre for filtration sheets and pads; as a reinforcing filler in molded friction blocks and brake linings; and as an insulating mass in sprayed insulations. Short Fibres and Floats are used as a self binding insulating cement; as a filler and reinforcement in all types of asphalt paints, putties and compounds; as a filler and reinforcement in plaster, stucco and asphalt tile flooring; and as an insulating space filler. Floats and Shorts also find use as a mineral reinforcing filler in plastics; as a filler in lubricating grease; and as a silicic flux in the welding industry.

67. Nov. 1945, p. 12 summary p. 155

    Reference to asbestos cloth found in 12th Century Sanskrit work.

68. Nov. 1945, p. 20 summary p. 155

    Before the war, J-M owned and operated a plant at Moll Donck, Belgium for the manufacture of asbestos-cement products. When the German army moved into Belgium in 1940, the manager of the plant and the only American citizen employed there, grabbed one suitcase and escaped to Paris one jump ahead of the Germans, thence to Bordeaux and later (June 21, 1940) arrived safely in New York. For four years, little could be learned about the plant altho information did seep thru to the effect that it was being operated by the German invaders and was only slightly damaged in the Battle of Belgium. Early this year, the plant was retaken from the Germans and it was found that the office building had been destroyed and had to be rebuilt, but the main factory building was more or less intact and the manufacture of roofings had been carried on by the Germans using ersatz materials in their production. John de Schepper, who sailed from New York on August 15th has been made General Manager of Johns-Manville, S.A. at Moll. Mr. de Schepper came from J-M in June specifically for this position. Under his management, manufacture has been resumed, and asbestos fibre is again being used.

69. Nov. 1945, pp. 27-32 summary p. 156

    Market Conditions. Raw Fiber - shingle fiber in demand. Textiles - 1946 predicted as good year, if the Maritime reconversion work is underway. High pressure insulation volume is off because of cessation of war activities.

70. Nov. 1945, p. 35 summary p. 156

    Wage rate changes of pipe coverers by city.

71. Nov. 1945, p. 40 summary p. 156

    J-M's veteran program won Forbes Magazine contest for best company plan for handling returning service men.

72. Nov. 1945, p. 41 summary p. 156

    A.R. Fisher succeeds S.A. Williams as head of all mining/manufacturing activities of J-M in U.S. and Canada.

73. Nov. 1945, p. 41 summary p. 156

    L-41 revoked on Oct. 15. R.H. Coultrap appointed acting director of Cork, Asbestos and Fibrous Glass Div. whose activities were transferred on Nov. 2 to the new Civilian Production Administration.

74. Nov. 1945, p. 42 summary p. 156

    S.A. Williams, V.P. of J-M, given one year leave of absence on advice of company's chief medical examiner.

75. Nov. 1945, p. 43 summary p. 157

    J-M District Engineers of Bldg. Materials Dept. from all districts held five-day meeting in NY.

76. Dec. 1945, p. 14 summary p. 157

    1943 issue of "Mining Industry of the Province of Quebec" has been published giving asbestos production statistics.

77. Dec. 1945, pp. 22-28 summary p. 157

    Market Conditions. Raw Fiber - spinning fiber sufficient; scarcity of shingle fiber.

78. Dec. 1945, p. 36 summary p. 157

    Alexander Cromwell named J-M production manager over all 14 factories. He was formerly operations manager of the Kansas Ordnance Plant.

79. Dec. 1945, p. 39 summary p. 157

    J-M Int'l. appoints J.C. Kelleher as Mgr. of Construction for all foreign plants. He will also continue as Staff Mgr. for Asbestos Fiber Distributors.

80. Dec. 1945, p. 40 summary p. 157

    W.N. Reakes of CJM presented with Boy Scout award.

81. Dec. 1945, p. 40 summary p. 157

    Cork, Asbestos and Fibrous Glass Div. of WPB now known as Cork, Asbestos and Fibrous Glass Branch of the Metals and Minerals Division of the Civilian Production Administration. R.H. Coultrap is chief.