U. E. Bowes to Leroy U. Gardner Asking Saranac to Test a Hydrous Calcium Silicate (1943)

Two letters of February 12, 1943, from U. E. Bowes, director of research at the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, to Dr. Leroy U. Gardner of the Saranac Laboratory. Bowes recalled Gardner's earlier study of fiberglass and described a new pipe and building insulation in the pilot plant stage, a hydrous calcium silicate (the product later sold as Kaylo). He asked whether it was an air hazard, whether the leftover silica particles were, and whether there was a risk to plant workers and to "applicators or erectors at the point of use." The second letter sent two dust samples and asked for a testing program.

What it shows

This is where the Owens-Illinois and Saranac correspondence about Kaylo begins. From the start, Bowes asked about the people who would install the product as well as those who made it. Gardner's replies followed (February 23 and March 12, 1943).

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's legal department indexed the Motley 1,000 in 1984. Its index describes this document as follows:

U.E. Bowes letter to Dr. L.U. Gardner, 2/12/43, requesting Saranac Laboratory to test OIG's calcium silicate product and answer the following questions. 1) Does calcium silicate cause a health hazard? 2) Is the residual silicate a hazard? 3) Are there hazards to the plant workers in the areas where the product is made or sawed and to applicators and erectors in the field?

About this copy

This is document 234 of the Motley 1,000, from the set the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust's records facility certified as true copies, pages CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-001382 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-001383.