George E. Pope to M. F. Judd on the Town's Inspection of Stratford Plant Dust and Fumes (1937)

A three-page inter-office memo of December 22, 1937, from George E. Pope of the Raybestos Division of Raybestos-Manhattan to M. F. Judd, reporting a visit to the Stratford, Connecticut, plant that afternoon by Mr. Cowdrey, chairman of the Citizens' Committee, with Mr. Dunbar and Mr. Schow of the Town Manager's office, to see the dust and fume controls covered by the committee's report. They looked at the fume pipe from the saturating tanks, the wet-type dust collectors for grinding dust, the dump, the oven stacks and the boiler house. Pope told them the dust coming out at the dump "never got off the Raybestos property," and the visitors were told that the dust from the roof cyclones of building #6 "was quite visible, and in fairly large aggregates of white asbestos," which a bag collector would take care of. The town planned to have its engineers visit every two weeks or month.

What it shows

The memo shows that by late 1937 the Stratford plant's fumes and dust had drawn a citizens' committee and the town government, and that the company was answering to them for what left the plant. It records the company's own account that visible asbestos dust was coming from roof cyclones and that some dust was escaping at the dump, which the company said stayed on its property. The changes it describes were aimed mainly at the neighborhood, with Pope adding that the fume work would also "make conditions better for the workmen."

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's attorneys indexed the Sumner Simpson Papers. Their index describes this document as follows:

Reports on tour of Stratford plant by Messrs. Cowdrey (Citizens Committee), Dunbar, Pope, Bullock and Schow (Town Manager's Office). Purpose was to view dust and fume control measures. Contains a description of the tour and details of the equipment in use. Pollution concerns of the town are mentioned.

About this copy

This is document 03400-03402 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.