Union Carbide Chemicals Company: Thermal Insulation and Accessories Manual (1962)

A 163-page manual of October 1962 compiled by M. U. Dorsey, W. C. Turner, W. D. Wintz and J. F. Malloy for the Design and Construction department of Union Carbide Chemicals Company at its Technical Center in South Charleston, West Virginia, "as a guide for the selection and procurement of thermal insulations and accessories", with an errata sheet of November 9, 1962. From data the manufacturers supplied, it tabulates the properties of each generic class of insulation (block, board and pipe covering; blanket, felt, tape and rope; cements; loose fill; reflective; sprayed and foamed; cryogenic systems) with the trade names in each class, then lists miscellaneous asbestos products, adhesives, fabrication cements, sealers, coatings, vapor barriers, reinforcing membranes, jackets and fastenings, and ends with a directory of manufacturers. Many of the listed products are asbestos, from pipe covering, block and cements to asbestos cloth, tape and rope and Sprayed "Limpet" Asbestos. The introduction says the manual is only a listing of available products and does not mean Union Carbide approved them.

What it shows

• Characteristics (pp. 7–61): about 150 generic classes of insulation, each with its trade names and a column of properties, from density and temperature limits to thermal conductivity, advantages and limitations.
• Manufacturers (pp. 63–72): the directory of the companies named in the tables, with addresses.
• Materials (pp. 78–92): for each class, the basic material, a description, and every maker and trade name with temperature limits and density. Asbestos lines include calcium silicate "reinforced with a small amount of asbestos fibers" (Johns-Manville's Thermobestos, Owens-Corning's Kaylo, Pabco's Caltemp and others), Pittsburgh Corning's Unibestos No. 1200, Air Cell from several makers, Transite and other asbestos-cement boards, asbestos millboards and blankets, insulating and finishing cements, loose asbestos fiber, and Sprayed "Limpet" Asbestos LW-25 and LB-8 (p. 91).
• Accessories (pp. 94–163): miscellaneous asbestos products (paper, millboard, roll board, felt, yarn, rope, cloth, tape and tubing), then adhesives, fabrication cements, sealers, coatings, vapor barriers, membranes, jackets, fasteners and tools, several of them fibered with asbestos.

Every asbestos product line is recorded, with its page, in the products catalog.

About this copy

Bates UCC 022067–022229. The same manual is in the Union Carbide trial exhibits as UC-4036, with an exhibit sticker, and as UC-4912, without Bates numbers and with a 1997 transmittal letter. This copy is the cleanest scan of the three. An errata sheet of November 9, 1962 is p. 2.

Related

• Union Carbide trial exhibit UC-4035: Specifications for Thermal Insulation Material and Application (1958)
• Refinery and petrochemical plant asbestos exposure