Kaylo Block and Pipe Insulation Product Literature, Owens-Illinois and Owens-Corning Fiberglas (1951–1970)

A 51-page set of sales booklets and data sheets for Kaylo calcium silicate heat insulation, produced in litigation by Johns-Manville (stamped "Produced JM-83"). The earliest, a 1951 Owens-Illinois Glass Company booklet distributed by Owens-Corning Fiberglas, sells Kaylo pipe insulation and block "for temperatures up to 1200°F"; the later ones, issued by Owens-Corning Fiberglas from 1957 to 1970, cover Kaylo block, Kaylo 20 (for up to 1800°F), Kaylo 10 STS for stainless steel, Kaylo pipe insulation and Kaylo-Klad jacketed pipe covering. Several say plainly what was in it: Kaylo block "contains asbestos fibers for reinforcement," and Kaylo block insulations "are calcium silicate reinforced with asbestos fibers."

What it shows

The booklets were written for engineers and contractors: they give physical properties, thermal conductivity, thickness tables, federal and military specifications (HH-I-523, MIL-I-2781) and directions for applying the insulation with wire, bands and finishing cement. They tell installers that Kaylo "cuts cleanly leaving a sharp square edge" and that it "fabricates easily," but none of the pages seen carries a health warning. Pieces from 1966 and 1968 promote Kaylo 10 STS, made with inhibitors against stress corrosion of stainless steel, the chloride problem that also led Owens-Corning in 1961 to stop using J-M chrysotile in Kaylo: see G. C. Stefango to Don S. Wright on Discontinuing J-M Chrysotile in Kaylo (1961).