Holmes Insulations Ltd

Holmes Insulations Limited was a Canadian insulation maker based in Sarnia, Ontario, formed when Holmes Blunt Limited bought Caposite Insulations Limited from Cape Asbestos, a purchase reported in February 1966. In 1967 it advertised Uniblok, a thermal insulation made with amosite asbestos and mineral wool. The library holds no record of how the company's story ended.

Draft. The history on this page was written from the documents in our library and has not yet been reviewed by a person.

History

The trade journal Asbestos reported in February 1966 that the shares in Caposite Insulations Limited, "formerly owned by Cape Asbestos," had been acquired by Holmes Blunt Limited of Sarnia, Ontario, and that the wholly owned company would continue under the name "Holmes Insulations Limited."¹ The same notice gave the head office and principal manufacturing plant as Sarnia, and said an amosite pipe covering plant and warehouse was located at North Surrey, British Columbia.¹

Asbestos products

In October 1967 Asbestos noted a pamphlet from Holmes Insulations Limited describing Uniblok thermal insulation, which it called a combination of mineral wool, amosite asbestos fiber and other inorganic materials, sold in sheets in thicknesses from 1 inch to 4 inches.² The December 1967 issue listed the same literature, describing Uniblok as insulation "for a wide range of industrial applications at temperatures to 1,900°F."³ A trade-name list in the Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases describes Holmes Uniblock as "mineral wool & amosite thermal insulation," as of 1967.⁵

What the documents show

Holmes Insulations appears in two Union Carbide trial exhibits, both copies of a December 1980 Union Carbide material specification for perlite pipe and equipment insulation.⁶⁷ In the 1981 copy, attached to a memo from D. T. Watters of Union Carbide's Central Engineering on complaints at Union Carbide's Institute location about the perlite insulation, Holmes Insulations Ltd. is named among the makers of insulating cements accepted as accessory materials.⁷ The scan's columns do not make clear which cement is Holmes's, and the specification does not say whether that cement contained asbestos.

References

1. Asbestos, February 1966, p. 21
2. Asbestos, October 1967, p. 8
3. Asbestos, December 1967, p. 12
4. Holmes Insulations Ltd, company page
5. Holmes Uniblock (Holmes Insulations), product page, citing Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases, Volume Two (1986), p. 84
6. UC-3721: Union Carbide Chemicals/Plastics Insulation Standard, Material Specification 4M:4M-B / 4A:4A-B / 4SS:4SS-B for Perlite Insulation (1980)
7. UC-3253: D. T. Watters to I. P. Blackwood et al. on Potential Health Risks of Insulation Materials (Perlite Insulation Specification 4) (1981), p. 4

Asbestos products

1 product our documents name Holmes Insulations Ltd as making or selling. Each product's page says what the documents say about it, including its asbestos content.

• Holmes Uniblock (Holmes Insulations)

In the Union Carbide documents

Holmes Insulations Ltd is named in 2 Union Carbide documents dated 1980 to 1981 (2 mentioned), from asbestos lawsuits over Union Carbide's Calidria asbestos. All are published in our collection.

• Union Carbide Chemicals/Plastics Insulation Standard, Material Specification 4M:4M-B / 4A:4A-B / 4SS:4SS-B for Perlite Insulation (1980) UC-3721 (mentioned)
• D. T. Watters to I. P. Blackwood et al. on Potential Health Risks of Insulation Materials (Perlite Insulation Specification 4) (1981) UC-3253 (mentioned)

Where this comes from

This page brings together every document in our library that names Holmes Insulations Ltd, across collections. Titles and affiliations are taken from the documents themselves, and units and subsidiaries are grouped under the company they belong to.