Ruberoid Co

The Ruberoid Company was a roofing and building-materials maker that also mined asbestos, running the Belvidere Mountain mine in Vermont from 1936. It made asbestos-cement shingles and siding, vinyl-asbestos floor tile, asbestos insulating cements and pipe covering, and sold raw asbestos fiber. It merged into General Aniline & Film (GAF) in 1967; GAF's asbestos liabilities went into G-I Holdings, whose 2001 bankruptcy created the trust that pays GAF and Ruberoid claims.

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

History

In sworn interrogatory answers filed in 1981, GAF said Ruberoid was first incorporated in New York in 1886 as The Standard Paint Company, and that the name was changed to The Ruberoid Company on March 10, 1921.⁷ The trade magazine Asbestos counted Ruberoid's 70th anniversary among the events of 1956.⁹ Herbert Abraham, a chemist who joined the company's research laboratory at South Bound Brook, New Jersey, in 1903, was its president from 1924.¹⁰ A 1932 patent for an asbestos-cement shingle was issued to Abraham and assigned to The Ruberoid Co.¹¹

In April 1928 Asbestos reported an agreement to merge the H. F. Watson Company, the Continental Roofing & Manufacturing Company and The Ruberoid Company.¹² By 1930 Ruberoid had an "Eternit Sales Division" in New York.¹³ Asbestos reported in January 1931 that Ruberoid had acquired Eternit, Inc., of St. Louis, which ran an asbestos-cement plant there.¹⁴ The magazine reported in July 1934 that Ruberoid had opened an asbestos-cement shingle plant at Bound Brook, New Jersey.¹⁵ In December 1937 it reported that Ruberoid had finished an extension at St. Louis for making asbestos-cement products.¹⁶ The 1986 Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases lists Dixie Asphalt Co. as a company that became part of Ruberoid.³² According to the Sourcebook, GAF ended asbestos-cement and mineral fiber operations at its St. Louis and South Bound Brook, New Jersey, plants in 1979 and converted the St. Louis plant to make urethane roof insulation.³³

The Vermont mine

In February 1936 Asbestos reported that Ruberoid had acquired the Vermont Asbestos Corporation, with its mine at Eden, Vermont, and would run it as the Vermont Production Co., Inc.¹ The report described about 1,700 acres of asbestos deposits on Belvidere Mountain, counting planned additions, and plans to enlarge the fiberizing plant.¹ The mine later ran as Vermont Asbestos Mines, a division of Ruberoid, with mines at Eden and Lowell.²¹⁷ Ruberoid's advertisements in Asbestos offered Vermont fiber for brake linings, clutch facings, roofing paints, shingles, asbestos paper, millboard and molded products.¹⁸ A 1945 advertisement said the fiber came from "the largest operating asbestos mine in the United States"; that is Ruberoid's own claim.¹⁷ A 1957 Ruberoid advertisement offered fiber in 100-pound pressure-packed packets and listed "Elimination of dust" among their advantages.¹⁹ A 1964 advertisement said "Ruberoid operates a completely integrated asbestos operation," from the mine to the finished product.²⁰ A Union Carbide history of its Bakelite molding compounds names "Rubberoid Company" among its more frequent suppliers of what it calls Canadian short fiber asbestos.²¹

Our mine page records that GAF decided to leave asbestos mining and scheduled the mine to close in March 1975, and that its former workers bought the quarry and mill that month as Vermont Asbestos Group.²

Asbestos products

GAF's 1981 answers, which name Ruberoid as GAF's predecessor, describe several asbestos insulation products without saying which company made each. They say Calsilite pipe covering and block, made at Gloucester, New Jersey, from the early 1940s until mid-1970, contained about 10% amosite and 2% chrysotile.⁴²² A 1962 Union Carbide insulation manual describes Calsilite more loosely, as calcium silicate "reinforced with a small amount of asbestos fibers."²³ They say the 115 and 214 insulation cements, made at Hyde Park, Vermont, from 1936 through September 1975, were "composed entirely of chrysotile asbestos fiber."⁴ They also list asbestos paper and millboard made from 1928, and T/NA-100 insulation jacketing made from 1962 to 1971.⁴²⁴

A one-page list headed "Competitor's Products," filed under Ruberoid in the booklet of data sheets The Travelers Insurance Company compiled for a 1980 asbestos seminar, gives some different dates. The page does not say who wrote it, and its heading suggests another company rather than Ruberoid.³⁴ It says Calsilite had been made "by Ruberoid or one of its predecessors since about 1967," against the early-1940s start in GAF's answers; that "711 Cement and Asbestos Insulating and Finishing Cement," made since 1936, was almost entirely asbestos fiber; and that asbestos paper and millboard had been made at an Erie, Pennsylvania, plant since about 1927, against 1928 in GAF's answers.⁴²²³⁴ The same page says Ruberoid distributed, but did not make, Owens-Corning Fiberglas roofing insulation as a national distributor under an arrangement begun in 1952.³⁴

For building products, Ruberoid's labels name asbestos in its siding, roofing and floor tile. The trademark files give first use in commerce of Shake-Tex and Grain-Tex asbestos-cement siding as June 8, 1951, and of American Thatch asbestos-cement roof shingles as July 2, 1954.³ A label for Antiqua vinyl-asbestos tile from Ruberoid's Mastic Tile Division gives first use as March 7, 1960.⁵ Union Carbide's 1969 plan for its Calidria asbestos named "GAF-Ruberoid (4 plants)" as a major account, with a target of 4,500 tons a year.²⁵

What the documents show

In its 1981 answers GAF said that in about 1964 it "became aware of opinions expressed by some members of the medical profession such as Dr. Irving Selikoff that asbestosis could occur among insulation workers." It added that those opinions "did not relate specifically to the use of our products."²⁶ GAF said that in about 1965 Ruberoid began putting warning notices on packages of its asbestos thermal insulation. The first notice said that breathing asbestos "in excessive quantities over long periods of time may be harmful" and advised respirators where ventilation was not adequate.²⁷

Ruberoid was a defendant in Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Products Corporation, the Texas insulator's case.²⁸ At trial it asked the court to instruct the jury that a maker of a product meant for industrial use by specialized contractors had no duty to warn of risks already present in the product's ingredients.²⁹ In 1973 the Fifth Circuit affirmed the verdict against six insulation makers, Ruberoid among them, and held that a maker can be strictly liable for failing to warn insulation workers.³⁰ Our case-law library also lists Ruberoid in Hardy v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1982) and In re Hawaii Federal Asbestos Cases (1986).³¹

Bankruptcy and trust

GAF said in 1981 that when it merged with Ruberoid on May 26, 1967, it assumed Ruberoid's assets and liabilities.⁷ Asbestos reported in June 1967 that Ruberoid would be run as a division of GAF, with E. J. O'Leary, Ruberoid's former president and chairman, as president of the division.⁶ According to the 1986 Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases, GAF paid for Ruberoid with convertible preferred shares and ran it as two divisions, Floor Products and Building and Industrial Products.³³ Our trust page records that GAF's asbestos liability was gathered into G-I Holdings, which filed for Chapter 11 in January 2001. A plan was confirmed in November 2009, creating a trust funded with more than $700 million that pays claims over GAF and Ruberoid products.⁸

References

1. Asbestos, February 1936, p. 22
2. Belvidere Mountain quarry, Hyde Park / Eden, Vermont (mine page)
3. Shake-Tex (Ruberoid); Grain-tex (Ruberoid); American Thatch (Ruberoid)
4. GAF's Answers to Plaintiffs' Interrogatories in the Key Highway, Fairfield and Sparrows Point Shipyards Asbestos Cases (1981), p. 5
5. Antiqua (Ruberoid)
6. Asbestos, June 1967, p. 8
7. GAF's Answers to Plaintiffs' Interrogatories (1981), pp. 3–4
8. GAF Asbestos Trust Claims
9. Asbestos, December 1956, p. 8
10. Asbestos, October 1940, p. 4 (in What Asbestos Magazine Told the Industry About Dust and Disease)
11. Asbestos Cement Shingle (US Patent 1,847,707, 1932), p. 2
12. Asbestos, April 1928, p. 52
13. Asbestos, November 1930, p. 55
14. Eternit, Inc. / The Ruberoid Company plant at St. Louis, Missouri (citing Asbestos, January 1931, p. 6)
15. The Ruberoid Company plant at Bound Brook, New Jersey (citing Asbestos, July 1934, p. 8)
16. Asbestos, December 1937, p. 5
17. Asbestos, August 1945, p. 11
18. Asbestos, September 1938, p. 23
19. Asbestos, March 1957, p. 21
20. Asbestos, August 1964, p. 10
21. UC-162: Union Carbide, 'History of BAKELITE' (1957–1974), p. 5
22. GAF's Answers to Plaintiffs' Interrogatories (1981), p. 7
23. Union Carbide Chemicals Company: Thermal Insulation and Accessories Manual (1962), p. 78, as quoted on Calsilite (Ruberoid)
24. GAF's Answers to Plaintiffs' Interrogatories (1981), p. 6
25. UC-811: F. D. Dexter to J. Clayton Stephenson Transmitting Calidria Asbestos Discussion Outline and 1969 Business Plan (1969), p. 12
26. GAF's Answers to Plaintiffs' Interrogatories (1981), pp. 21–22
27. GAF's Answers to Plaintiffs' Interrogatories (1981), p. 19
28. The Borel v. Fibreboard case file: Jury verdict, p. 2
29. The Borel v. Fibreboard case file: Special interrogatories for the jury (Ruberoid's specially requested instruction no. 1), p. 1
30. Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Products Corporation (5th Cir. 1973)
31. Ruberoid Co., company page: court cases
32. Barbara J. Peters and George A. Peters, Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, vol. 2 (New York: Garland Law Publishing, 1986), p. 159.
33. Barbara J. Peters and George A. Peters, Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, vol. 2 (New York: Garland Law Publishing, 1986), p. 165.
34. Travelers Asbestos Seminar Booklet (1980): Ruberoid Company (GAF Corporation) Product Information, p. 2

Asbestos products

49 products our documents name Ruberoid Co as making or selling. Each product's page says what the documents say about it, including its asbestos content.

Plants

Plants where asbestos products were made that the documents say Ruberoid Co ran.

• Eternit, Inc. / The Ruberoid Company plant at St. Louis, Missouri
• Ruberoid / GAF Corporation plant at Hyde Park, Vermont
• Ruberoid plant at Dallas, Texas
• The Ruberoid Co. plant at Mobile, Alabama
• The Ruberoid Company / GAF Corporation plant at Gloucester City, New Jersey
• The Ruberoid Company plant at Bound Brook, New Jersey

Court cases

3 court decisions in our case-law library name Ruberoid Co as a defendant, newest first.

• In re Hawaii Federal Asbestos Cases (1986)
• Hardy v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1982)
• Froud v. Celotex Corporation (1982)

In our library

23 documents in our library name Ruberoid Co, by collection.

Other library documents (23)

• Ruberoid Co.: Asbestos-Cement Eternit Vitramic Siding (c. 1950) (publisher)
• The Ruberoid Co.: Thermal Insulations (c. 1968) (publisher)
• Advertisement: ETERNIT (The RUBEROID Co.) (publisher)
• Advertisement: Ruberoid Eternit Mount Vernon Asbestos Shingles (The Ruberoid Co.) (1924) (publisher)
• Label: ARISTO INSULATING SIDING 1/2 SQUARE (THE RUBEROID Co.) (publisher)
• Label: American Thatch asbestos-cement roof shingle carton (The Ruberoid Company) (1954) (publisher)
• Label: Asbestos Panelstone (Ruberoid) (publisher)
• Label: CALSILITE Insulating Cement (The Ruberoid Co.) (publisher)
• Label: Gasilite (Ruberoid) (publisher)
• Label: Grain-Tex asbestos-cement siding (The Ruberoid Company) (1951) (publisher)
• Label: Luran "100 plus" Airtred vinyl floors with Quiet-Cor (Ruberoid Company) (1964) (publisher)
• Label: Ruberoid Aristo Insulating Siding 1/2 Square (The Ruberoid Co.) (1939) (publisher)
• Label: Ruberoid Asbestos Panelstone (The Ruberoid Company) (1952) (publisher)
• Label: Ruberoid Calsilite Insulation (The Ruberoid Co.) (1942) (publisher)
• Label: Ruberoid T/NA-MS weather resistant membrane (The Ruberoid Co. / GAF) (1967) (publisher)
• Label: SHAKE-TEX (Ruberoid) and 1 other product (publisher)
• Label: Shake-Tex asbestos-cement siding (The Ruberoid Company) (1951) (publisher)
• Label: Timbertex asbestos cement shingles, Eternit (The Ruberoid Co.) (1932) (publisher)
• Label: Vermont Asbestos Grade 115 (Ruberoid) (publisher)
• Package label: Old American Asbestos-Cement Color-Tex Siding (The Ruberoid Company) (1952) (publisher)
• Package: 7M Vermont Asbestos bag (The Ruberoid Co.) (publisher)
• Product cartons: Ruberoid 12" American Thatch mineral fiber shingles (The Ruberoid Company / GAF) (1954) (publisher)
• Product photograph: Vermont Asbestos 7M (The Ruberoid Co.) (publisher)

In the Union Carbide documents

Ruberoid Co is named in 9 Union Carbide documents dated 1957 to 1973 (9 mentioned), from asbestos lawsuits over Union Carbide's Calidria asbestos. All are published in our collection.

• Specifications for Thermal Insulation, South Charleston Plant, Works Engineering Department, Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Company (1957) UC-2366 (mentioned)
• Union Carbide Chemicals Company, Design and Construction Department: Thermal Insulation Specifications Manual issued to R. P. Little (1961) UC-4905 (mentioned)
• C. E. Metten Trip Report on Visit to Union Carbide Nuclear Division Research Center to Discuss Asbestos Flooring Felts (1964) Union Carbide 86 (mentioned)
• Compilation: C. E. Metten Trip Report on Asbestos Flooring Felts (1964) and R. G. Woolery Monthly Summary Report on Asbestos Research and Development (1967) UC-795 (mentioned)
• Minutes of the Gypsum Association Safety Committee Meeting, Buffalo, New York (1966-09-20) UC-5489 (mentioned)
• R. G. Woolery to R. E. Byrne and Others on the Annual ASTM D-30 Sub III Meeting in San Francisco, with Draft Asbestos Definitions (1968) UC-136 (mentioned)
• Users of Asbestos Fibers: Directory of Manufacturers by Product Category (1973) UC-935 (mentioned)
• Users of Asbestos Fibres: Directory of Companies by Product Category (1973) UC-2648 (mentioned)
• Union Carbide, 'History of BAKELITE' (Asbestos-Filled Phenolic Molding Compounds, Bound Brook) with Attached Bradley Letter, Data Sheets, Memos and Handbook Pages (1957-1974) UC-162 (mentioned)

Names in the documents

The spellings documents use for Ruberoid Co, OCR misreadings included, so a search for any of them finds this page: The Ruberoid Co. · Ruberoid · The Ruberoid Company · Rubberoid · Rubberoid Company · The Ruberoid Co · Ruberoid Corp.

Where this comes from

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