Marinite 36 (Johns-Manville)

Marinite 36 was a Johns-Manville board, one of several grades of Marinite.^1,2 An undated J-M caution label sheet, from about 1964, calls it "Inorganic Fireproof Structural Insulating Board For Industry."³ In a 1957 letter to the National Sanitation Foundation Testing Laboratory, a J-M product manager wrote that it was "unique in that it is both structural and an insulating material," and that it had been "extensively used in the construction of ovens, driers and other process equipment requiring a housing for the retention and control of heat."⁴

When and where it was made

The sources give different years.^1,2 An insurance company's 1981 list of asbestos products, compiled from other companies' answers in lawsuits, gives Marinite 36 as made from 1949 to 1973.¹ A 1990 EPA notice that published what Manville reported gives 1936 to 1978, but as one date range for every Marinite grade together, not for Marinite 36 alone.² A 1970 notice from the general manager of J-M's Industrial Insulations Division listed Marinite 36 under the Billerica plant.⁵

Where it was used

J-M's employee magazine reported in 1967 that Marinite-36 faced with Colored Marine Veneer protected the bulkheads of Texaco's 12,000 ton-plus New Yorker type tankers, and that the Grace Line cargo liner Santa Lucia and her sister ships would use Marinite-36 divisional bulkheads and linings.⁶ The same issue said all Polaris-class missile submarines built at Newport News Shipbuilding Company in the last five years had carried specially developed Marinite-36 "Submarine Bulkheads," faced on both sides with stainless steel.⁶

What it was made of

In a 1960 letter to R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the manager of J-M's Industrial Health Program wrote that "the Marinite board products consist primarily of a calcium silicate."⁷ The 1990 notice gives only figures for all Marinite grades as a group: asbestos fiber, 25 to 65%, with lime, 20 to 36%, diatomaceous earth, 20 to 35%, and clay, 10 to 15%.²

The label sheet from about 1964 reads in part: "Caution CONTAINS ASBESTOS FIBERS. AVOID CREATING DUST."³ The 1970 notice listed Marinite 36 among the products to carry J-M's caution label L-4955, which began: "THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS ASBESTOS FIBER. AVOID BREATHING THE DUST."⁵

See also Reeferite.

Asbestos claims

If you or a family member worked with or around Marinite 36 (Johns-Manville) and later developed mesothelioma or another asbestos disease, a claim may be paid by the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust. Free case review.

What each document says

Every statement about Marinite 36 (Johns-Manville) in the documents, in each document's own words.

Kind of product

We list Marinite 36 (Johns-Manville) with asbestos-cement pipe, board and sheet, from how the documents describe its form. That page explains how such products exposed workers.

Trades that worked with products like it: Carpenters and Construction Workers.

See also

• Marinite in the Lexicon
• Marinite and the SS Morro Castle Disaster exposure and claims
• Johns-Manville: the company's history, documents, people, products and plants
• Johns-Manville on our products page: what the documents say about the company's asbestos products, with sources

References

1. The Travelers Insurance Company's Product Information Booklet for Its Asbestos Seminar (1980–1981) (April 30, 1981), p. 6.
2. Asbestos; Publication of Identifying Information (February 13, 1990), p. 14.
3. Johns-Manville Caution Labels for Marinite Products (About 1964) (January 1, 1964), p. 1.
4. J-M Industrial Insulations to the National Sanitation Foundation Testing Laboratory on Marinite 36 (October 22, 1957), p. 1.
5. M. W. Burleson's Notice to the Industrial Insulations Division on Health Hazard Caution Labels (July 1, 1970), pp. 2–3.
6. J-M News Pictorial, 1967, September 1967 (September 1, 1967), pp. 3, 5.
7. H. M. Jackson to William J. Reeves of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company on Marinite (July 1, 1960), p. 1.
8. Manville Fund's Answers to Interrogatories in Gunn v. Celotex (December 7, 1989), p. 115.
9. Manville Fund's Responses to Plaintiffs' Interrogatories in Moore v. H.K. Porter (February 15, 1990), p. 17.
10. Union Carbide Chemicals Company: Thermal Insulation and Accessories Manual (October 1, 1962), p. 79.
11. Johns-Manville Material Safety Data Sheet for MARINITE #36 (April 21, 1978), p. -3.
12. Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, Volume Two (1986), p. 92. Not yet published in our library.