Norbestos Fyr-Bord (Norristown Magnesia & Asbestos)

Norbestos Fyr-Bord was a hard, fire-resisting board made by the Norristown Magnesia & Asbestos Company of Norristown, Pennsylvania.^1,2 Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, introduced it in March 1931 as "A comparatively new product in the asbestos field."¹ Looking back at that issue fifty years later, the magazine's 1981 "Remember When?" column listed "Norbestos Fyr-Bord developed by Norristown Magnesia & Asbestos Company" among the new products of the time.³

According to the 1931 item, the board "was developed to meet conditions requiring a board that would withstand high temperatures," and was not meant for outdoor use.¹ It was gray, with one rough side for plastering and one smooth side for painting, and came in sheets 4 ft. x 7 ft. 6 in., from 1/8 in. to 1/2 in. thick.¹ The company recommended it "for use where complete fire protection is desired and where extremely high temperatures are to be encountered," and said that in its own tests the board had withstood "temperatures ranging from 1800 to 2000" for more than an hour; the item gives no unit for those figures.¹

In 1933 the magazine described Fyr-Bord as "a hard, rigid asbestos composition," used as the backing of Norristown's new Norriskraft heater jacket, a replacement for the sheet-metal outer casing of a warm air furnace and a combined insulation and outer jacket for hot water and steam boilers.² In 1934 the magazine described the Norriskraft jacket on square heating boilers, which did away with the metal casing and used Fyr-Bord on the outer surface to protect the cellular asbestos insulation beneath.⁴

What each document says

Every statement about Norbestos Fyr-Bord (Norristown Magnesia & Asbestos) in the documents, in each document's own words.

Kind of product

Trades that worked with products like it: Drywall Finishers, Plasterers, and Painters.

See also

• Norristown Magnesia & Asbestos Company on our products page: what the documents say about the company's asbestos products, with sources

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1931, March 1931 (March 1, 1931), pp. 15–16.
2. Asbestos Magazine, 1933, January 1933 (January 1, 1933), p. 22.
3. Asbestos Magazine, 1981, February 1981 (February 1, 1981), p. 44.
4. Asbestos Magazine, 1934, February 1934 (February 1, 1934), p. 14.