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Novabestos (Raybestos-Manhattan)

Novabestos was Raybestos-Manhattan's name for a line of asbestos papers, cloth and tapes, used in electrical insulation and cable construction.1,2,3,4 An insurance company's 1981 list of asbestos products, compiled from other companies' answers in lawsuits, gives Novabestos as made from 1947 to 1964.1 Raybestos-Manhattan's own price records show a Novabestos Papers price schedule dated November 1, 1969, entered for the Charleston Supply Company on May 4, 1970.5

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How it was made

The U.S. Bureau of Mines described the process in its 1955 report The Asbestos Industry: a wet process using longer fibers, up to spinning grade, with a dispersing agent that freed the magnetite (an iron mineral) so it could be removed magnetically.2 The fine fibers were made into papers and tissues, some reinforced with fiberglass.2 The same report says an older electrode treatment for removing magnetite had recently been applied successfully to Novabestos sheet.2 Its 1954 Minerals Yearbook reported progress in electric insulating tapes of purified asbestos fiber reinforced with fiberglass, and several Novabestos tapes designed for special uses.6 A 1959 Bureau of Mines survey said the purified fibers were made into paper that could be reinforced with Fiberglas, under the trade name Novabestos.3

What it contained

The sources give very different figures for how much asbestos it contained.1,7 The 1981 list gives 95 in the column read as percent asbestos for the whole line.1 Raybestos-Manhattan's March 1953 ad in Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, introduced No. 7504 Novabestos Tape as a "new product" made of 30-35% asbestos spinning fiber "of a noncritical grade," 60-65% glass fiber and only 3-5% organic binder, impregnated with 40% polyvinyl acetate.7 The tape was still advertised, reworded, in 1957.8 In 1958 the company announced new silicone rubber coated Novabestos sheets and tapes.9

Where it was used

The 1953 ad offered the tape as primary and secondary insulation in shipboard and other flame-resistant cables, and said it met Navy Class 4 for total and magnetic iron.7 The 1959 survey said Novabestos was used extensively in cable construction and other nonferrous uses, and that the Navy's Bureau of Ships found it satisfactory for Navy use.3 A 1970 Bureau of Mines report, reprinted in Asbestos in 1972, said substantial progress had been made in substitutes for Novabestos papers in electrical insulation.4

Pictures

How Novabestos (Raybestos-Manhattan) looked: a label, photograph or catalog page from our library. Each picture has its own page and library number, so it can be cited on its own.

What each document says

Every statement about Novabestos (Raybestos-Manhattan) in the documents, in each document's own words.

The Travelers Insurance Company's Product Information Booklet for Its Asbestos Seminar (1980–1981)

  • Made from: “47”, p. 71
  • Made until: “64”, p. 71
  • Asbestos content: “95”, p. 71
  • Form: “PAPER,CLOTH,TAPE”, p. 71

The Asbestos Industry (1955)

  • Form: “papers and tissues (some reinforced with fiberglass)”, p. 1172
  • Description: “electrode treatment to remove magnetite recently applied successfully to Novabestos sheet”, p. 1182
  • Description: “wet-process using longer fibers, up to spinning grade; dispersing agent frees magnetite for magnetic removal”, p. 1172

Asbestos: A Materials Survey (1959)

  • Description: “purified fibers made into paper, reinforceable with Fiberglas; trade name Novabestos”, p. 843
  • Use: “cable construction and other nonferrous uses; satisfactory for Navy use per Bureau of Ships”, p. 843

Asbestos Magazine, 1972, May 1972

  • Use: “electrical insulation papers; substantial progress in substitutes”, said by U.S. Bureau of Mines (Mineral Facts & Problems, 1970 edition), as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 344

Raybestos-Manhattan Sales and Price Records for Shipyards, the Navy and Other Customers (1948-1974)

  • Sold until: “Novabestos Papers price schedule 9NP dated 1 Nov. 1969, entered 5-4-70 for Charleston Supply Company” (sales to Charleston Supply Company, Charleston, S.C.), p. 765

Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1954

  • Description: “electric insulating tapes of purified asbestos fiber reinforced with fiberglass; several Novabestos tapes designed for special uses”, p. 86

Asbestos Magazine, 1953, March 1953

  • Sold from: “"new product" advertised March 1953”, p. 27
  • Ingredient: “60-65% glass fiber”, p. 27
  • Binder: “only 3-5% organic binder”, p. 27
  • Ingredient: “impregnated with 40% polyvinyl acetate”, p. 27
  • Fiber grade: “asbestos spinning fiber of a noncritical grade”, p. 27
  • Use: “primary and secondary insulation in shipboard and other flame-resistant cables”, p. 27
  • Description: “new product of R-M research; meets Navy Class 4 for total and magnetic iron”, p. 27
  • Asbestos content: “30-35% asbestos spinning fiber of a noncritical grade”, p. 27

Asbestos Magazine, 1957, April 1957

  • Description: “A reliable tape for shipboard and flame-resistant cable (reworded ad, same composition)”, p. 638

Asbestos Magazine, 1958, March 1958

  • Change: “new silicone rubber coated Novabestos sheets and tapes just announced”, p. 29

USPTO trademark case files (Trademark Full Text XML Data, Annual Applications, 2025 edition)

  • Sold from: “first used in commerce 1950-02-09”, said by RAYBESTOS-MANHATTAN, INC., as recorded by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office10
  • Sold from: “first used in commerce 1950-02-09”, said by RAYBESTOS-MANHATTAN, INC., as recorded by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office10
  • Description: “ASBESTOS YARN”, said by RAYBESTOS-MANHATTAN, INC., as recorded by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office10
  • Description: “ELECTRICAL INSULATING MATERIAL, IN TAPE AND SHEET FORM COMPOSED PRINCIPALLY OF ASBESTOS”, said by RAYBESTOS-MANHATTAN, INC., as recorded by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office10

Trademark label: Novabestos (Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc.), Image

  • Sold from: “Date of First Use in Commerce: February 9, 1950”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc., as recorded by U.S. Patent Office trademark file11
  • Description: “cloth, fabric tape” (as of 1959), p. 9612

Kind of product

We list Novabestos (Raybestos-Manhattan) with paper, felt and millboard and cloth, tape and other textiles, from how the documents describe its form. Those pages explain how such products exposed workers.

Trades that worked with products like it: Electricians and Electrical Workers.

Other paper, felt and millboard by Raybestos-Manhattan (9)

Pyrotex · Pyrotex Felt · R/M Style 48-Rpd Pyrotex prepreg · Florobestos · Fluorobestos · Micabestos · No. 41-Rpd · R/M Style 23 Rpd Pyrotex · R/M Style 41-Rpd Pyrotex Felts

Paper, felt and millboard by other makers (290)

Min-k (Johns-Manville) · Insubestos (Unarco) · Limpet (Keasbey & Mattison) · Sal-mo (Nicolet) · Wovenstone (Unarco) · No. 55 Fiberock (Philip Carey) · Non Burn Asbestos Paper (Johns-Manville) · Non-burn Asb Paper (Johns-Manville) · Noramite (Cape Asbestos) · Noramite (North American Asbestos) · Nordeskafilt (Nordesk A Moskinfilt Aktiebologet) · Norriscell (Nicolet) · Nu-wrap Non-sweat (Nicolet) · Nycinsul (Johns-Manville) · Old Hickory (Industrial Gloves Company) · Pan-o-cel (Johns-Manville) · Paperbestos (Johns-Manville) · Permatherm (Chase-Foster) · Pipe Line Felt 15 (Nicolet) · Plisulate (Plibrico Jointless Firebrick) · and 270 more: all paper, felt and millboard

Other cloth, tape and other textiles by Raybestos-Manhattan (37)

Pyrotex · Novatex · Polybestos · Glassbestos · Speedlag · Eleven-thirty-three · Flourobestos · Gatortape · Glasbestos · Goldbestos · Green Shield · Greenshield · Quik Flame Oil Stove Wicking · R/M Glassbestos · R/M Green Shield · R/M Style 25 Thermal Insulating Tape · R/M Style 41-Rpd Pyrotex Yarns · Raybestex · Rhinobestos · RM 24 H120 · and 17 more on the company's page

Cloth, tape and other textiles by other makers (264)

Min-k (Johns-Manville) · Thermobestos pipe covering · Sal-mo (Nicolet) · Insutape (Unarco) · Thermomat (Johns-Manville) · Nicolon (Nicolet) · No Dust (Consolidated Asbestos) · No. 118 Kearsarge Gaskets (Johns-Manville) · No. 55 Cable Fireproofing Tape (Johns-Manville) · Noramite (Cape Asbestos) · Noramite (North American Asbestos) · Novabestos (Irvington) · Nu-Flex (Car-Mon Products) · Old Hickory (Industrial Gloves Company) · Palmetto Cabcock (Greene Tweed & Co.) · Pars (Pars Manufacturing) · Perf-a-tape (U.S. Gypsum) · Philbestos (Pacor) · Polybes (Sun Chemical) · Porterlag (H. K. Porter) · and 244 more: all cloth, tape and other textiles

See also

References

  1. The Travelers Insurance Company's Product Information Booklet for Its Asbestos Seminar (1980–1981) (April 30, 1981), p. 7.
  2. The Asbestos Industry (January 1, 1955), pp. 117–118.
  3. Asbestos: A Materials Survey (January 1, 1959), p. 84.
  4. Asbestos Magazine, 1972, May 1972 (May 1, 1972), p. 34.
  5. Raybestos-Manhattan Sales and Price Records for Shipyards, the Navy and Other Customers (1948-1974) (May 4, 1970), p. 76.
  6. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1954 (January 1, 1954), p. 8.
  7. Asbestos Magazine, 1953, March 1953 (March 1, 1953), p. 2.
  8. Asbestos Magazine, 1957, April 1957 (April 1, 1957), p. 63.
  9. Asbestos Magazine, 1958, March 1958 (March 1, 1958), p. 2.
  10. USPTO trademark case files (Trademark Full Text XML Data, Annual Applications, 2025 edition) (March 10, 1950). Not yet published in our library.
  11. Trademark label: Novabestos (Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc.), Image.
  12. Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, Volume Two (1986), p. 96. Not yet published in our library.

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“Novabestos (Raybestos-Manhattan).” AsbestosClaims.Law Library. https://asbestosclaims.law/library/products/raybestos-manhattan-novabestos.

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