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Pyrotex (Raybestos-Manhattan)

Pyrotex was a line of asbestos felts and tapes made by Raybestos-Manhattan.1 An insurance company's 1981 list of asbestos products, compiled from other companies' answers in lawsuits, says it was made from 1938 to 1981 and gives its asbestos content as 60%.1 A 1971 history of R/M's U.S. Asbestos Division, written by a former manager of its asbestos textile business and printed in Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, says the division began marketing the line of "Pyrotex" asbestos felts in 1940.2

Not every source describes it the same way.3,4 A 1959 U.S. Bureau of Mines survey called Pyrotex a "strong asbestos paper" made from low-iron spinning-grade fibers.3 An R/M catalog reported in the magazine in 1966 defined it instead as an asbestos textile, made by carding spinning grades of asbestos fiber, which it said "distinguishes it from asbestos paper products."4 R/M's product notices in the magazine name the fiber as chrysotile, and the 1971 history says the felts came in every ASTM grade from Underwriters' up to Grade AAAA.2,4,5,6

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How it was used

R/M described its Pyrotex felts as used mainly as the base sheet for high-pressure laminates.4 The 1971 history says that starting in 1954, Grade AAAA Pyrotex felt combined with phenolic resin was used to mold rocket and missile components.2 The Bureau of Mines added that in tape form it was used to wrap electric wires.3

Through the 1960s R/M announced new styles for aircraft, missile, rocket and space vehicle work: a phenolic Pyrotex yarn in 1964, a prepreg felt impregnated with an inorganic resin in 1965, an unimpregnated felt with a ceramic-type filler in 1966, and a cork-filled phenolic laminating felt recommended as back-up insulation for solid propulsion rocket motors.4,5,6,7 R/M said the 1965 felt kept 80% of its original flexural strength after a test exposure at 700°F for 1,000 hours, and it described another phenolic Pyrotex felt, No. 9372, for use where temperatures range as high as 700°F.4,5 By 1967 R/M offered Pyrotex as asbestos-reinforced felts, tapes, mats and molding compounds, and in the same item praised the strength of chrysotile fibers as used in its asbestos-reinforced plastics.8

In 1975 the magazine described Pyrotex as an asbestos-reinforced plastic made by the Original Equipment Division of RM Friction Materials Company, a division of Raybestos-Manhattan, and reported that General Electric used it for gaskets at its ATLAS heat transfer test facility in San Jose.9

Pictures

How Pyrotex (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 Pyrotex (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: “38”, p. 71
  • Asbestos content: “60”, p. 71
  • Form: “FELT,TAPE”, p. 71
  • Made until: “81”, p. 71

Asbestos Magazine, 1971, June 1971

  • Sold from: “In 1940 the U.S. Asbestos Division began marketing the line of "Pyrotex" asbestos felts”, said by John A. Bettes, Jr., as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 142
  • Use: “standard base materials for high-pressure plastic laminates; from 1954 Grade AAAA with phenolic resin for rocket and missile components”, said by John A. Bettes, Jr., as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 142
  • Fiber grade: “all of the ASTM Grades from Underwriters' up to and including Grade AAAA”, said by John A. Bettes, Jr., as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 142

Asbestos: A Materials Survey (1959)

  • Fiber grade: “low-iron spinning-grade fibers”, p. 723
  • Description: “strong asbestos paper known as Pyrotex”, p. 723
  • Use: “in tape form for wrapping electric wires”, p. 723

Asbestos Magazine, 1966, August 1966

  • Use: “back-up insulation for solid propulsion rocket motors”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 184
  • Asbestos fiber: “carded, long spinning grade Chrysotile asbestos fibers”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 184
  • Binder: “impregnated with a phenolic resin system”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 184
  • Ingredient: “cork-filled”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 184
  • Temperature limit: “where temperatures range as high as 700°F”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 184
  • Use: “base sheet in the manufacture of high pressure laminates”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 184
  • Description: “an asbestos textile produced by the carding process ... distinguishes it from asbestos paper products”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 184

Asbestos Magazine, 1965, May 1965

  • Use: “rocket and missile applications; structural members and insulators”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 105
  • Asbestos fiber: “spinning grade Chrysotile asbestos fiber”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 105
  • Binder: “inorganic resin system”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 105
  • Temperature limit: “retaining 80% of the original flexural strength after exposure at 700°F for 1,000 hours”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 105
  • Fiber grade: “spinning grade; ASTM Grade AAAA felt”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 105

Asbestos Magazine, 1966, February 1966

  • Use: “aircraft, missile, rocket, and space vehicle applications”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 96
  • Asbestos fiber: “carded spinning grade Chrysotile asbestos fiber”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 96
  • Ingredient: “a ceramic type filler”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 96

Asbestos Magazine, 1964, June 1964

  • Form: “yarn (supplement to felts and tapes)”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 147
  • Use: “aircraft, aerospace, and missile applications; ablation-resistant structural and thermal insulator”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 147
  • Binder: “asbestos-phenolic material”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 147

Asbestos Magazine, 1967, October 1967

  • Form: “asbestos-reinforced felts, tapes, mats and molding compounds”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 78
  • Asbestos fiber: “chrysotile asbestos fibers ... as used in Raybestos-Manhattan's asbestos-reinforced plastics”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, as recorded by Asbestos (magazine), p. 78

Asbestos Magazine, 1975, October 1975

  • Description: “an asbestos-reinforced, thermosetting plastic material manufactured by the Original Equipment Division of RM Friction Materials Company”, p. 109
  • Use: “gaskets sealing the nickel electrode plate at GE's ATLAS heat transfer test facility, San Jose” (sales to General Electric Company (Nuclear Energy Division, San Jose, California)), p. 109

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

  • Sold from: “first used in commerce 1943-04-02”, said by RAYBESTOS-MANHATTAN, INC., as recorded by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office10
  • Sold from: “first used in commerce 1943-04-09”, said by RAYBESTOS-MANHATTAN, INC., as recorded by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office10
  • Description: “FELTED ASBESTOS WEB MATERIAL IN TAPE, SHEET OR ROLL FORM FOR THERMAL INSULATION AND OTHER PROTECTIVE PURPOSES”, said by RAYBESTOS-MANHATTAN, INC., as recorded by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office10
  • Description: “FIBROUS ASBESTOS SHEET MATERIAL”, said by RAYBESTOS-MANHATTAN, INC., as recorded by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office10

Label: Pyrotex Felt, Style No. 9394 (Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc.), Image

  • Sold from: “Date of First Use in Commerce: April 9, 1943”, said by Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc., as recorded by U.S. Patent Office trademark file11
  • Asbestos content: “ASBESTOS TEXTILE DIVISION”, p. 111

Union Carbide Chemicals Company: Thermal Insulation and Accessories Manual (1962)

  • Asbestos content: “Soft flexible asbestos felt”, p. 9912
  • Description: “Soft flexible asbestos felt in roll form.”, p. 9912
  • Form: “Asbestos Felt”, p. 9912
  • Description: “nonwoven asbestos felts” (as of 1962, 1968), p. 10213

Kind of product

We list Pyrotex (Raybestos-Manhattan) with paper, felt and millboard, cloth, tape and other textiles and asbestos-reinforced plastics, 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)

Novabestos · 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) · Plisulate (Plibrico Jointless Firebrick) · Polybes (Sun Chemical) · Porterlag (H. K. Porter) · Portersite (H. K. Porter) · Prenite (B.F. Goodrich) · Pucaro (Presspan-Fabrik Chr. Authenrieth) · Pyramid (Schecter Brothers) · Pyrotex (U.S. Asbestos) · Quilon (E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And) · Quinorgo (Johns-Manville) · Quinorogo 6000 (Johns-Manville) · Quinorogoboard (Johns-Manville) · Quinterra (Johns-Manville) · Quintex (I, II, ST) (Johns-Manville) · Range Boiler Jacket (GAF) · and 270 more: all paper, felt and millboard

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

Novabestos · 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) · Pars (Pars Manufacturing) · Perf-a-tape (U.S. Gypsum) · Philbestos (Pacor) · Polybes (Sun Chemical) · Porterlag (H. K. Porter) · Portersite (H. K. Porter) · Protector Gold Cross (Protector Safety Industries) · Quietline (Amatex) · Quilon (E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And) · Quinorgo R-4 (Johns-Manville) · Quinterra 71 (Johns-Manville) · Quinterra Type 3 (Johns-Manville) · Railko (Small & Parkes) · Red Ram (Elliott Glove) · Rico (Record Industrial) · 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. Asbestos Magazine, 1971, June 1971 (June 1, 1971), p. 14.
  3. Asbestos: A Materials Survey (January 1, 1959), p. 72.
  4. Asbestos Magazine, 1966, August 1966 (August 1, 1966), p. 18.
  5. Asbestos Magazine, 1965, May 1965 (May 1, 1965), p. 10.
  6. Asbestos Magazine, 1966, February 1966 (February 1, 1966), p. 9.
  7. Asbestos Magazine, 1964, June 1964 (June 1, 1964), p. 14.
  8. Asbestos Magazine, 1967, October 1967 (October 1, 1967), p. 7.
  9. Asbestos Magazine, 1975, October 1975 (October 1, 1975), p. 10.
  10. USPTO trademark case files (Trademark Full Text XML Data, Annual Applications, 2025 edition) (August 18, 1947). Not yet published in our library.
  11. Label: Pyrotex Felt, Style No. 9394 (Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc.), Image.
  12. Union Carbide Chemicals Company: Thermal Insulation and Accessories Manual (October 1, 1962), p. 99.
  13. Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, Volume Two (1986), p. 102. Not yet published in our library.

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