Unarcoboard (Unarco)

Unarcoboard was a white, rigid insulating board made by Union Asbestos & Rubber Company (Unarco).¹ In March 1960, Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, reported that Unarco's Fibrous Products Division in Bloomington, Illinois, had announced it as "a completely new, inorganic insulating sheet material."¹ The announcement said the board was "composed of asbestos and other materials" and would not burn, rot or mold.¹ A 1961 Unarco brochure, summarized in the magazine, called it "a structural insulating panel made with Amosite asbestos."²

In its sworn answers in two lawsuits, in 1969 and 1970, Unarco described Unarcoboard as "a calcium silicate based material with approximately 15% amosite asbestos fiber," added for reinforcement, and said production began in 1958.^3,4 An insurance company's 1981 list of asbestos products, compiled from other companies' answers in lawsuits, gives it as a board made from 1959 to 1970, also at 15% asbestos, with the note "1970 ON O-C FIBERGLAS."⁵ So the sources give three starting points: 1958 in Unarco's answers, 1959 on the insurer's list, and a "completely new" product in the 1960 announcement.^1,3,5

The 1960 announcement said the board came in sheets up to 4' x 8', in thicknesses from 1 to 3 inches, weighing 20 to 75 pounds per cubic foot.¹ It claimed the board's structural properties were practically unaffected by moisture, steam, fumes or temperatures up to 1200°F, and that it could be worked like wood: machined, cut, drilled and, for precision model making, planed to a thousandth of an inch.¹ When Unarco sold its H-T product business to Pittsburgh Corning in 1962, the agreement listed Unarcoboard among the asbestos-containing lines Unarco went on selling itself.⁶

Later years: Unarcoboard under Owens-Corning.

What each document says

Every statement about Unarcoboard (Unarco) in the documents, in each document's own words.

Kind of product

We list Unarcoboard (Unarco) 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.

Asbestos-cement pipe, board and sheet by other makers (383)

Flexboard (Johns-Manville) · Thermobestos · Careytemp (Philip Carey) · Min-k (Johns-Manville) · Unibestos (Union Asbestos & Rubber Co.) · Turnall (Turners Asbestos) · Turnall Granitone (Turners Asbestos) · Turnall Weatherall (Turners Asbestos Cement Co. Ltd. (Turner & Newall)) · Turnall Weatherall (Turners Asbestos Cement) · Type A Asbestos Millboard (Johns-Manville) · Type A Millboard (Johns-Manville) · Unarcoboard (Owens-Corning) · Uni-syn Packing (Keasbey & Mattison) · Unibestos (Pittsburg Corning) · Usg (maker not given) · Usg (U.S. Gypsum) · Vanguard (GAF) · Veneered Marinite (Johns-Manville) · Vitramic (maker not given) · Vitramic (Ruberoid) · and 363 more: all asbestos-cement pipe, board and sheet

See also

• Unarco: the company's history, documents, people, products and plants
• Unarco on our products page: what the documents say about the company's asbestos products, with sources

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1960, March 1960 (March 1, 1960), p. 28.
2. Asbestos Magazine, 1961, December 1961 (December 1, 1961), p. 32.
3. The Potter v. Fibreboard Case File (1969-1972), Answers to plaintiff's interrogatories (December 22, 1969), p. 2.
4. The Borel v. Fibreboard Case File (1969-1972), Answers to interrogatories (March 1, 1970), p. 1.
5. The Travelers Insurance Company's Product Information Booklet for Its Asbestos Seminar (1980–1981) (April 30, 1981), p. 9.
6. The Tomplait v. Combustion Engineering Case File (1962-1969), Answers to plaintiff's third interrogatories with exhibits (June 1, 1962), p. 18.
7. Union Carbide Chemicals Company: Thermal Insulation and Accessories Manual (October 1, 1962), p. 79.
8. Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, Volume Two (1986), p. 122. Not yet published in our library.