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Wovenstone (Unarco)

Wovenstone was a lace-on pipe insulation sold by Union Asbestos & Rubber Company (Unarco).1,2 In sworn answers in two lawsuits in 1969 and 1970, Unarco described it as "a lace-on insulation composed of woven asbestos Neoprene coated jacket with an insulating filler woven from amosite asbestos fiber."3,4 An insurance company's 1981 list of asbestos products, compiled from other companies' answers in lawsuits, calls it felt insulation and adds the note "ALL ASBESTOS."5

A 1971 company history in Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, says Bill Gillies and Oscar Rudolph developed Wovenstone pipe covering in 1932, "a unique product that gained wide acceptance as train line insulation."6 A 1941 list of Johns-Manville's contracts, sent to its auditors, includes a Union Asbestos agreement on Wovenstone dated November 23, 1935, amended March 3, 1941 to add High-temperature Wovenstone and change prices; the list doesn't say what the agreement covered.7

The sources disagree on when it was made: Unarco's 1970 answers list it among materials "manufactured previous to 1940 and ... continued through the present dates."4 The insurer's list gives it as made from 1948 to 1960.5 Unarco advertised Wovenstone pipe insulation in 1948, and listed it as "lace-on" among its flexible insulations in 1957.1,2 A June 1962 purchase agreement between Pittsburgh Corning and Unarco lists Wovenstone among the "insulating and packing products, containing asbestos, which UNION sells," and acknowledges that Unarco would go on selling them.8 In December 1969 Unarco answered that it was still making its Wovenstone pipe insulation.3

Unarco said the product was "highly specialized": applying it "requires a minimum amount of fabrication," and "All elbows, T's and valve covers are factory pre-formed and can be laced on the job."3

See also: Insubestos, Insutape, Insutube.

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What each document says

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

Asbestos Magazine, 1948, February 1948

  • Form: “Wovenstone pipe insulation”, p. 191

Asbestos Magazine, 1957, January 1957

  • Form: “Wovenstone®—lace-on (under FLEXIBLES)”, p. 332

The Potter v. Fibreboard Case File (1969-1972), Answers to plaintiff's interrogatories

  • Made until: “At the present time, this Defendant manufactures ... Our Wovenstone pipe insulation” (as of 1969-12-01), p. 113
  • Use: “lace-on material ... highly specialized; elbows, T's and valve covers factory pre-formed and laced on the job”, p. 113
  • Description: “a lace-on insulation composed of woven asbestos Neoprene coated jacket with an insulating filler woven from amosite asbestos fiber”, p. 23
  • Asbestos fiber: “an insulating filler woven from amosite asbestos fiber”, p. 23

The Borel v. Fibreboard Case File (1969-1972), Answers to interrogatories

  • Made from: “manufactured previous to 1940 and were continued through the present dates unless otherwise noted”, p. 14
  • Description: “a lace-on insulation composed of woven asbestos Neoprene coated jacket with an insulating filler woven from amosite asbestos fiber”, p. 24
  • Use: “Our Wovenstone pipe insulation ... a lace-on material ... elbows, Ts and valve covers are factory pre-formed and can be laced on the job”, p. 94
  • Asbestos fiber: “insulating filler woven from amosite asbestos fiber”, p. 24
  • Made until: “continued through the present dates” (as of 1970-04-01), p. 14

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

  • Made from: “48”, p. 95
  • Form: “FELT INSULATION”, p. 95
  • Description: “ALL ASBESTOS”, p. 95
  • Made until: “60”, p. 95

Asbestos Magazine, 1971, September 1971

  • Made from: “In 1932 Bill Gillies and Oscar Rudolph developed WOVENSTONE pipe covering”, p. 66
  • Use: “gained wide acceptance as train line insulation”, p. 66

Vandiver Brown to Lybrand, Ross Bros. & Montgomery on Pending Claims for the 1941 Audit (1941), Enclosures: 1941 contract list and pending claims list, December 15, 1941

  • Description: “Union Asbestos — Wovenstone; agreement of November 23, 1935, amended March 3, 1941 to add High-temperature Wovenstone and change prices”, p. 47

The Tomplait v. Combustion Engineering Case File (1962-1969), Answers to plaintiff's third interrogatories with exhibits

  • Asbestos content: “insulating and packing products, containing asbestos, which UNION sells” (as of 1962-06-30), said by Pittsburgh Corning Corp. and Union Asbestos and Rubber Co. (Agreement of Purchase), as recorded by Pittsburgh Corning Corp. (exhibit to interrogatory answers, Tomplait), p. 188
  • Sold until: “lines ... which UNION sells” (as of 1962-06-30), said by Pittsburgh Corning Corp. and Union Asbestos and Rubber Co. (Agreement of Purchase), as recorded by Pittsburgh Corning Corp. (exhibit to interrogatory answers, Tomplait), p. 188

Travelers Asbestos Products Printout, July 1981

  • Made from: “48”, p. 279
  • Made until: “60”, p. 279
  • Form: “PIPECOVER”, p. 279
  • Description: “ALL ASBESTOS”, p. 279

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

  • Temperature limit: “Atmos to 750”, p. 8310
  • Asbestos content: “Asbestos Fiber in Asbestos Jacket”, p. 8310
  • Description: “Asbestos fibers enclosed in a neoprene-coated, water-proofed asbestos jacket. Has lacing hooks for fast installation.”, p. 8310
  • Form: “Pipe Covering Blanket”, p. 8310
  • Description: “lace-on insulation (amosite) with asbestos lacing” (as of pre-1948), p. 12611

Kind of product

We list Wovenstone (Unarco) with pipe covering and block insulation and paper, felt and millboard, from how the documents describe its form. Those pages explain how such products exposed workers.

Trades that worked with products like it: Insulators and Insulation Workers, Pipefitters and Plumbers.

Other pipe covering and block insulation by Unarco (8)

Insutape · Insutube · Calcium Silicate · Super Insutape · Super Unibestos · Unibestos 1200 · Unibestos 750 · New Improved Insutape

Pipe covering and block insulation by other makers (268)

Thermobestos · Superex (Johns-Manville) · Careytemp (Philip Carey) · Kaylo (Owens-Corning) · Unibestos (Union Asbestos & Rubber Co.) · Vercel (Eagle-Picher) · Vitribestos (Johns-Manville) · Vitro Fire Felt (Johns-Manville) · Watcocell (GAF) · Weber's HT (Forty-Eight Insulations) · Webers 48 (Forty-Eight Insulations) · White Surface Asbestos Jacket (Johns-Manville) · York Asbestos (York Insulation) · Zebra (Keasbey & Mattison) · Zebra (Nicolet) · Zerogloss (Johns-Manville) · 12 (Combustion Engineering) · 19 (Combustion Engineering) · 19 Hitemp (Philip Carey) · 66 (Eagle-Picher) · and 248 more: all pipe covering and block insulation

Other paper, felt and millboard by Unarco (6)

Insubestos · Stonefelt · Unarco · Unarco Asbestos Blanket · Ambestos Felt · Amoside Felt

Paper, felt and millboard by other makers (293)

Min-k (Johns-Manville) · Pyrotex (Raybestos-Manhattan) · Limpet (Keasbey & Mattison) · Novabestos (Raybestos-Manhattan) · Sal-mo (Nicolet) · Vitro Fire Felt (Johns-Manville) · Vulca-Dek (Monroe) · Weldwood (U.S. Plywood-Champion Papers) · Wheeler (Wheeler Protective Apparel) · White Surface Asbestos Jacket (Johns-Manville) · White Top Asbestos Jacket (Philip Carey) · Woolfelt (GAF) · X-l (Excelsior) · Yankee (Beacon Sales Company) · "Not A Kick In A Million Feet" (Lehon) · #50 Asbestos Weatherproofing Felt (Johns-Manville) · 12# Asbestos Tape (Johns-Manville) · 15A Asbestos Jacket (Johns-Manville) · 411 (Nicolet) · 45A Asbestos Jacket (Johns-Manville) · and 273 more: all paper, felt and millboard

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, 1948, February 1948 (February 1, 1948), p. 19.
  2. Asbestos Magazine, 1957, January 1957 (January 1, 1957), p. 33.
  3. The Potter v. Fibreboard Case File (1969-1972), Answers to plaintiff's interrogatories (December 1, 1969), pp. 2, 11.
  4. The Borel v. Fibreboard Case File (1969-1972), Answers to interrogatories (April 1, 1970), pp. 1–2.
  5. The Travelers Insurance Company's Product Information Booklet for Its Asbestos Seminar (1980–1981) (April 30, 1981), p. 9.
  6. Asbestos Magazine, 1971, September 1971 (September 1, 1971), p. 6.
  7. Vandiver Brown to Lybrand, Ross Bros. & Montgomery on Pending Claims for the 1941 Audit (1941), Enclosures: 1941 contract list and pending claims list, December 15, 1941 (December 15, 1941), p. 4.
  8. The Tomplait v. Combustion Engineering Case File (1962-1969), Answers to plaintiff's third interrogatories with exhibits (June 30, 1962), p. 18.
  9. Travelers Asbestos Products Printout, July 1981 (July 1, 1981), p. 27.
  10. Union Carbide Chemicals Company: Thermal Insulation and Accessories Manual (October 1, 1962), p. 83.
  11. Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, Volume Two (1986), p. 126. Not yet published in our library.

Cite this page

“Wovenstone (Unarco).” AsbestosClaims.Law Library. https://asbestosclaims.law/library/products/unarco-wovenstone.

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This page is provided for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Every asbestos case turns on its own facts, exposure history, diagnosis, deadlines, available evidence, and applicable law. Reviewing this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your specific situation, call 833-4-ASBESTOS for a free case review.