Asbestos 101, Part 2: How Asbestos Products Were Made and Used

In Part 2 of Asbestos 101, asbestos attorney Justinian Lane explains how raw asbestos was turned into products — and why those products ended up in so many homes, workplaces, vehicles, factories, and consumer goods.

Using historic mining and factory footage, this episode shows how asbestos fibers were separated, crushed, graded, carded, spun, and woven into manufactured materials. It also explains why companies promoted asbestos as a “miracle mineral”: it was strong, lightweight, heat resistant, insulating, and difficult to burn.

You’ll see examples of asbestos in pipe insulation, stoves, gaskets, packing, electrical insulation, theater curtains, aircraft and spacecraft components, vinyl asbestos floor tile, beer filters, gas masks, safes, household products, and more. The video also explains why some asbestos products were especially risky when they released airborne fibers during manufacturing, installation, removal, repair, sanding, cutting, or demolition.

This episode also introduces key historical companies and products, including Johns Manville, UNARCO, Garlock, Owens Illinois, and Kaylo calcium silicate insulation, while previewing the health risks and industry coverup discussed later in the Asbestos 101 series.

Learn more about asbestos exposure, asbestos products, mesothelioma claims, asbestos claims, and compensation options at asbestosclaims.law.

0:00 Introduction
1:17 Quick refresher: what asbestos is
2:01 Historic asbestos mining and factory footage
2:41 Explosives, mining, and asbestos ore
3:29 Pulling and grading asbestos fibers
4:21 Crushing asbestos rock
5:18 Cobbing rooms and factory processing
6:31 Carding machines and asbestos fiber preparation
7:31 Roving machines and asbestos textile production
8:00 Historic asbestos advertising
9:00 Magnesia pipe covering and asbestos insulation
10:01 Asbestos-lined stoves and vintage appliances
10:53 UNARCO, wartime ads, and industrial asbestos
13:00 Garlock gaskets and asbestos sealing products
15:12 Kaylo insulation and Owens Illinois
20:00 Kaylo health risks and the Saranac Labs warning
21:48 Common asbestos product uses
22:02 Space vehicles, electrical insulation, and medical filters
23:08 Asbestos cloth and packing
24:49 Theater curtains, mailbags, and dry cleaning presses
25:52 Aircraft, spacecraft, and asbestos gaskets
26:34 Household asbestos products and iron rests
27:22 Asbestos paper, safes, stoves, and heaters
29:01 Brake linings, gas masks, plastics, and floor tile
29:40 Vinyl asbestos floor tile and home renovation risks
30:29 Asbestos in beer filters
32:17 Asbestos sandboxes and the human cost