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Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 11:41 am
by Corey Walker
I walked into a shop to get a hydraulic hose made and the first thing I noticed when I walked in was the Johns-Manville insulation. I wonder if it is the same company that made speedometers?

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 11:52 am
by Burger in Spokane
Johns-Manville has been a jobber/distributor for over 100 years. While I cannot speak
to who actually MADE the speedo, it may have been that they had them made and sold
them under their name. J-M sold everything from speedos to roofing to powerline insulators.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 12:56 pm
by Corey Walker
Ok. It’s interesting to me the variety of things different companies made. I’ve got a couple International trucks, 1947 & 1973, but the also had International Harvester refrigerators. I thinks Standard Speedometer also made the Standard horns.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 2:59 pm
by BobD
Old Johns-Manville building on Magazine Street in New Orleans. (2016)

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 3:43 pm
by Burger in Spokane
Hard to get good asbestos anymore !

About 20 years ago, I was removing the asbestos/cement shingles from a house I had
bought. I had a ready market for all those I removed in good condition, as many home
owners have broken shingles and replacements were unavailable. I took care to get them
pulled, and was getting $5 a piece for them. One buyer enthusiastically exclaimed "You can't
buy good asbestos anymore !" My mind played with that, thinking only second rate asbestos
was available ... all the good stuff was gone.

Broken ones and the few that broke during removal required special disposal, and being the
prankster that I am, I thought I might have a little fun with this stuff before I did ....

I decided to get a rise out of the nation's mom's, and as a joke, made a mobile, like one
might hang over a baby's crib, out of the various bits of broken shingles. I took some nice
pictures and wrote a typical sales pitch/hyped up text about being fireproof, made of
recycled materials, and how any good parent would forego the brightly colored and potentially
fireprone mobiles. Instead, turning on their safety and environmental sense and buying this
dull grey and pastel painted beauty. And then I put it on eBay. I did not forget to sing the
virtues of lead paint, either !

The auction was pulled down in about 30 seconds and I got a scalding email about selling
toxic materials. :lol: I still get a good laugh, visualizing the people who thought this might
be serious, and think about that guy who said you could not get good asbestos anymore.

Ah, for the old days of good asbestos !

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 4:56 pm
by noelchico
Burger, I love your sense of humor. I've had patients die of mesothelioma, including a local priest and friend, and understand the concern about both good and bad asbestos, but still appreciate your story and humor. Keep it up!

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 5:10 pm
by Dallas Landers
Burger, its fireproof, cheap to make and lasts foever much like lead base paint. Now we cant have a product like that on the market! :D

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 5:27 pm
by Burger in Spokane
Asbestos is no laughing matter. As a contractor, I deal with it often enough.

The humor is in our overly "feelgood" culture, where people and our media think absolute
safety is not only attainable, but a fashion trend all should strive for, and giving them a rise.

Another time, I placed an ad in a local paper, poking fun at the trash people tried to sell.
My ad was selling soiled mattresses and other yucky junk.

Lightly stained, minor smell - $25
More noticeable staining and stinks - $10
Heavy stains and vomit inducing stench - $5

Naturally, I put a friend's phone number as the point of contact ! :lol:

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 6:23 pm
by Burger in Spokane
A few Johns-Manville items around the shop. Click on the image to see it upright.

A J-M marked U-249 porcelain "signal" insulator:

59148751062__4169715D-79C0-4B2D-B4C0-7CCA7B27EC2D.JPG

And a nice, raised profile porcelain sign:

59148722462__54794F76-C34B-4EC2-B3FD-55D6C3636B2F.JPG
The insulator was mf'd. by the Pittsburgh High Voltage Insulator Co., of Pittsburgh, Pa. FOR
J-M, and sold thru J-M as part of their line of electrical hardware and equipment.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 11:00 am
by Original Smith
Good speedometer. I ran one for years. Very nice unit if you have a 1915, or a very late 1914.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 5:02 pm
by Moxie26
The Johns Manville corporation was responsible for starting to town of Manville in Somerset county New Jersey, the town was incorporated in 1929. Started with the factory and a hotel for people to stay then the town grew around. Needless to say quite a few people came down with the condition called asbestosis from working at or living near the factory and or The dumping grounds. Speaking from experience I have family that was affected by the asbestos.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 5:49 pm
by Joe Reid
Johns Manville is the reason for that big lawsuit on asbestos related diseases by the Sokolove law firm from Massachusetts. They went in bankruptcy in 1982 and reorganized. They have paid a bunch in claims.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:26 am
by Loftfield
There are almost 125 different kinds of asbestos in the world, only three or four of them cause health problems. Asbestos in roofing and siding shingles is essentially innocuous, won't harm you at all unless it is shredded, like drilling or sanding, and even then it isn't all that bad. The asbestos used in steam pipe lagging, on the other, is lethal. So, one must ask just what kind of asbestos was used in any given application, all asbestos is not the same. The asbestos siding mobile would have been of no concern in the real world, as opposed to the politically motivated world beloved by lawyers and removal "experts" who have made fortunes from the misfortune of Johns-Manville brought on by the misinformation presented to juries of our peers, i.e.not at all qualified to evaluate the data. I will continue to carry the 1910 Hawkeye drinks picnic cooler insulated by a layer of asbestos between the galvanized interior and the woven basket exterior when touring with the 1912 Model T, and I suspect that I will continue to use Round-Up as well.

Tom Loftfield
Brevard, North Carolina

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 10:12 pm
by Joe Reid
As long as asbestos is in an inert form it is not dangerous. The individual fibers are the problem. It was not the product which was usually the issue but the manufacturing process. Most of this was before proper face masks were available and then of course the issue of getting someone to wear it. Same with Round Up. Don’t ingest it.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2019 8:18 am
by Craig Raynor
While growing up with my three brothers we lived next store to a older guy who was a family friend as was most every one in our neighborhood.He was a retired plumber, we would run around his property and play hid and seek in his barn. In the barn was all of his plumbing supplies including a wooden barrel full of a white powder that we would use to “make it snow”.Years later at work one day we were planning a asbestosis abatement job at one of the schools where I was the electrician.The facilities director as me to meet with abatement foreman and after some conversation I learned about the steam pipes in the boiler room and how the fittings were packed years ago with asbestos.At that instant I remembered my brothers and I playing in that white powder. I will never forget thinking the worst and now that it was 40 plus years later I would not be long for this world 😳I decided to have tests done and all results were negative for any asbestos related illness. That was 17 years ago now I feel very lucky to be in good health,for now.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:31 am
by Burger in Spokane
Maybe your plumber neighbor kept barrels of cocaine in his barn. Have you
had any addiction issues ? :lol:

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2019 1:17 pm
by Joe Reid
Well one good thing, I don't think Henry used it in Model T production.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2019 1:22 pm
by Joe Reid
But really like anything else if used properly it presents no issue, in a hardened form like a shingle or siding it is inert, even the wrapped pipes are safe if you don't break the seal covering them. I think we all grew up with the stuff everywhere. Long term exposure by those using it was the problem.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2019 7:49 am
by Craig Raynor
Joe , that is correct about asbestos “just leave it alone and no one gets hurt “ were his exact words.Its when is “friable” or air borne that it becomes a problem.

Burger, yes to the addiction issue it seems to be a big problem for my wife - the model T

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2019 2:02 pm
by Burger in Spokane
Get her a barrel of cocaine and see if her attitude changes. :shock:

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2019 11:17 am
by John Codman
I spent 23 years spinning wrenches on cars for a living. Back then (1960 to about 1975 with a couple of short gaps) we thought nothing about blowing the dust out of drum brakes with compressed air. We knew the dust was asbestos, but the asbestos companies never said anything about the dust being especially toxic. If I die of lung disease, I will know why. BTW: Painting asbestos shingles encapsulates the asbestos, and is an acceptable way of dealing with it's toxicity.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2019 11:54 am
by Ruxstel24
I’ve been working on cars since I was a kid and 35 years for a living. Lots of asbestos has been floating in the air since the beginnings of my existence.
Played with the pipe wraps in the neighbors chicken coop... And I smoke, only a pipe, gave up cigarettes about 6 years ago.
Still here, not bragging or not recommended, but here.
My dad’s T buddy was a Buick mechanic since the 50s...smoked for a while. After he retired (still working at home), feeling tired, had a bypass surgery, then complications and finally a stroke.
Don’t think anything asbestos related.
Everyone’s body and DNA are different and react to hazards unpredictably IMHO.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 10:58 am
by Mark Gregush
Re; I don't think Henry used it in Model T production
Yes there was some on a Model T. The wrap on the muffler.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 11:07 am
by DanTreace
...and transmission band linings ;)
IMG_0001 (2).JPG
IMG_2558 (425x700).jpg

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 1:02 pm
by Rich Eagle
Lots of great information here. I'm reminded of an old friend who always call it John-Mansfield. I thought it was charming so I didn't ever correct him.
Thanks for the enlightenments.
Rich

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 2:01 pm
by Chaffins
Sure we all know now that asbestos is a bad thing but Johns Manville took the rap because it was the manufacturer. However, the Federal government was the largest customer for the product and took no responsibility. That was just plain wrong.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 3:46 pm
by Susanne
Not quite sure what that last bit about pot shops etc. has to do with the price of Salt Pork in Portland... we're talking about asbestos.

My granddad died of what was then called "Mechanic's Lung", probably meso or asbestiosis. So did my uncle Buck. Both were mechanics for decades, Granddad died in pain with less than 20% of his lungs in his early 70's, Uncle Bucky in his mid 60's od Meso. We used to blow out brake drums with compressed air, grind linings to feather them in (and wear them in), heck, even those awesome raybestos linings we used for T transmission bands got the treatment. Hell, I volunteered to reline brakes (at a buck a shoe) because for a kid it was fast, easy money. When I was 16, one kid at a work project I was "assigned" to was cutting 4x8 sheets of asbestos fireboard (for behind furnaces and fireplaces) with a radial saw, dust everywhere...

A couple decades ago I worked in a building that people thought was corrugated metal... no one realized it was actually pressed corrugated asbestos sheeting until they ran radio antenna wires into it, punched a hole in that long painted over white fluffy stuff.

Those were the good old days. Ya know... I don't fear asbestos like some, I just respect it for what good it does, and what bad it can cause if you forget to be careful with it. The old car still has an asbestos blanket around the muffler, and a sheet under the floorboard at the exhaust pipe. It's fine where it is.

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 10:34 pm
by Burger in Spokane
Susanne wrote:
Sun Oct 06, 2019 3:46 pm
Not quite sure what that last bit about pot shops etc. has to do with the price of Salt Pork in Portland... we're talking about asbestos.
==============================

Actually, I am talking about a public whose interest in health threats or all the other BS
our culture gets up in arms about is just trending fashion. It has been widely accepted
that sucking burnt, tarry crap into our lungs is a pretty bad idea too. Not just asbestos.
But since it now creates a massive tax revenue stream, talking about the health threat of
smoking pot is fashionably taboo. Only asbestos and tobacco cause lung problems, right ?
Gotta keep up on who our villains are !

:lol:

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 10:54 pm
by Susanne
So how does this have to do with keeping our cars running, or keeping the hobby alive?

Re: Johns-Manville company

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 12:45 am
by Burger in Spokane
One dimensional living gets pretty dull. Must we ALWAYS talk about keeping our
cars running or keeping the hobby alive ? There are LOTS of threads all about
one facet or another on both.