in common use in Canada and the States, where, as already shown, it is
found to operate with a twofold effect, viz. by lowering the temperature
of the boilerhouse, to the great comfort of the engineers and firemen,
and also, in a very marked degree, economising the expenditure for fuel.
It seems, therefore, strange that its use in this country has as yet
made so little headway. In one of the large palatial buildings recently
erected in London, where engines are required to be in constant work for
pumping water for working the lifts and for general purposes, as well as
for the dynamos, the heat from the boilers forms so great a nuisance,
and occasions so much loss in other ways, that very considerable expense
is about to be incurred, with a view to lowering the temperature. When
conversing recently with an expert on this subject I asked whether the
use of asbestos would not effect the desired object. Yes, he answered,
it would, but it is too expensive. This certainly seems very strange, as
I know that the cement composition referred to is made of the very
commonest quality of asbestos, of the refuse, in point of fact, which
could probably be used for no other purpose. The expense, therefore,
cannot be great, and as to its mode of use, it is simply laid on with a
trowel, like mortar or any similar composition, and when once done is
singularly effective. I have stood in an engine-house where the boilers
were covered with about two inches in thickness of this cement, which
then showed a hard, dry, firm surface; and, when the engines were in
full work, on placing one's hand on the covering there was little more
than a gentle warmth perceptible on the outside surface of the
composition, whilst the surrounding atmosphere was scarcely, if at all,
affected by the heat from the boilers. The boiler quiltings referred to
on a previous page as being manufactured by a New York firm under
contract with the United States Government, for use in some of their
model war ships, would no doubt be as effectual for the purpose, but
naturally they would be more costly, being an altogether different
contrivance, and made so as to be easily removable when required, which,
of course, is not the case with the so-called cement. There is little
doubt, however, that, although the use of asbestos in this form does not
seem to find much favour here, its use for the purpose of coating
boilers and steam-pipes will presently become as general in England as
it already is on the other side, where its valuable qualities seem to be
so much better known and appreciated.
Improved stove pipings are now being manufactured in the States which in
appearance exactly resemble cast-iron. These have the additional
valuable properties of extreme lightness, combined with great strength
and a capability of ornamentation unobtainable with the usual cast-iron
pipes mostly in use; paint in the case of the asbestos pipes not scaling
off under heat as it will do in the case of ordinary iron pipes. The
manufacturers of these pipes claim for them that they combine the
strength of steel with the lightness of paper. Tubes also are made for
electrical engineers which provide them with a non-conducting covering
for their wires both fire and waterproof, so as to preserve the perfect
insulation of the wire.
Asbestos rope is used for fire escapes and similar purposes, as well as
for the transmission of power over places exposed to heat. In dyeing and
printing cloth it is frequently necessary to hang the fabric in loops
from parallel rods for exposure to steam, air or ammonia. In order that
it should hold upon the rods, without straining or slipping, rope or
strips of cloth are usually wound around the poles, but this does not
remove, although it mitigates, the difficulty, because the heat and
corrosive action of the vapours will rot any covering; the first notice
of the deterioration being generally the appearance of small pieces of
rod covering among the cloth which is in process of finishing. Asbestos
rope and cloth are now largely manufactured and used for this purpose
in the United States with very beneficial results.
In commenting on the recent loss of life occasioned by the panic at the
fire at the Exeter Theatre, a well-known journal, speaking of the
various modes of providing for escape, mentions the case of a man of
fashion, a millionaire, who died not long ago, and says that he would
never go to bed in a strange house without having an apparatus of
knotted rope affixed to a ring in the wall, by which he might lower
himself to the ground on an emergency. But, asks the journalist, what if
the rope itself took fire? The answer naturally is, let it be an
asbestos rope, then it will neither burn nor rot.
The use of the fibre in the manufacture of gas stoves is too well known
to need any remark.
As a lubricant it is unrivalled.
Another very important use to which it is now being applied is in the
manufacture of filters. These are specially useful where the liquid to
be filtered is of a caustic or strongly acid nature, or where the filter
with residue is to be ignited without consuming the filter, or where the
residue is to be subsequently dissolved off the filter by acids or other
solvents. In many cases a very finely divided asbestos is desirable.
This is accomplished by a process recently patented in Germany by Fr.
Breyer, of Vienna. The asbestos is first coarsely ground, and then mixed
with some granular crystalline carbonate, which must be soluble in
acids. The carbonate should possess a hardness between 3 and 4, 5,
according to the mineralogical scale. The mixture is ultimately ground
together in a mill. Afterwards the mass is treated with an acid until
the carbonate has been dissolved out. The escaping carbonic gas causes
the asbestos fibres to be loosened and disintegrated from each other so
as to render the mass porous. Of course it must be thoroughly washed
with water before being used.
Again, in the purification of foul gas, as well as for ventilating and
deodorizing man-holes for cesspools, sewers, &c., its use is found to be
unsurpassed by any other known material.
Mr. Boyd, in the paper so often referred to, says in regard to this,
that he was some time previously asked to supply asbestos yarn spun in
such a way as to have good capillary action, and, on making inquiry,
found it was to be used for the above purpose. In describing the mode of
using it, he says that there is placed over the opening rising from the
sewer a hood of galvanized wire, interlaced with this asbestos yarn, the
ends of the yarn dipping into a receptacle filled with liquid
disinfectant, which, as they become saturated, form a disinfecting
screen, through the meshes of which the gases rise, and in their passage
through are purified and rendered innocuous. The system hitherto
previously adopted for deodorizing sewer gas has been to cause it to
rise through charcoal, but it is found that the impurities soon clog
this up, and simply prevent the passage of the gas, whereas in the
arrangement just mentioned (which is that of Messrs. Adams & Co., of
York), the gas rises freely, and is perfectly deodorized.
There are, of course, very numerous other applications of the material
which might be referred to or described, but probably those already
mentioned are the most important and the most interesting; and these, it
is hoped, are at any rate sufficient to indicate the great value of this
singular mineral product, as well as to confirm the statement with which
I started, that this is indeed one of Nature's most marvellous
productions.
FOOTNOTES:
[10] There is a Patent Removable Covering now manufactured in New York
which is said to be entirely formed of pure asbestos fibre, made in
cylindrical sections of three-foot lengths of the exact size of the
pipes to be covered. In this the asbestos fibres are so interlaced, that
the sections, whilst possessing strength and flexibility, afford so
large a number of air-cells as to give the covering the very highest
non-conducting quality, whilst at the same time it cannot char or be in
any way injured by the most intense heat from without or within. Fire
Felt sectional coverings for boilers and large surfaces are made in
convenient forms in sheets, &c. The same Company also manufacture what
is called a Superator Jacket, both fire and waterproof, being in fact a
flexible sheet of asbestos strengthened with wire netting, the asbestos
being waterproofed by a special process, and provided with patent
lacings, so that the jackets may be effectually kept in place, whilst
being readily removable without cutting or loss of material.
INDEX.
Asbestos, meaning of, 5
description, 7, 9
origin unknown, 12
only found in serpentine, 12
places where found, 13
first successful experiments with, 15
difference between Canadian and Italian, 16, 22
where used, 18
analysis, 20
Italian kinds, 21
sources of supply, 13, 24
marketable value, 28
first discovery of, 29
profitable nature of mining for, 31, 51
annual production, 52
aggregate output, 51
uses of, 55
Aldini, Chevalier, 15, 18, 66
Amiante, 8
Anecdotes, 5, 13, 54, 60
Anglo-Canadian Company, 27, 36
Antimony, 48
Ballooning, military, 58
Bastard asbestos, 27
Boiler coverings, 58, 70
Boot soles, lining for, 67
Boston Company's mine, 31
Breeches of big guns, 56
Broughton mines, 42
Building operations, use in, 61
Canadian mineral estates, typical, 48
Carriage of explosives, 60
China, strange use of asbestos in, 15
Cement, 70
Chrome iron, 28, 36, 51
Chrysotile, 8
Cloth and paper, 67
Clothing for firemen, 66
Coating ironclads, 57
Cobbing, 52
Cold storage, 67
Coleraine group of mines, 36
Coleraine mines of Dr. Reed, 41
Cost of extraction, 36, 40
Coste, Eugène, report of, 52
Crocidolite, 9, 10
Curtains in theatres, 62
Danville, mine at, 46
Deck cabins of steamships, 68
Discolouration, 27, 33, 37
removable, 38
Ells (Mr.), report of, 12, 31, 41, 50
Exeter Theatre, fire at, 63
Exhibition, American, 9
Extraction, cost of, 36, 40
Faults in veins, 47
Filters, 67, 73
Firemen's clothing, 16, 66
Fires at theatres, 62
Fireproof boxes, 58
curtains, 62
Frechette-Douville mine, 39
French-Canadian labour, 53
Genoa, floating chapel at, 68
Geology of Canada, 7, 9, 26, 48
Gold at South Ham, 49
Heath, Captain, experiments of, 61
Immature asbestos, 32
Impurity of rock, 27
Ink, asbestos, 68
Italian asbestos, 15
paper on, 19
Italy, experiments in, 15
Italian asbestos, three kinds of, 21
Iron-mining in Russia, 13
Irving's safety theatre, 63
Johnson Company's mine, 30
Journal of Society of Arts, 19
Kennedy's discovery at Coleraine, 42
King's mine, 32
Limestone at Templeton, 29
Lint, 61
Magnetite, 33
Mailbags, 67
Main sources of supply, 24
Marketable value, how determined, 28
Martin mine, 38
Merchants' and bankers' books, 68
Military ballooning, 58
Mineral wool, 11
Miner's lamps, 56
Mining in Canada, 24
profitable nature of, 31, 51
Packing, 52
Paint, 69
Paper, 67, 68
Peculiarity at Thetford, 33
Pélé's hair, 11
Pierre-à-coton, 7
Places where used, 18
Profitable nature of asbestos-mining in Canada, 31, 51
Printing papers, 68
Pulp and paper, 69
Purification of foul gas, 74
Reed & Hay properties, 40
Reed's (Dr.), mine, 40
Registers and records, 68
Relative merits of Canadian and Italian asbestos, 17
Rope, 72
Russia, asbestos found in, 13, 14
iron-mining in, 13
Scottish Asbestos Company, 36, 38, 44
Serpentine, 12, 24, 41
often impure, 27
ornamental, 29
Shipton mine, 46
Singular statement, 20
Slag wool, 11
Soapstone (steatite), 46, 49
enormous quantity of, at South Ham, 49
South Ham, mines at, 47
Steam-power, 34
Steam-pipe coverings, 70
Stove pipings, 72
Theatres, fires in, 62
Thetford group of mines, 29
district rich in minerals, 36
Time fuzes, 67
Tunnelling impracticable in Canada, 21
Underwriters, offer of, 62
United Asbestos Company of London, 16, 60
Ural region, large quantities found in, 14
Wages at Canadian mines, 53
Wall papers, 68
Want of foresight in mining for asbestos, 35
Ward's mine, 31
Whitehead torpedoes, 56
Willimott (Mr.), report of, 26
Wolfestown mines, 50
PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD, LONDON.
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