The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-06-20
.ASBESTOS.


 Applications in Mechanical, Electrical
 and Domestic Fields-Interesting Nov
 cities and Oddities of Use.
 George Hei Guy in New York Evening
 Post.)
 There is probably no production of inorganic nature about which there is so much popular mystery and miscon- ception as asbestos. It is vaguely un- derstood that the principal claim of this remarkable product to attention is that it cannot be consumed by fire, and not infrequently the effect of the men. tion of asbestos is to carry the nearer back to the days when the people of the Pharaohs wrapped their dead in cere-cloths woven from the fibre, in or der to preserve them, the body having been first embalmed. Romantic stories have also come down to us of ancient demonstrations of magic in which as- bestos has played the leading part, but the real interest in asbestos centers in the present It is of more importance to the human race to-day than 1t has been in the whole range of history. Asbestos twenty-five years ago was practically not known in the labOrato- ny of the chemist O. mineralogist It now finds it's way in one form or anoth- CT into every workshop where steam is employed.
 To the question, "What is asbestos?" it is not altogether easy to find an an- swer. Geologists classify it among the honblendes. In itself, asbestos is a physical paradox mineralogical veg etable, both fbrous and crystalline elastic yet brittle, floating stone, but as capable of being carded, spun and woven as flax, cotton or silk. It is ap- parently a connecting link between the vegetable and the mineral kingdom, possessing some of the characteristics of both. In appearance it is light buoyant and feathery as thistledown; yet, in it's crude state, it is dense and heavy as the solid rock in which it is found. Apparently as perishable as grass, it is yet older than any order of animal or vegetable life on earth, The dissolving influences of time seem to Nave no effect upon it. The action of unnumbered centuries, by which the hardest rocks known to geologists are worn away has left no perceptible inn print on the asbestos found embedded in them. While much if it's bulk is of the toughest and most gritty materials known, it is really as smooth to the touch as soap or oil. Seemingly as combustible as tow the fiercest heat cannot consume it, and no known com bination of acids will destructiveIy af- feet the appearance and strength of it's fibre, even after days of exposure to it's action. It is, in fact, practically inde- structible Its incombustible nature renders it a complete protection from flames but beyond this most valuable quality, it's industrial value is greatly augmented by it's non -conduction of heat and electricity as well as by it's important property of practical insolu- bility in acids.
 Asbestos has been found in all quar- ters of the globe. Il comes from Italy, China, Japan, Australia, Spain, Portu- gal Hungary, Germany, Russia, The Cape, Central Africa, Canada, New fOundland this country, and from Southern and Central America The as- bestos generally found in the United l linas, and Texas, also in Staten Island New Jersey and Pennsylvania, is in ap- | pearance like fossilized wood. The l veins range in length from few inches | to several feet. The fibre can be split | off like soft wood the appearance be- | ing woolly, and when separated it has no strength or cohesion. It cannot be l spun nor even pulped. At one time il was thought it might be profitably used as a filler in paper making, but virtual | ly it is of no commercial value.
 | Notwithstanding this wide distrihu- | ton of asbestos, the only varieties | which q present appear to demand se- | rious consideration, from commercial | point of view, are the Russian, the 1 South African, the Italian and the Ca nadian. The principal claim possessed | by the Russian fibre to place in this | quartet is based on the enormous eX- | tent of the deposits which have beer l discovered in East Russia beyond the l Ural Mountains, and Russian Siberia | So far, their specimens have been oi | comparatively poor quality. The yielt 1 is used almost entirely in Europe | where it is mixed with the Canadian | for spinning, making paper and othel 1 purposes where an inferior grade car be utilized.
 Before the development of the Cana | dian fields, the Italian asbestos was su | preme in the market For nearly twen 1 ty years Italy has been looked to for tht | best grades of the fibre. From a poin
 on the northern mountain slope of tn
 Susa valley is taken the floss asbestos 1 fibre. the appearance of which in gas
 stoves is so familiar In the same 10
 cality is found fine white powder Q
 asbestos, which serves for paint ant other purposes. The mining is carrie,
 on at a height of from six to ten thou
 sand feet above sea level.
 But the Italian asbestos industry
 once so important, is already on tn
 are very great, and unduly increase tn
 cost of production. The asbestos itself ! judged by the latest standards, is of in ferior quality; it is not easy to spin and it does not pulp well in the makinl 1 of paper. The best grade is eXtremeE
 rare, and it's cost of mining and trans
 pOrtatiOn is prOhibitive. The suppl. from the Italian mines is rapidly falling ! off As a matter of fact. Canada con | tains the great asbestos region of tn
 world, in the sense that while it's mine 1 are practically unlimited in productiv
 capacity. the product is of quaIit, { which fully meets the requirements O [ -y