Mohave County miner., 1912-04-20
Asbestos Shingles.

wooden shingle was the fire menance of today, and that It was the cause of spreading fire inasmuch as the shingle when once afire curled up and was blown about by the wind thus making a fire brand that when falling on other shingle roofs started other fires, and the fire loss due to such causes amounts annually to millions of dollars.
 he International Asbestos Mills and Pow CT Company, and the Northwestern Asbestos Mills Company, have recently acquired controlling interest in an as- bestos shingle manufacturing plant in Denver, Colorado, which promises to be one of the newest and greatest in- dustries of the West.
 The Shingle Manfacturlng Plant, To- cated at l6th and Platte streets, Den- yer, Colorado, is nearing completion and is most interesting enterprise.
 The inventor of the process and ma chnery by which this shingle is to be made is Mir. Charles Guy, who at one time was employed by the government as chemist
 The process of the manufacturing of these shingles is quite simple, and yet the processes used in it's manufacture are secret. The plant at 18th and Platte streets is about completed with the exception of the installation of hydraulic power press which will give a pressure of 700 tons.
 The shingles will be made from as- bestos, cement and other secret ingred- tents. These are mixed in dry state on the second floor of the plant, and go down long shoot to an intermedi- ate floor of the factory. At this point it goes through a wet mixture and is made into compound resembling cracker dough. From this it goes down shoot upon steam plates which are upon revolving belt. and thence through rollers which roll the material out flat like cracker. There are four sets of these rollers, and when the ma terial is passed through these, it pass es upon another revolving belt at the end of the rolling mill, which moves slightly faster than the belt of the roll ing mill. It is then stacked upon cars fifty feet high and runs on miniature railroad tracks into the power press where it is subjected to 700 ton pressure.
 From the power press It goes to trimming tables, and to cutting ma chimes which stamp the sheets into shingles, and stacks them. From the cutting machines they go by cars to tanks in the basement where they are dipped into chemicals, and from there they go to the curing rooms, which are rooms into which constant stream of steam is allowed to pass. In from thirty to sixty days the shingles are cured and ready for the market. From the sample exhibits of the shingels, there is little question but that the de- mand will be very great and that it will necessitate in the near future the increasing of the capacity of this plant.
 Recently, Mr. Franklin H. Went worth of Boston, who is the secretary of the National Fire Protective Asso- citation, at dinner given in his honor by the Denver Credit Mems Assocla- tion, delivered an address upon insur- ance and fire waste. Mr. Wentworth in part said:
 "There are two kinds of pessimists, those who see no remedy and decry ex- istiug evils, and those who point out dangers and see easy solution of the difficulties" said Wentworth. "I be- long to the latter class. The unflatter. ing conditions which prevail in the United States may be remedied, and easily so. l will begin by giving you some statistics complied d by the govern ment's Department of Commerce and Labor on Fire Waste.' The per capita annual loss in half a dozen European countries is 23 cents, in the United States it is 3$. Glassglow's annual loss is 325,000S and Boston's Slightly smaller in population) 2,0OO, ,OOOS. Ber- lin's fire loss per year is 175,0OO$, and I.l