The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1934-08-02
Armours and Others Buy
Assets and Property Of
Libby Corporation.
INSTALLING MUCH
NEW MACHINERY

NEW MACHINERY
AT special meeting e tiae stockhoId-
ers Of the Vermiculite & Asbestos COM
pany of Libby, held in this city last
Saturday night, the entire properly and
assests of that company were disposed
OF to the National Vermiculite Products
corporation of Chicago, at q pre-
arranged agreement whereby the stock
holders of the Libby corporation will
exchange their stock for stock in the
National Vermiculite Products corpora
ton.
Present at the meeting as representa-
tives OF the Chicago corporation were
Phillip D. Armour and Lester Armour
of Armour & Co., Chicago meat packing
company; A. T, Kearney of James o.
Mckinsey & Co., accounting engineers
of Chicago; and John H Bishop, prom
inent Chicago attorney. These men and
associates have been engaged during
the past year or two in develop
ing number of products largely COM
posed of vermiculite and now their cor
poration, the National Verniculite Pro-
ducts corporation, Is getting in position
to market these products in a large
way.
The officers of the Chicago corpora
ton are. A. T. Kearney, president; w.
j. Mohr, vice president; Lester Armour,
treasurer; c. D. Sells, secretary; all OF
Chicago. Also associated with these men
in the active development of this new
industry is Senator ]. N. Camden of
Kentucky, who is heavy stakeholder
in the corporation and who has been
active in the preliminary work Of its
organization.
Enlarging Local Plant. /
The new owners of the Libby prop
erty have already begun enlarging the
plant at the mine, east Of this city, This
work is in charge Of o. A. Lahus, an
engineer with much experience in de-
signing mining machinery and mills,
and F. E. Oscarson, mining engineer
Who Miu be ia charge Of production at
the mime after the improvements It the
mill are completed
Two carloads OF machinery have al
ready arrived and are now being IN
stalled at the mine Another carload
will arrive soon. This machinery was de-
signed especially for the mining and
treating of the local mineral under
Specifications worked out by Mr.. Labus
and Mr.. Oscarson.
Had Problem to Solve.
we had a difficult problem to solve
said Mr.. Labus, lin finding machinery
hat would properly handle vermiculite.
No machinery on the market was salts
factory so we designed our own ma
,hinery have had it fabricated and are
now installing one unit in the plant
here As the demand for our product
increases we can add more units to
step up production at the mine. Our
object In this installation is to increase
he output and to improve the quality.
The new mill will make high saving
If the vermiculite and remove practi-
,ally all of the grit and refuse that is
IN the mineral as II comes from the
nine. The milled product is better than
IS per cent pure vermiculite.
The mill will be almost entirely
continued Mr.. Labus. IN
addition to cleaning the verrniculite, it
will also grade 1t to size and deposit
he different sizes in different bins. At
The same time this is being done, all
he natural moisture in the mineral as
It comes from the mine is also being
removed by drying process. Thus all
waste material and moisture are re-
moved and the material lightened as
much as possible before being shipped.
All machinery now being installed is
the latest type 1t is possible to select"
Electrically Operated.
A new power house of concrete and
metal is now under construction II will
house hundred horsepower Diesel en-
CINE, which will drive an electrical gen.
orator. All machinery will be electric
Ally driven and the mine and mill will
De electrically lighted As soon as pro-
iuction is fully under way, the mine
and mill will be operated "a hours
daily with a daily capacity of rs tons
If milled product.
A new gas-operated power shovel
will arrive in few days and will be
for operations at the mine
proper. 1t will be a Northwest shovel
of one yard capacity. 1t will strip the
oyerburden from the deposit high on
the mountain and will load the crude
into cars that are then
several hundred feet down
the steep mountainside on tramway
to the mill.
About $4,000 worth of new machin-
cry is being installed at the mine and
mill and about rs men are employed in
the property and in making
the new Improvements. Production IL
being kept under way while the new
equipment is being installed.
Reports Big Demand.
II can be said that this IS no new
venture for the men back of the Ma
tional Vermiculite Products corpora
ton. They have spent thousands Of dol
lars and many months IN perfscting
and patenting processes from which are
manufactured products that m find-
ing heavy demand in, the business
A. = II -