Railroad Insulation : "Limpet" Trade Mark : brochure : J.W. Roberts Ltd. : Midland Works, Armley, Leeds 12 : nd [c.1936] : cover

A 'glossy' publicity brochure intended, given the "railroad" title for overseas markets, describing the insulation products manufactured by the Armley, Leeds, Yorkshire based company of J.W. Roberts Ltd who had been, since 1920, part of the then Rochdale based group asbestos manufacturers of Turner & Newall. The brochure discussed the many and varied products using asbestos under Roberts "Limpet" brand and that included asbestos laggings, blankets, floor compounds, decorative boards and especially the "Sprayed Limpet" product, introduced by them in 1931 where asbestos fibre and adhesive were fired at high pressure through an airspray gun to coat surfaces; this gave thermal, fire and noise reduction properties. The brochure gives copious examples of railway locomotives and vehicles in which asbestos products could be and were in use. It is undated but the general range of vehicles, locomotives and railway/railroad carriages shown would suggest a date of c.1936.

 

J.W Roberts Ltd. had been based at Armley Works in Leeds since their formation in 1874 as traditional textile manufacturers before moving to using asbestos fibre processing and material manufacturing in the early years of the Twentieth Century. The Works, in a densely populated area of working class housing, remained in operation until closure in 1959 when production was moved to other Turner & Newall sites.

 

By the time of this brochure health concerns were already being raised regarding those working directly in the asbestos industry and the companies concerned were already downplaying and indeed effectively deliberately covering up the increasingly obvious health implications of asbestos and asbestos based materials. Indeed, the use of this "miracle mineral" was still being actively promoted and this continued well into the later decades of the century. By this time the impact of asbestos on the wider population, including those exposed through even occassional environmental exposure, was also becoming obvious to health and medical officials; in the Western economies the use of the material was increasingly regulated and indeed steps to actively remove asbestos products and materials were being undertaken. This was not before massive numbers of people had contracted and died from various illnesses directly attributable to asbestos.

 

In the case of Roberts, the Midland Factory was later found to have been a major source of asbestos pollution to not only workers but also local inhabitants both before and after closure of the works in 1959. Such was the output of dust and the contamination of the local environment, including houses, that by the 1970s concerns as to local death rates was being actively raised. Initial research discovered that the abandoned factory was still a major source of contamination and as late as 2008 tests on local properties was still discovering residual contamination requiring significant clean up works. By this time Turner & Newall, who continued to deny any responsibility, a stance that saw them forced into bankruptcy in the face of growing legal claims, were long gone and it was left to local and central government to fund the decontamination.

 

The cover to the booklet included an embossed "Limpet"; the trade mark claiming the exceptional holding power of the sprayed asbestos fibre product.

Done