About the same time the manufacture of asbestos into packings for piston glands was successfully accomplished in America; and some two years afterwards a company, calling itself "The Patent Asbestos Manufacturing Company, Limited," was formed in Glasgow for the purpose of making piston packings according to this American invention. In 1880 this Glasgow Company united its business with that of Messrs. Furse Brothers and Co., of Rome, asbestos manufacturers, as well as with that of the Italo-English Pure Asbestos Company, and, when the amalgamation was complete, the new Company, taking the name of "The United Asbestos Company, Limited," became possessed of nearly the whole of the known Italian mines, and, consequently, of a practical monopoly of the trade in asbestos from that country.
Italian differs very materially from Canadian asbestos, not only in appearance, but in formation also, as well as in the mode of extraction. The two are, in fact, entirely separate and distinct kinds of the same mineral; notwithstanding which their intrinsic qualities are practically the same, and the uses to which they are put are almost identical.
An extraordinary specimen of Italian asbestos, obtained from one of the mines of the United Asbestos Company, situate in the Valtellina Valley, is in the possession of that company, and is no doubt the finest piece of asbestos ever brought from Italy, whether as regards strength or fineness of fibre. Any one interested in the matter would, I have no doubt, be readily permitted to inspect this natural curiosity, on application to Mr. Boyd, the courteous manager of the company, in Queen Victoria Street.
Just about this time (1880) Canadian asbestos, also, was being much talked about and sought after; and it is therefore perhaps scarcely to be wondered at that the company which first began to work the mineral in Italy on a large scale, and which, at great expense and trouble, had managed to secure the whole of the Italian mines, and so become possessed, as they supposed, of a monopoly of the trade, should have viewed with jealousy the rapid progress made in public estimation by the Canadian ore when once it was introduced to the market.
It is not my purpose, however, to enter on the vexed question of the relative merits of the two varieties, which would be altogether out of place in a letter of this kind. But I think we may safely conclude that both possess undeniably good qualities, and that there is an ample field for both, inasmuch as the peculiar properties which render one kind unsuitable for some particular purpose are often precisely those which best adapt it for another. Each variety will assuredly make its own way and take its proper place in public estimation as further experiments and greater experience in the use of it shall bring its special value more prominently to light.
Ample proof has been given of the valuable qualities of Italian asbestos; and if any proof were needed of the intrinsic value of its Canadian competitor, nothing more would be required than to point to such houses as that of John Bell & Son, of London; of Wertheim, of Frankfort; or to the Johns Manufacturing Company, or the Chalmers-Spence Company, of New York, whose world-renowned manufactures are made of Canadian asbestos alone.
The essential characteristics of both sorts are alike in this respect, that they are absolutely indestructible by fire, or even when exposed to the action of any known acid; the Canadian variety possessing in addition, in a very high degree, that strange peculiarity (which is also claimed for one of the Italian sorts), and is common also to plumbago and soapstone, of being a self-lubricator. Good Canadian fibre is known at once by its soft, greasy, soapy feeling; and one of the leading New York firms claims for its products, made entirely of Canadian asbestos, that they will resist even the flame of the blowpipe; and further asserts that this mineral transcends all previously thought-of materials for fireproofing, in that it is not only absolutely indestructible by fire, but that its power of resistance cannot be worn away or diminished by lapse of time or hard usage, as invariably happens in the case of such applications as tungstate of soda.
Regarding its use, Germany is a very large consumer. In France the consumption is not so great, although manufacturers in that country are now beginning to bestir themselves, especially in regard to some very valuable kinds of paper, which they are making entirely out of Canadian fibre; and Paris has now set the world an example by the adoption of the Chevalier Aldini's plan of clothing firemen in a dress of asbestos cloth.
America, however, is the country where the most rapid strides are being made in the development of every branch of this new industry, and there also the Canadian fibre alone is used.
A considerable quantity of it is made use of in England, in the manufacture of some valuable kinds of packing for engineering work, millboards, felts, lubricants, paint, and the like; but in England we lack in some degree the readiness which is found on the other side of the ocean, in the adaptation of new materials and new methods of work.