“ UNDERGROUND ARTERIES: STORY OF TRANSITE PIPE ASBESTOS CEMENT ” 1950s JOHNS-MANVILLE CORP XD45754

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This 1950s color promotional film from the Johns-Manville Corporation touts their Transite line of asbestos cement (AC) pipes, boasting of their product’s revolutionary convenience (TRT 35:34). The asbestos cement pipes shown were expected to have a lifespan of 75 years. In recent decades there have been notable cases of AC pipe failure and detection of high levels of asbestos in the drinking water, including Woodstock, NY which experienced AC pipe issues in 1985

An illustration of a city. Title: “Underground Arteries, The Story of Transite Pipe Asbestos Cement” (0:18). A hand turns on a water faucet. A full glass is handed to a young girl (0:47). A man washes a car using a garden hose. A baby bathes in a kitchen sink. A raging fire. A group of men in suits reviewing a blueprint (1:06). Exterior: “Somerset County Administration Building'' in New Jersey. Rivers, reservoirs, dams (1:54). A water treatment facility, running sprinklers. Aerial photographs: The placement of water pipelines (2:27). Title cards: “Quick, Economic Installation, Structural Strength, Tight Joints, Maintained Flow Capacity, Long Life, Protection of Water Quality'' and a checklist of all of the above (3:17). An asbestos pipe, stenciled “Johns-Manville Transite Pipe for Modern Water Systems'' (4:18). Ingredients in closeup: asbestos, cement, and silica (4:35). Dynamite blasting. Asbestos fibers are pulled apart. Powdered cement is tapped out of a beaker (4:52). Exterior, an asbestos factory. A Johns-Manville mine empties asbestos fiber into a winnowing machine. Tanks of asbestos fibers. A dry mixer blends asbestos, cement, and silica. A worker weighs the mixture on a Toledo brand scale (5:32). A mixture is deposited onto a conveyor belt in a sheet, then rolled through a press, winding on a mandrel to a pipe’s thickness (6:42). The pipe is rolled onto a rack, stenciled, then removed from the mandrel (8:19). A suction lift stacks pipes. Curing pipes are removed from a pressure steam tank (9:01). Quality control inspection. A diameter gauge. Beam testing bends the pipe. Testing a water pressure of 500 psi (10:03). The gauge. The finished pipe rolls away, draining water (11:44). A “ring-tite” joint coupling. Workers cut and check precision couplings on factory machinery (12:29). The rubber rings of the coupling are stress tested by stretching. Stickers of approval are applied, pipes are carried away (13:50). A shipment of pressure pipes, hauled on railcars and trucks (14:42). Unloading. A 13’ section of pipe is lowered into a trench. Two pipes are joined (15:03). An above ground demonstration of “ring tite” coupling. A bucket of “ring tite lubricant” is applied by hand, rubber rings are inserted (15:52). A cross-section illustration of the coupling (17:04). A series of pipes form a curve. An excavator and a pipe-laying team. A trench is filled (18:30). Trucks from Haddon Trenching Co. work alongside a highway. A valve is installed (19:08). Molten lead is poured over a joint. A large pipe is cut to a custom length (19:39). A “corporation stop” is pressure tested, demonstrating the integrity of threading under great strain (20:16). A pipe is covered with dirt. Stock footage of a firefight. A broken segment of pipe is magnified, showing tiny asbestos fibers dispersed through the inner surface of the pipe (21:10). Street traffic. Articles on water waste. Street flushing. Examining a water main (23:11). Railroad train cars. Earthquake headlines (24:21). A fire hydrant. A pitcher of water at a dinner table. An animated illustration shows “water” (red arrows) flowing through a pipe to a hydrant. “Force” and “Internal Smoothness” are indicated. Closeup on a smooth pipe (25:23). Graduated diameters of pipe lay in a field under blue skies. A waterworks. A dam. (27:15). Free lime is dropped onto two squares of cement, the Transite is less affected (28:40). Underground soil corrosion testing. A 15-year old asbestos pipe segment (29:41). Pipe cutting (31:16). Oil derricks. Water pumping away from a coal mine (32:16). A fountain (35:09).

Johns-Manville employees claimed lung disease disabilities as early as 1929. Claims were settled secretly out of court. In 1943, Johns-Manville suppressed a report confirming the link between asbestos and cancer, and continually misled employees with asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. In the 1980s, they filed for bankruptcy protection to cover mounting lawsuits.

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