This 1967 Armstrong Cork Company catalog serves as a comprehensive guide to industrial gasket materials, detailing their composition, performance characteristics, and applications across various industries. The document highlights Armstrong’s Accopac and Accobest product lines, which include asbestos-based gaskets, cellulose fiber gaskets, cork-rubber compositions, and synthetic rubber materials.
The publication provides technical data, performance specifications, and material selection guidance, making it a key resource for engineers, industrial maintenance professionals, and manufacturers. It emphasizes Armstrong’s engineering research and testing capabilities, showcasing how different gasket materials perform under various temperature, pressure, and environmental conditions.
One of the most significant aspects of this publication is its promotion of asbestos-based gaskets, particularly the Accopac and Accobest lines. These materials were widely used for sealing applications in high-temperature, high-pressure environments, such as:
The document describes asbestos as a high-performance sealing material, emphasizing its compressibility, durability, and resistance to heat and chemicals. Armstrong specifically touts its proprietary manufacturing process, which refined asbestos fibers to eliminate clusters and improve uniformity, allegedly resulting in a more reliable gasket with better sealing properties.
Additionally, the publication introduces Armstrong 101, a non-stick coating for asbestos-based gaskets, designed to reduce adhesion to metal flanges and improve gasket removal during maintenance.
At the time of this publication, asbestos was still considered an essential industrial material, and its health risks were not widely acknowledged in corporate marketing materials. However, we now know that asbestos-containing gaskets posed significant occupational exposure risks, especially for:
The cutting, removal, and replacement of asbestos gaskets often released airborne fibers, leading to long-term inhalation exposure. Many workers in industrial and mechanical trades later developed mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer as a result.
This document is a key example of how asbestos-based materials were marketed as “safe” and “superior” without acknowledgment of the serious health hazards that became widely recognized in the following decades.
This catalog is an important historical artifact for researchers, attorneys, and occupational health experts studying:
Today, Armstrong’s asbestos-containing products are frequently referenced in litigation, as workers who used these gaskets decades ago continue to develop asbestos-related diseases.
The “Armstrong Gasket Materials” (1967) catalog reflects a time when asbestos was marketed as an essential industrial material, despite its known health risks. The document provides valuable technical and historical insights into how asbestos gaskets were designed, sold, and used across multiple industries. For those studying asbestos exposure risks, corporate responsibility, or industrial product history, this catalog serves as a critical piece of evidence in understanding the scope and impact of asbestos use in gasket manufacturing.
