A Little Notebook, Toxicity, a Complex World

Another item in that box of papers I recently described was this charming little notebook:




Contemporary graphic artist Aaron Draplin, designer for and co-founder of the Field Notes line of notebooks, has this Plibrico notebook in his vast collection of vintage pieces (more photos of Draplin's collection here). Draplin's copy is imprinted on the front cover with a Grand Rapids address, while mine has upstate New York addresses in Utica and Syracuse. And mine is in better shape than his, I'd say.

Based on its appearance and type use, I suspect the design was done in the 1950s or maybe very early 1960s, though the two years of calendars included on the inside front cover are for 1966 and ’67. But those could easily have been switched out at the same time as the localization imprints, so they aren't definitive.

When I first saw this notebook in the box of random stuff, I liked it peppy (or is that pepi?) style, but I had a feeling what it was selling might be something I wouldn't want in my backyard. Even though I had no idea what refractory meant, words like incinerator and firebrick made me wonder enough to look into it.

So here goes.

The seemingly unpronounceable name Plibrico is a contraction of the company's earlier name, Pliable Brick Company. Those pliable bricks were used to line furnaces and other high-temperature areas. And what makes bricks pliable and heat-resistant? You know the answer without thinking about it, right? Asbestos.

According to the website asbestos.com,

Plibrico manufactured pliable fire-brick materials, also known as monolithic refractories, which were used to line high-temperature furnaces, incinerators and boilers. Since the furnace linings must be capable to withstand temperatures higher than the industrial materials they processed, asbestos was frequently added. The use of this toxic material occurred until the 1970s.

Employees of the company shared an increased risk of asbestos exposure when manufacturing asbestos-containing products. Once the product made it to market, industries such as construction, shipbuilding and metalwork were affected by refractory products. Occupations that were exposed to asbestos-containing refractory materials include insulators, steamfitters, steel and iron workers, boiler workers, pipefitters, furnace men, smelter men and pourers.

The company is still in business, despite having declared bankruptcy at one point. They set up a trust fund to pay off claims and came back from bankruptcy. I assume they are no longer working with asbestos (their website discusses ceramics and aluminum, but I confess it's technical and generally beyond me).

Spending even just a brief time on the site has made me aware for the first time of the word refractories and once again reminded me of the complexity of our business and manufacturing world. There's an entire industry structured around containing heat, and there has been for more than a century…and I confess I have never thought about this until today.