Water, transmission and sewer pipe
Mains, distribution lines, underground utility corridors, trenches, pipe sections and joints.
Transite · utility systems · ductwork
Johns-Manville Transite Pipe, Conduit and Duct History
A remembered pipe or duct may have been part of a water main, a telephone duct bank, a ventilation system or a storm drain. Historical product lists help narrow the possibilities.
Transite was more than one kind of pipe
In a May 7, 1975 company response, Johns-Manville described a broad range of asbestos-cement pipe products marketed under the Transite name. The list captures the variety of systems that a worker might remember.
Telephone duct, conduit and Korduct
Utility routes and electrical or communications installations where conduit, duct banks and fittings may be remembered.
Air duct and industrial vent pipe
Air-handling equipment, ventilation runs, mechanical spaces and industrial exhaust or vent systems.
Gas vent, Temp Tite and Super Temp Tite
Venting applications and named pipe variants in the company’s 1975 product listing.
Storm drain, on-farm and well casing
Drainage, agricultural, well and utility projects where location, trenching and jointing can help date the work.
Cable trays and irrigation
Other listed variants that point toward different kinds of installations and workers.
Follow the shape of the work
Underground utility work
Think of excavations, pipe bedding, sections lowered into trenches, joints, couplings, manholes, backfill and later repairs.
Inside a building or plant
Think of mechanical rooms, roof penetrations, shafts, ducts, vents, cable runs and maintenance access.
What was on the truck?
Pipe lengths, diameter, stamped names, end configurations, couplings and packaging can be useful clues.
Who installed or serviced it?
Water-department crews, utility contractors, electricians, plumbers, sheet-metal workers and maintenance crews may remember different portions of the job.
Two records that help place the product in time
A federal maritime decision describes Johns-Manville’s Transite manufacturing process and the use of asbestos fiber, Portland cement and silica sand. A 1973 architectural trade advertisement shows Ring-Tite water pipe and Transite storm drains, providing another period view of product form and marketing.
Historical record
1975 Johns-Manville product-family response
Company description listing water, sewer, transmission, telephone duct, conduit, air duct, industrial vent, storm drain and other Transite variants.
Historical record
Federal Maritime Commission decision
Official proceeding describing Transite as an asbestos-cement pipe product and its manufacturing process.
Historical record
1973 Transite trade advertisement
Period advertising for Ring-Tite water pipe and Transite storm drains, with product imagery.
A useful next question
Was the remembered material a large underground water pipe, a smaller conduit, an air or vent duct, or a flat or corrugated panel? That distinction can direct the search toward different catalogs, specifications, installation records and contractors.
Continue the research
Historical product library → Johns-Manville and the Manville Trust → Start with what you remember →