1948 · Owens-Illinois / laboratory correspondence
Saranac Laboratory report on Kaylo dust
1948 correspondence reports animal inhalation findings and changes to earlier conclusions.
Historical insulation research
Kaylo Manufacturing: Berlin, New Jersey and the 1958 Transition
How manufacturing, distribution and ownership changed over the Kaylo years.
Commercial production
The Illinois Supreme Court places Owens-Illinois commercial production and distribution of Kaylo in 1948. Kaylo was a calcium-silicate thermal insulation produced in pipe-covering and block forms.
Distribution changes in 1953
Owens-Illinois continued manufacturing under a 1953 agreement while Owens Corning took responsibility for distribution. Both names can therefore appear in accounts from the same period.
The Berlin manufacturing plant
The 1958 sale of the Kaylo division included manufacturing assets such as the Berlin, New Jersey plant. A remembered factory, supplier, or shipping label may identify a different part of the supply chain from the name on the insulation.
Two New Jersey manufacturing locations
Historical testimony also identifies the Owens-Illinois plant in Sayreville, New Jersey, as a Kaylo manufacturing location. A 1951 industrial hygiene survey examined dust-control conditions at Sayreville. Berlin and Sayreville are separate places worth remembering when tracing a job, a shipment or a coworker.
Inside the Berlin plant
Testimony describes saws and sanders used to shape finished Kaylo insulation, dust-collection inlets, mechanical sweepers and respirators. A 1958 survey taken around the ownership transfer recorded dust measurements near production operations. These concrete details can help former employees and families recognize the factory and the work.
After the division sale
Owens Corning acquired the Kaylo division, not Owens-Illinois itself. Oregon appellate proceedings expressly corrected an earlier description that had confused the purchase of a division with an acquisition of the entire company.
Later formulation change
Court opinions identify 1972 as the transition away from manufacturing asbestos-containing Kaylo. The product name persisted across ownership and formulation changes, making a date as useful as the name.
Continue through the Kaylo library
Kaylo Cartons, Labels and Product Identification
Historical carton markings, product identity and warning-label chronology.
Explore history →Kaylo in Shipyards, Boiler Rooms and Industrial Insulation Work
A documented look at shipboard pipe covering, boilers, turbines and insulation tasks.
Explore history →Kaylo Historical Insulation Library
Return to the complete research collection.
Explore history →Begin with your memory
Dates, trades, the workplace and equipment can help us investigate an old insulation history.
Original historical documents
Read the Kaylo records at ToxicDocs
These source documents connect the product history to the actual historical record.
1952 · Owens-Illinois internal correspondence
Internal review of Kaylo dust and lung injury
An internal report discusses manufacturing and field experience and Saranac research.
1987 · Court testimony reproducing Owens-Illinois discovery responses
Kaylo manufacturing and plant testimony
Testimony identifies Berlin and Sayreville plant periods, product composition and the 1958 sale.