The Chevalier Aldini's idea, previously mentioned, has been recently revived in Paris, the firemen there having been furnished with asbestos clothes. Immediately after this was done it was reported in the papers that on a conflagration occurring in the basement of a building there, the firemen arrived, clad in their asbestos suits, and were thereby enabled to descend at once into the basement, where they extinguished the fire in a very short time, and so prevented what might have been a great calamity. And according to the papers it appears that the same course is now about to be taken in England, and the London firemen at any rate protected in a similar manner; and there can be little doubt that this course will presently be universally adopted for the protection of the men engaged in saving life and property from destruction by fire. Nothing has yet been discovered that will equal asbestos for this purpose. It will neither burn nor smoulder, and is as impervious to fire as well made mackintosh is to water.
Manufactured into cloth and paper, it is in use in sugar refineries, chemical laboratories, &c., for straining and other purposes, especially for filtering acids and similar fluids. A coarser kind of cloth is used for stokers and furnacemen's aprons, for salvage blankets, and gloves. A special quality of glove made of asbestos cloth, lined with rubber, is supplied for electric light work.
A further development of the industry is indicated by the announcement that a New York manufacturing firm has recently taken over a large contract for the manufacture of mail bags out of asbestos cloth.
It is also proposed to be used as an inner sole or lining for boots and shoes with the object of keeping the feet warm in winter and cool in summer, the material possessing the double advantage of being at once a preserver of heat and a protector from cold.
For cold storage buildings it will doubtless be found invaluable. There are buildings in New York, principally for fish preservation, which are built with double walls surrounding the cold chambers, having some kind of non-conducting material between the walls by way of lining. For this purpose asbestos would be unsurpassed, and the cheap No. 3 quality would answer perfectly well.