Asbestos is a naturally occuring mineral that has amazing insulation properties. According to some sources, its history in everyday applications goes back 2000 years or more, when it was used for table cloths. After the meal, the dirty table cloth could be thrown into the furnace where all the gunky foodstuffs were burned away and what was left was a pristine, clean cloth.

The word Asbestos has its roots in a Greek word for “inextinguishable.”

In more modern times, it was used extensively for everything from home insulation to ceiling tiles to primitive sheetrock products. In small items, it was used in toasters, hair dryers and (as the ad below shows) stoves and ovens. It was also heavily used in automotive products, such as heat shields and brake pads and linings.

Today, asbestos is a trial attorney’s best friend. Sad too, because asbestos started off with such promise and in fact a superior product would boast of its asbestos content.

Below is an ad for Asbestine, an “ideal stove lining” and “as easy to cut as a pine board.”

Nice.

Asbestos - in days of yore - was touted as a superior product for insulation