When was fiberglass insulation invented?

13 May.,2024

 

Owens Corning - Wikipedia

American manufacturer of building materials

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Owens Corning is an American company that develops and produces insulation, roofing, and fiberglas composites and related materials and products. It is the world's largest manufacturer of fiberglas composites.[3][4] It was formed in 1935 as a partnership between two major American glassworks, Corning Glass Works and Owens-Illinois. The company employs approximately 19,000 people around the world.[5][6] Owens Corning has been a Fortune 500 company every year since the list was created in 1955.[6][7] The Pink Panther acts as the company's mascot and appears in most of their advertisements.

History

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Fiberglas production in 1942

Owens-Corning Fiberglas Company was formed in 1935 through the merger of Owens-Illinois and Corning Glass Works.[8][9] It became a separate company in 1938 with its headquarters established in Toledo, Ohio.[6][10] In 1938, the company sales reached $2.6 million.[11]

The company held its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 1952.[12] In 1955, Owens-Corning purchased land for a research and testing facility near Granville, Ohio.[11] Also in 1955, Owens-Corning made the first Fortune 500 company list. The company has been on the Fortune 500 list every year since its creation.[6][7]

In 1965, Owens-Corning Fiberglas Europe was formed. In 1966, Owens-Corning established a partnership with Armstrong Rubber Co. to produce fiberglas-reinforced automobile tires. By 1971, Owens-Corning's annual revenue was over $500 million. In 1974, the company opened a temporary plant to produce insulation for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. In 1977, Owens-Corning acquired Frye Roofing and began production of fiberglas mat to replace traditional paper mat used in roofing.[13] Owens-Corning sales surpassed $1 billion in 1976, and sales were over $2 billion by 1979.

Asbestos controversy

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In 1978, two shipyard workers filed a class action lawsuit against which alleged that Owens-Corning and 14 other manufacturers had known about asbestos-containing products. Over the next three decades, the company was named in hundreds of thousands of asbestos lawsuits. By 2000, it had settled with 440,000 people who claimed Owens Corning's products caused them to develop asbestos-related illnesses such as mesothelioma.[14]

Owens Corning headquarters

In 1985, Owens-Corning acquired Aerospace and Strategic Metals Group in Newport Beach, California for $415 million from Armco Inc.[15][16] The color PINK was trademarked through Owens-Corning in 1986, making it the first company to trademark a color. By 1990, Owens-Corning was the defendant in about 84,500 asbestos-related lawsuits.[17][citation needed]

The company opened an Asia/Pacific division in 1993.[18] In May 1994, Owens-Corning acquired UC Industries, which produced Foamular polystyrene insulation, as a wholly owned subsidiary.[19] In 1996, the company changed its name to Owens Corning. In May 1997, Owens Corning acquired Fibreboard Corporation, a vinyl siding and other industrial material manufacturer,[20] which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Owens Corning.[11] The company was ordered to pay $5 million to an asbestos victim in 1997, making it the highest jury verdict in the history of the United States for a single non-malignant asbestos case.[21] In 1999, a jury in federal district court in Florida awarded $1.8 million compensatory damages and $31 million punitive damages against the company for asbestos products.[22]

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000. In 2002, Owens Corning removed its shares from the New York Stock Exchange. In 2006, the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange again under ticker "OC." In 2007, Owens Corning announced a joint venture with Saint-Gobain named OCV Reinforcements.[23]

Owens Corning partnered with DuPont in 2011 to create a steel and foam energy reduction (SAFER) barrier around auto racetracks.[11] In July 2015, the company announced it would be moving a manufacturing center for mineral wool insulation into an empty plant west of Joplin, Missouri.[5][24]

Products

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In 1939, the U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships made Owens-Corning insulation standard in new warship construction. Warship insulation, called Navy Board, was a permanent form-board insulation covered with woven continuous fiber cloth. Owens-Corning produced a prototype boat hull constructed of fiber glass-reinforced plastic in 1944.[11]

In 1945, the company worked with an automaker to produce the first fiberglas-reinforced plastic car body. In 1953, General Motors used this type of body in the Chevrolet Corvette.[18] In 1954, the company invented a process to make centrifugally-spun fiberglas wool, which became the standard process for producing fiberglas insulation.

In 1955, Owens-Corning introduced its Perma-Ply roofing material for built-up room insulation covering. The company created its first all fiber (AF) fiberglas wool in 1956. To distinguish its product, the company dyed their insulation pink by adding red dye to the AF wool.[11][25] However, considering that the coloring made the insulation look pink, the company was concerned that the color would discourage the predominantly male-oriented market away from the material. As such, they decided to remove the coloring from their insulation, only to receive customer requests for the coloring to be restored. The company resumed the coloring in the face of such customer interest to the point of licensing the United Artists cartoon character the Pink Panther in 1979 as the product's mascot. Furthermore, the company trademarked the coloring in 1987, the first time a color was used for that purpose.[26]

After the January 27, 1967, Apollo 1 fire which killed three astronauts, NASA worked with Owens-Corning and DuPont to develop beta cloth, a fireproof cloth of woven fiberglas coated with Teflon, as a replacement for the nylon outer layer of the Apollo/Skylab A7L space suit.[27][28][29]

In February 2017, Owens Corning received the Asthma and Allergy Friendly certification for its Pure Safety high-performance insulation. "Owens Corning now joins a select group of manufacturers that are focused on product innovation to address people's exposure to allergens and irritants in their homes," said Julian Francis, president of insulation, Owens Corning.[30]

At the TCT Show in Birmingham, the XStrand family of materials was introduced.[31] These composites are used for 3D printing.[32]

Plants

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Plant in Gimcheon, Korea

The company has 30 composites facilities, 31 insulation facilities,[33] and 16 roofing facilities.[citation needed]

Environmental work

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In the Kansas City metropolitan area, Owens Corning purchases locally sourced recycled glass from Ripple Glass to manufacture fiberglas insulation in its local manufacturing plant. The joint effort between Owens Corning and Ripple Glass is helping to greatly reduce the amount of glass that would have been deposited in local Kansas City landfills.[34] The Owens Corning Roofing and Asphalt Shingle Recycling Program was launched in 2009 to keep shingles out of landfills.[35]

In 2013, Constellation Energy built a 2.7-megawatt solar power system at an Owens Corning insulation plant in Delmar, New York. The power system, which is leased to Owens Corning, can produce 3.3 million kilowatt hours of electrical energy in a year.[36][37]

The National Safety Council awarded Owens Corning the Green Cross for Safety medal in 2014.[38] Owens Corning received a perfect score of 100 percent on the 2015 Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign.[39] Owens Corning has been recognized on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for six consecutive years as of 2015.[40] It is also ranked number 1 in the 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking by Corporate Responsibility Magazine in 2022.[41]

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When Did They Start Using Insulation in Homes?

Much like the sky is blue and water is wet, many people just think of insulation as a thing that just is.

That’s not exactly true though.

Insulation in homes, relatively speaking, is a newer concept when it comes to keeping your home comfortable. When I say relatively, I mean it’s likely if your home was built before the 1950s, you’re not going to find what you think of as traditional insulation in your walls.

RetroFoam of Michigan has insulated thousands of homes across the lower peninsula since we started in 2002. We’ve insulated houses in the Detroit-area that were built in the mid to late 1800s and found nothing but horse hair in the walls.

In other cases, you might find newspaper, hay, or pretty much anything that would fill the wall cavity.

But let’s not jump ahead of ourselves, I have some history I am going to lay out for you.

In our ongoing efforts to educate homeowners, we are going to discuss the early beginnings of home insulation right up to the innovations we see today. I mostly promise to make sure this isn’t boring.

History of Insulation in Homes

Now it’s time for a history lesson where we’re gonna talk about home insulation.

We are about to go way back and by that, I mean to the beginning of a time when people wanted their abodes to be cozy.

Buckle up, because we’re taking this DeLorean back to ancient Egypt, traveling through time, and then back to the future covering the history of home insulation.

  • Ancient Egypt. The three pyramids in Giza are a testament to the building expertise of the ancient Egyptians. When it came to keeping the desert heat out, the Egyptians created thick stones made of mud. This insulator kept their homes cool during the day and warm at night when the temperatures would drop.

  • Ancient Greece. While we avoid using anything with asbestos today and know it can be toxic, the ancient Greeks used it in their buildings. They were familiar with its ability to resist heat. The Greeks also knew using air gaps in their walls could provide better insulation.

  • The Roman Empire. The Romans were known for their innovations – building roads, creating aqueducts, and heated baths. How were they going to transport that water? Through pipes that they wrapped in cork that insulated it.

  • Viking Insulation. The Vikings come from a region that isn’t known for being all that warm. How do you think they kept that cold, blowing wind out of their wooden structures? By putting mud in the cracks and crevices to keep the air out.

  • The Middle Ages. Large tapestries were great pieces of art in castles and some homes throughout the middle ages, but they were much more than something to look at. Those tapestries also helped keep out cold drafts.

  • The Industrial Revolution. Steam power ALL THE THINGS! This meant there were a lot of hot pipes that needed to be insulated. As a way to keep workers safe and keep the heat in, asbestos was brought in to wrap the pipes. For more than a century, asbestos was used as one of the main insulation materials until health concerns were raised in the mid-1970s.

  • The 1930s and 40s. While cellulose insulation is one of the earliest insulation materials still used today, it didn’t become a popular choice until the 1950s. In the 1930s fiberglass insulation was invented by the Owens Corning Company to insulate homes.

  • The 1950s through 1970s. Once a fire retardant was added, cellulose became a popular insulation material option. Foam insulation hit the scene in the 1970s and became another option for homeowners looking to make their homes more comfortable.

  • Wall Insulation Requirements. In 1965, building codes in the U.S. made it a requirement that homes being built had to have insulation in the walls. The requirements have changed several times since then, but now it is required the entire house be insulated and the big trend is moving towards creating an air seal.



  • Today. Today the top three insulations used in homes are fiberglass, cellulose, and foam. Homeowners are looking to make their homes more comfortable and energy efficient. Each material has its own set of pros and cons, so it comes down to what will work best for each individual person and their expectations.

Insulation in Your Home

Now that you have a better understanding of when home insulation first hit the scene, you might be wondering if your home is well insulated.

Your home could be one of the 90 percent across the U.S. that is under-insulated. There are typical signs you need insulation, like cold walls and drafts, but you can also take a look yourself by looking in the attic or crawl space. You can even remove the plate on your light switch to get a better look at those walls.

There are more than a dozen signs you are lacking in the insulation department. Check out our “18 Signs and Symptoms it May Be Time to Update Your Insulation” to see how many of your home’s issues are connected to little or no insulation.

 

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