and alumina (hornblende). The serpentine is a hydrated silicate of magnesia.

ASBESTOS BOARDS-Used as lumber; are approximately 80 per cent portland cement and 20 per cent asbestos fibre, moulded and pressed into sheets, one-eighth inch to one inch thick, under hydraulic pressure. Can be worked with machine tools.

ASBESTOS CLOTHS-Are very useful for smothering a fire in which liquids are involved. Used by dyers and cleaners throughout England.

ASBESTOS GOODS-Such as paper, textiles, gaskets, washers, curtains, shingles, boards, belt linings and electrical goods. Processes are mixing, grinding, rolling, picking, carding, weaving, spinning, and drying with direct heat. Materials used include benzine, japan, mineral oils, asphaltum, graphite, wax, cotton and excelsior. Hazards include carpenter shop, foundry, metal working, paper and textile machinery, also printing. In making roof paper use paper and cloth saturated with asphalt, oil solutions, cement, and coated with benzine thinned rubber solution. In making tape and washers they do weaving and winding, and treating with rubber cement, then vulcanize. The foundry, mixing house for naphtha, rubber and cement mixtures, the oil house, the benzine vault and japaning room should be outside in separate enclosures. Drying, picking, carding, can soldering and vulcanizing are also important hazards.

ASBESTOS INSULATORS-For pipe coverings and boiler casings are composed of about 85 per cent carbonate of magnesia and 15 per cent asbestos fibre. When applied at least 1 inch thick they are very effective. Applied same as cement. Besides its economic value, it decreases the degree of heat radiated from a boiler or pipe. See Insulators.

ASBESTOS PAINT-See Fire Resisting Solutions.

ASBESTOS ROOFING-In sheets or blocks is preferable to wood or tar paper. Acts as a fire retardant.

ASBESTOS THEATRE CURTAINS-The proscenium curtain shall be composed of asbestos of long, tough, flexible fibre, twisted and wrapped upon substantial brass wire thread and woven into a close, even cloth, 3 feet wide. The strips

ASBESTOS THEATRE CURTAIN

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must be lapped not less than 1 inch and sewed with two lines of asbestos and brass wire stitching. All strips shall be in one continuous length the full height of the curtain. There shall be at least 4 laps of the cloth at the top and at the bottom of the curtain to form pockets for the top and bottom bars, and the curtain shall be lapped on the sides to form a continuous reinforcement for the guide clips.

The curtain shall be at least 36 inches wider than the proscenium masonry opening, and at least 2 feet higher than the highest point of the proscenium arch. It shall have wrought iron or rolled steel top and bottom bars proportioned to size to the width of the curtain, but not less than 1 inch by 21⁄2 inches. The top and bottom bars shall be connected by four steel wire cables 3/16 inch in diameter to support the weight of the bottom bar.

The curtain must be supported by steel lifting cables, one at each end and intermediate points not over 10 feet apart. It shall be balanced by a counterweight only to such extent that when it is tripped the descent will be made in 15 seconds. The curtain must operate in guides bolted every 2 feet to the proscenium wall. All apparatus connected with the curtain or its operation shall be of metal. All paint used on the curtain must be incombustible. Underwriters' requirements. See Theatres.

ASBESTOS WOOD-Is made of short fibre asbestos mixed with a secret cement and subjected to a very heavy pressure. It is made in sheets varying from 4 inch to 2 inches in thickness. After it has been allowed to dry about 30 days it is ready for use and can be sawed, planed, nailed, and screwed in the same manner as wood and with the same tools. It has no grain and therefore no tendency to crack. It is heavier than wood, has a greater compressive strength, but a lesser tensile strength. It is a non-conductor of electricity. Warps very little under a fire and will stand being wet when hot.

ASCHE BUILDING FIRE (Triangle Waist), March 25, 1911, 23-29 Washington Place, New York City, 10-story fireproof, steel and cast-iron skeleton construction, terra cotta arches, ironwork protected with cement and tile. Fire sup

posed to have been caused by a cigarette or match dropped in a basket of clippings. The loss of 145 lives was due principally to locked exit doors.

ASHES should be kept only in metal receptacles, the bottom of which should be raised above the floor. Numerous fires are caused by hot ashes in wooden or cardboard boxes. ASHLAR-A wall facing of stone, usually of a granular nature such as granite or marble. Easily damaged by direct or radiated heat from an exposure fire, resulting in considerable loss under building insurance policies.

AS INTEREST MAY APPEAR-A phrase used loosely by many persons especially when the assured is a partnership or when two or more firms or persons are joint tenants. When used to cover the interest of more than one person, each is required, in case of loss, to prove his interest in the property. It is poor form to use this clause on a household furniture policy where the interested ones are jointly occupying an apartment and where it would be hard to prove their individual interest. (Henry Wittpenn.)

ASPHALINE consists of bran impregnated with chlorate of potash.

ASPHALT-A bituminous substance which probably owes its origin to a vegetable matter which has been subjected to a slow process of decomposition or decay resulting in the production of a bituminous coal, from which, by volcanic agency, the asphalt has been distilled and diffused over neighboring districts.

ASPHALT WORKS-In most plants the asphalt is al ready refined when received from the previous plant. It is then placed in coal fired or steam kettles, then roughly mixed with cracked stone and sand from steam heated rotary driers. Platforms around kettles or furnaces should be of incombustible material. Usually located in old frame buildings outside of protection. This class is not considered desirable insurance.

ASPHALTUM-A variety of bitumen arising from decomposition of vegetable matter. Its combustion is rapid.

ASPHALTUM PAINT OR VARNISH consists of asphaltum solution of benzine or other solvents.

ASSAYERS-Careful class of people. Ores are ground, washed and valuable minerals extracted by dissolving same in acid (heated) baths. The minerals are then reclaimed by electricity and melted in annealing and smelting furnaces. The laboratory and acid sections are the most hazardous.

ASSETS are the funds, stocks, bonds or other resources from which the company obtains funds to carry on the business. See Liability of a Company.

ASSIGNEE—A person assigned by a court to take charge of the affairs of an insolvent firm, to wind up an estate or similar functions. See Trade Reports.

ASSIGNEE'S SALES STORES-Goods purchased at low figures may be insured for much larger amounts.

ASSIGNMENTS—In Greater New York, no policy or certificate of insurance covering in any elevator or storage warehouse, private or public, shall be assigned except to cover the merchandise described in the policy and in the same location. In other words, permission may only be granted to change the name of the assured.

ASSURED, OR THE INSURED-The person mentioned in the policy as the legal owner or custodian of property set forth in the form of the policy.

ASTRAGAL—A small moulding about semi-circular or semi-elliptic and either plain or ornamented by carving. ASTRAL OIL-See Mineral-Burning Oil.

ASYLUMS-Hazards of manual-training class rooms, work shops, weaving raffia and dyeing same with aniline or benzine-thinned colors, carpet weaving. See Alms Houses. "ATE"-Chemical termination applied to salts of acids ending in -ic.

ATOM-An indivisible particle. The smallest portion into which an elemental substance can be divided. Made up of electrons.

ATTICS-In frame rows, where attics or roof spaces communicate, fires travel quickly from one building through the entire row. See Roof Space, also Frame Rows.

ATTRITION MACHINES-Is a hazard often found in rice mills. It consists of two metal discs revolving vertically, turning in opposite directions and separated by a slight space