MEASURES TO INCREASE OUTPUT OF ASBESTOS PIPE IN USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700070586-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 18, 2011
• Sequence Number: 586
• Publication Date: August 15, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/19: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700070586-3
CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTED
SECURITY INFORMATION
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
DATE OF
INFORMATION
1940 - 1952
SUBJECT
HOW
Economic
'Construction materials,
asbestos-cement pipe
'
DATE DIST. / b
Aug 1952
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
Semiweekly
Moscow
newspaper
DATE
PUBLISHED
18 Jun 1952
LANGUAGE
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
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Asbestos-cement pipe, which has a number of technical and economic
advantages. over metal pipe, has been used widely in home and industrial as
well as in farm construction. It is several times cheaper and lighter than
cast iron, is not subject to the corrosive effect of the action of ground
water, and does not diminish in size interna_ly due to the formatio.I of
deposits, as is the case with metal pipe.
The great need for pipe to be used in the expanding irrigation systems
of the USSR has resulted in a demand for asbestos pipe 16 times greater in
1950 than in 194,1.
Despite the fact that the volume of asbestos-pipe production in 1952 is
five times greater than in 1940, agricultural requirements have not yet been
satisfied. In connection with this, there has been wide production of other
types of m;.al pipe substitutes (ceramic, glass,. reinforced concrete) concurrent
with the use of products of the asbestos-cement industry throughout the USSR
e.:onomy.
The enterprises of "Glavahifer" (Main Administration of the Slate Industry)
now manufacture two types of pipe: high-pressure, with an effective pressure
of 8-10 atmospheres, and nonpressure. No low-pressure pipes above 5 atmospheres
are produced, although standards for their manufacture have been established.
As a result, agriculture is supplied only with high-pressure .pipes, which are
used in large quantity in piping systems where the working pressure does not
exceed 5 atmospheres.
According to information from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Institute
of Hydraulic Engineering and Land Improvement, almost 70 percent of the pipe.
required for irrigation systems and agricultural water supply consists of 5-
atmosphere piping. This fact has great significance since the production of
low-pressure pipe, which has a thinner wall than the high-pressure variety, re-
quires 20-30 p1t~cent less asbestos-cement bulk. For example, 21.4 tons of
asbestos -cea,jnt?are required for the manufacture of one linear kilometer of
pipe with a diameter of 200 millimeters and a pressure of 8-10 atmospheres,
STATE
ARMY
NAVY
AIR
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STAT
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while for the same quantity of 5-atmospheric piping only 17.6 tons are re-
qu.red. .his means that in the manufacture of law-pressure pipe, an equal
quantity of asbestos-cement makes possible a 20-percent increase in output,
in terms of linear kilometers.
The'interests of the state urgently require organization of the produc-
tioii'of low-pressure pipe. This requires no additional equipment, nor does
it'require any change in technological processes. To increase the output of
the item, and-to add to the variety, it will be necessary to increase the
number of'shaping pistons available in construction-materials plants. This
leaves two alternatives: It would be necessary either to use asbestos-Lament
pistons, which have been used successfully for the production of high-pressure
pipe, or to adapt the old steel pistons, which are available at the plants of
"Glavshifer" and which on the basis of the recently introduced standards are
at present ineffective.
There is still one other instance where organization of the production of
law-pressure pipe would be beneficial. The effectiveness of asbestos pipe,
according to the quantity of meta' which it replaces, depends on its diameter,
since the thickness of the walls grows significantly with increasing diameter.
For example: One linear mete- of asbestos-cement pipe with a diameter of 150
millimeters is 2 F t1m-e)ighterthan cast iron, but when It has a diameter of
600 millimeters, I'. is onlyi.4 times lighter. This means that the effectiveness
of asbestos-cement pipe products is inversely proportional to an increase of
their diameter.
It should be noted that shortcomings exist in the system of planning for
the production of asbestos pipe in that the plan only calls for the production
of a certain number of kilometers without a specification of type. The fact
that indexes of pressure an: diameter are lacking in the annual plans means that
the slate industry does not have adequate instructions for the type of produc.
tion necessary for the national economy and uses up asbestos-cement irrationally.
The rapid organization of the production of low-pressure asbestos pipe, and
better regulated planning will permit the annual conservation of large quantities
of asbestos and cement and make it possible effectively to increase the output of
pipe for the various branches of the national economy.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/19: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700070586-3