General Electric Textolite

General Electric (GE) produced the Textolite™ brand of industrial laminates from the 1920s through the late 1970s. Textolite laminates were GE’s competitor to Westinghouse Micarta and were used in GE’s own electrical equipment (switchgear, circuit breakers, transformers, motor commutators) as well as sold to outside customers as sheet, rod, and tube stock.

Asbestos-reinforced Textolite grades included paper-phenolic and cloth-phenolic laminates, including grades meeting NEMA designations XX, XXX, C, CE, and L (the so-called asbestos-bearing legacy grades). Textolite production occurred at GE’s Pittsfield, Massachusetts and Coshocton, Ohio facilities, with downstream consumption at GE plants throughout the country and at outside customer shops.

This is in addition to GE’s separate phenolic molding compound business (see General Electric Phenolic Compound Operations for the molding-compound side of GE’s asbestos-phenolic operations).

Products

Browse the full product catalog at AsbestosIndex

Worker exposure

Workers at General Electric Textolite compound or laminate manufacturing operations were exposed during raw asbestos handling, compound formulation, lamination pressing, and finishing operations. Downstream workers — electricians, machinists, fabricators, assembly workers — handling the company’s products were exposed during cutting, drilling, sanding, machining, and finishing of asbestos-filled material.

See Phenolic Resin & Plastic Molding Asbestos Archive for the comprehensive trade-vertical reference covering worker occupations, exposure pathways, and the litigation framework for this product category.

Worker rights

If you or a family member worked with General Electric Textolite asbestos-containing products and has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, or asbestosis, you may be entitled to compensation through asbestos bankruptcy trust funds or civil litigation. Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956 for a free, confidential case review.

References reflect what has been alleged or documented in publicly filed asbestos litigation. This information does not constitute a finding of fact or liability.