Product Description

Bucyrus-Erie, headquartered in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the other historic giant of American heavy surface-mining equipment alongside P&H. Bucyrus-Erie built the walking draglines and stripping shovels that dominated Midwestern and Appalachian coal overburden removal, the electric mining shovels used at open-pit copper and iron operations, and blast-hole drills and related surface-mining machinery. The company was later reorganized as Bucyrus International and acquired by Caterpillar in 2011.

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Bucyrus-Erie draglines and shovels relied on asbestos-composition brake blocks and woven asbestos brake bands throughout the hoist, drag, swing, propel, and walking-mechanism brake systems during the decades when asbestos was the standard heavy-duty friction material. Shovels and draglines cycled their brakes hundreds of times per shift under enormous dynamic loads, and plaintiffs allegedly encountered the linings during frequent field brake service.

Asbestos Content

Plaintiffs alleged that Bucyrus-Erie mining equipment brake systems contained asbestos in the following roles:

  • Molded asbestos brake blocks — bolted to shoes on hoist, drag, swing, and propel brakes on electric shovels and draglines.
  • Woven asbestos brake bands — clamped around drums on band-type brakes used on older shovel and dragline designs.
  • Asbestos friction segments — on multi-shoe disc and drum brake assemblies on later machines.
  • Brake dust residue — heavy accumulations inside shovel and dragline machinery houses generated by constant brake cycling under load.
  • Replacement parts and service literature — plaintiffs alleged that Bucyrus-Erie service manuals specified asbestos-bearing brake linings for scheduled maintenance into the 1970s.

Workers Exposed

  • Mine mechanics and shovel repairmen — brake relining, shoe replacement, and dust cleanup on Bucyrus-Erie shovels and draglines.
  • Dragline mechanics — brake band service on walking-dragline hoist and drag drums.
  • Oilers and shovel operators — daily inspection and cleaning inside the shovel machinery house.
  • Millwrights — heavy field overhaul of Bucyrus-Erie machines at the pit and in shop.
  • Industrial electricians — servicing brake solenoids and controllers in dust-laden machinery houses.

Take-home exposure was alleged where mine mechanics carried asbestos fibers home on work clothing.