Product Description
Draper Corporation of Hopedale, Massachusetts, was for most of the twentieth century the dominant U.S. manufacturer of power looms for the cotton, wool, and synthetic textile industries. Plaintiffs have alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Draper power looms — including the Model E, Model X, and later high-speed automatic loom lines — were fitted with brake shoes and clutch friction discs whose friction surfaces were allegedly manufactured from asbestos-fiber composite bonded to steel backing plates.
According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, the asbestos pathway on Draper loom equipment was allegedly the friction lining itself: as the loom brake engaged at the end of each pick cycle and as the clutch cycled during pattern changes, the asbestos-composite lining allegedly abraded against the drum or plate, generating fine dust that accumulated inside the loom’s brake housing and clutch guard.
Workers Exposed
Plaintiffs allegedly identified as exposed to Draper loom brake and clutch asbestos in publicly filed litigation include:
- Textile mill weavers and loom fixers allegedly exposed while adjusting brake tension, relining brake shoes, and clearing dust from brake housings on running looms
- Textile mill millwrights and mechanical maintenance allegedly exposed while performing scheduled brake and clutch overhauls, grinding old friction material off backing plates, and installing replacement asbestos-composite linings
- Card-room and spinning-room operators working adjacent to loom rooms allegedly exposed to airborne asbestos brake dust carried by mill ventilation
- Textile mill electricians allegedly exposed when servicing loom drive motors and brake solenoids housed in the same enclosure as the asbestos friction components