Product Description
Egan Machinery Company (Somerville New Jersey — originally Frank W. Egan & Company) was through the mid-20th century one of the principal U.S. manufacturers of plastics extrusion equipment, reciprocating-screw injection molding machines, sheet extrusion lines, and downstream plastics processing equipment. The DuBois “Plastics History U.S.A.” (1972) volume specifically credits Egan Machinery as having built the first commercial reciprocating-screw injection molding machine in 1958 — mounting the Egan reciproscrew plasticizer on an HPM Corporation clamp for Du Pont’s plant — a development that “revolutionized injection molding” by displacing the older piston-type plasticizer.
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Egan Machinery / Frank W. Egan plastics extruders and reciprocating-screw injection molding machines were specified through the asbestos era with:
- Asbestos heating-cylinder block and tape insulation on the heated barrel
- Asbestos band-heater jackets wrapping the heated barrel sections
- Asbestos gasket material at flange and access connections
- Asbestos electrical wire insulation on heating-element wiring
- Asbestos rope packing at mechanical seals
Plastics-machinery operators, extruder operators, plant millwrights, and injection-molding setup workers who serviced, maintained, and rebuilt Egan machines — particularly during heating-element replacement and band-heater service — disturbed asbestos as a routine consequence of normal machine maintenance.
Egan Machinery Company / Frank W. Egan & Company has been named as a Manufacturer Defendant in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation.
Workers Exposed
- Plastics-extruder operators running Egan extrusion lines
- Injection-molding setup workers working Egan reciproscrew injection machines
- Plant millwrights and plastics-machinery service technicians
- Plastics-machinery rebuild and service shops servicing Egan equipment