Product Description
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg, Germany) was through the asbestos era the world’s dominant manufacturer of commercial letterpress and sheet-fed offset printing equipment. The Heidelberg Windmill platen press (Original Heidelberg Tiegel) was so ubiquitous in mid-20th-century commercial print shops that “Heidelberg” became shorthand for the whole class of small-format letterpress equipment. Heidelberg sheet-fed offset presses dominated the global commercial market through the 1960s-1980s.
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Heidelberg presses imported to and operated in the United States were specified with asbestos-containing materials:
- Electrical wire insulation on press motors and control wiring
- Ink-fountain gasket material
- Drying-oven insulation on heat-set offset presses
- Motor-housing and brake insulation
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen has been named as a Manufacturer Defendant in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation.
Workers Exposed
- Letterpress operators (Heidelberg Windmill operators)
- Sheet-fed offset-press operators
- Print-shop machinists
- Plant electricians