Product Description
Ingersoll-Rand Company is one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of industrial machinery — including centrifugal pumps, reciprocating pumps, air compressors, mining equipment, valves, hand tools, and related industrial equipment. Through the asbestos era (early 1900s through the late 1970s), Ingersoll-Rand equipment was installed at virtually every category of U.S. industrial facility — electric utility power plants, petroleum refineries, chemical plants, paper mills, steel mills, naval shipyards and Navy vessels, federal facilities, mining operations, and the broader U.S. industrial base.
Ingersoll-Rand is one of the most heavily-litigated industrial-equipment asbestos defendants in U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation. The company is named in publicly filed cases including Allen, Roy B. v. Ingersoll Rand Company, et al and Berry, Melton L. v. Ingersoll-Rand, Co., et al in O’Brien Law Firm Missouri cases. Ingersoll-Rand was an active defendant in the OBLF settlement department’s 2013 Settlement Group #2 and 2013 Settlement Group negotiations.
Asbestos Content
Plaintiffs alleged that Ingersoll-Rand pumps, compressors, valves, and related equipment incorporated asbestos in:
- Pump packing — asbestos rope packing at pump shaft penetrations
- Pump gaskets — asbestos compressed-sheet gaskets at flange joints
- Compressor packing and gaskets — asbestos in compressor shaft seals and head gaskets
- Asbestos brake and clutch components in heavy industrial machinery
- Asbestos-bearing thermal insulation on hot-fluid pumps and steam-driven equipment
- Asbestos electrical insulation in motor windings
How Workers Were Exposed
Pipefitters, industrial maintenance mechanics, pump technicians, boiler tenders, and bystander workers were exposed during routine pump and compressor maintenance — packing replacement, gasket replacement, bearing service, and shaft seal replacement.