Product Description

The William Powell Company — the Cincinnati, Ohio-based industrial valve manufacturer — was a longstanding U.S. supplier of iron and bronze valves and steam-service specialty products, including steam traps installed across industrial, utility, marine, and institutional steam-condensate service throughout the mid-20th century. Powell steam trap discharge nozzle gaskets — the compressed asbestos-fiber sheet gaskets at the discharge nozzle, body cover, and internal orifice-plate joints — were a standard sealing element on Powell trap products during the asbestos era.

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Powell steam-trap sealing systems included:

  • Compressed asbestos-fiber (CAF) sheet gaskets at the discharge nozzle-to-body flanged joint
  • Asbestos-fiber body-cover gaskets between the trap body and the removable cover
  • Asbestos-braided orifice-plate seals at the internal orifice-plate mounting
  • Asbestos-fiber inlet-strainer housing gaskets on integral-strainer Powell trap models
  • Asbestos-cord thread sealing on discharge-side threaded connections

These gaskets were disturbed during scheduled trap rebuilds, during orifice-plate changes to match steam-service pressure changes, during body-cover gasket replacements after cover removal for internal inspection, and during in-service trap failure diagnosis. Steamfitters and millwrights routinely opened Powell traps, scraped old gasket residue from the discharge nozzle sealing face, and installed fresh gaskets — a repeating maintenance cycle across the operating life of a plant steam system.

William Powell has been named as a Manufacturer Defendant in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation.

Workers Exposed

  • Steamfitters (UA) rebuilding Powell steam traps on industrial and institutional steam-condensate systems
  • Pipefitters (UA) replacing discharge-nozzle gaskets during trap-in-line service and repair
  • Millwrights opening Powell trap body covers for internal inspection and orifice-plate change-outs
  • Power plant maintenance mechanics on steam-trap survey crews replacing gaskets during scheduled steam-system outages
  • Bystander trades in mechanical rooms and boiler houses during Powell trap rebuild work

Scraping baked-on CAF gasket residue from Powell trap discharge-nozzle sealing faces was among the fiber-release activities alleged in publicly filed litigation — old gaskets often required wire-brushing and pick-tool removal after long service life at elevated temperature.