Product Description
Adamson Machine Company of Akron, Ohio — later part of the McNeil Akron / Farrel family of rubber machinery builders — was a longtime U.S. manufacturer of two-roll rubber mills used to warm, blend, sheet, and strip rubber compound in tire plants and rubber goods factories. Plaintiffs have alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Adamson two-roll mills were assembled with asbestos-woven fabric wrapping around the massive journal bearings that support the mill rolls, and with braided asbestos rope compression packing at the roll-end shaft seals where the roll shafts exit the mill housing.
According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, the asbestos pathway on Adamson two-roll mills was allegedly the combination of bearing-wrap asbestos fabric — which functioned as a heat shield between the roll bearing and the surrounding steel structure — and rope packing at the roll-end seals, both of which allegedly released respirable fibers during scheduled bearing overhauls and seal-repacking maintenance.
Workers Exposed
Plaintiffs allegedly identified as exposed to Adamson two-roll mill asbestos in publicly filed litigation include:
- Two-roll mill operators and helpers allegedly exposed while working the mill during compound blending, sheeting, and strip-off — with asbestos-lagged bearings and packed seals within arm’s reach
- Rubber plant millwrights and mechanical maintenance allegedly exposed while replacing bearing wraps, repacking roll-end shaft seals, and cleaning cured rubber deposits out of bearing housings
- Rubber plant Banbury mixer operators working upstream of the two-roll mill allegedly cross-exposed to airborne fibers in shared compound-room air
- Calender room operators (coated fabric, belting) working downstream allegedly cross-exposed during batch transfers