Product Description

Blaw-Knox Foundry & Mill Machinery, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was one of the leading American designers and builders of heavy industrial equipment through the middle decades of the twentieth century. The Blaw-Knox catalog covered rolling mills and mill equipment for the steel industry — hot-strip mills, cold-strip mills, plate mills, reheat and annealing furnaces, coilers, and downstream processing lines — along with industrial castings, road-paving equipment, and a broad range of fabricated machinery supplied to American heavy industry.

Blaw-Knox equipment was installed at steel mills, foundries, refineries, and industrial worksites across the United States during the decades when asbestos was the routine high-temperature sealing and insulating material. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos litigation that Blaw-Knox rolling mills, furnaces, and heavy machinery reached American plants with asbestos-bearing components in place and that Blaw-Knox service literature directed maintenance crews to reinstall asbestos-bearing gaskets, packing, refractory, and insulation during ordinary maintenance and outage work.

Asbestos Content

Plaintiffs alleged that Blaw-Knox equipment contained asbestos in one or more of the following roles:

  • Furnace refractory and insulating linings — reheat, annealing, and heat-treat furnace linings, insulating backup, and refractory-brick bedding.
  • High-temperature gaskets and packing — access doors, flanged joints, and process connections on mill and furnace equipment.
  • External thermal insulation — asbestos block, blanket, and cement applied to furnace shells, mill housings, and process piping.
  • Brake and clutch friction materials — mill drives, cranes, and heavy machinery friction components.
  • Asbestos rope, cloth, and gasket seals — inspection doors and access points requiring flexible high-temperature seals.

Workers Exposed

  • Millwrights and mill maintenance mechanics — rolling-mill overhauls and roll changes.
  • Refractory bricklayers — tearing out and rebuilding furnace linings during outages.
  • Insulators — applying and removing asbestos block, blanket, and cement on furnace shells and mill housings.
  • Steel-mill operators and laborers — routine production and cleanup near operating equipment.
  • Bystanders — sharing confined mill and furnace work areas during maintenance campaigns.

Take-home exposure was alleged where workers carried asbestos fibers home on contaminated work clothing.

If You Worked With Blaw-Knox Rolling Mills or Industrial Equipment

If you worked with Blaw-Knox rolling mills, furnaces, road-paving equipment, or heavy fabricated machinery — or worked in steel mills and heavy-industry plants where Blaw-Knox equipment was in service — and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease, your work history may support an asbestos claim.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956