Industrial Valves with Asbestos Packing — Crane Co.

Product Description

Crane Co. is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of industrial valves, pumps, and flow-control equipment in the United States, with operations dating to 1855. For much of the twentieth century, Crane Co. supplied industrial valves to a broad cross-section of American industry, including petrochemical refineries, power generation plants, shipyards, steel mills, paper mills, and manufacturing facilities of virtually every kind.

Industrial valves are mechanical devices that regulate, direct, or control the flow of fluids and gases through piping systems. They are found in virtually every industrial environment where liquids, steam, or pressurized gases must be managed. Common valve types manufactured and sold by Crane Co. included gate valves, globe valves, ball valves, check valves, and butterfly valves, among others.

To function properly, valves require sealing components that prevent leakage around moving parts—particularly around the valve stem, which passes through the valve body and must remain movable while also maintaining a pressure-tight seal. For decades, the industry standard sealing material for this purpose was compressed asbestos packing. Crane Co. valves were manufactured, sold, and distributed with asbestos-containing packing integrated into their design, and replacement asbestos packing was supplied and recommended for use during maintenance and repair operations.

Beyond packing, Crane Co. also manufactured and distributed asbestos-containing gaskets designed to seal valve connections to adjacent pipe flanges. The company’s industrial catalog historically listed both asbestos valve packing and asbestos sheet gasket materials as standard components. These products were used across industrial settings throughout the United States for many decades during the twentieth century.

Asbestos Content

Asbestos packing used in Crane Co. valves and in comparable products of the era typically consisted of braided or compressed chrysotile asbestos fibers, sometimes combined with other materials such as graphite or oil to enhance lubrication and sealing performance. The packing material was installed in a chamber called the stuffing box, which surrounds the valve stem and is compressed by a gland or follower to create a seal against leakage.

Asbestos was selected for this application because of its ability to withstand high temperatures, resist chemical degradation, and maintain structural integrity under the mechanical stress of repeated valve operation. Chrysotile asbestos, the most commercially prevalent form, was commonly used, though litigation records document that Crane Co.’s packing and gasket products were subject to testing and analysis that confirmed the presence of asbestos in various product lines.

Crane Co. also manufactured and sold asbestos sheet gasket material under its own brand, and the company’s published technical documentation historically acknowledged the use of asbestos in its sealing product lines. The company’s internal records have been subject to extensive discovery in civil litigation, and plaintiffs alleged that Crane Co. had knowledge of asbestos hazards well before adequate warnings were provided to end users.

How Workers Were Exposed

Exposure to asbestos from Crane Co. valves and packing materials occurred primarily during installation, maintenance, and repair activities. Industrial workers across a wide range of trades and settings encountered these products throughout the working lives of valve installations.

Installation: When new valves were installed, workers prepared pipe systems and fitted packing into stuffing boxes. This process often involved cutting, compressing, and shaping packing material to fit, activities that litigation records document as capable of generating respirable asbestos fiber releases.

Repacking and Maintenance: Valve packing degrades over time due to heat, pressure cycling, and chemical exposure. Routine industrial maintenance required workers to remove old, compressed packing material and install new packing—often referred to as “repacking” a valve. This task required digging out hardened, degraded asbestos packing from the stuffing box, frequently using picks, screwdrivers, or other hand tools. Plaintiffs alleged that this removal process released significant quantities of asbestos fibers into the breathing zone of workers performing the task.

Gasket Work: Removing flanged connections required cutting out or scraping away deteriorated asbestos gaskets, a process similarly alleged to release asbestos fibers. Workers installing replacement gaskets sometimes cut new sheet gasket material to size, generating additional fiber release.

Bystander Exposure: Workers in proximity to valve maintenance operations—pipefitters, boilermakers, laborers, helpers, and general industrial workers—were exposed to airborne fibers released during these tasks even if they were not directly handling the materials.

Industrial facilities that relied heavily on steam or process piping, such as refineries, chemical plants, power stations, paper mills, and shipbuilding facilities, contained large numbers of valves requiring periodic repacking. Workers in these environments might have performed or witnessed hundreds of valve repacking operations over the course of a career, resulting in cumulative asbestos exposure that plaintiffs have alleged caused mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis.

Litigation records document that Crane Co. valves and associated packing products were present in a wide range of industrial settings across the United States, and that workers in those settings were exposed to asbestos fibers as a result of routine use and maintenance of these products.

This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Information is drawn from publicly available litigation records, regulatory documentation, and historical product information.

Documented Product Identification

The following details are drawn from public asbestos litigation records, manufacturer catalog pages, technical manuals, and corporate history materials. Each item reflects the product as documented in those sources.

Documented asbestos-use period: 1920-1985

Corporate context: Crane Co. was established in 1855 and became the world’s largest manufacturer of valves and fittings. The company acquired Jenkins (1864-1965) and Pacific as subsidiaries, and also acquired certain industrial pump companies around 1961. Crane ceased HVAC manufacturing in 1968, selling that division to Amana Corporation.

Brand identification: CRANE imprinted directly on valves; Jenkins valves featured diamond-shaped logo with brand name Jenkins inside the diamond; Cranite label stamped directly on packing and gasket products

Documented asbestos components: packing, gaskets, discs, insulation.

Documented asbestos-component suppliers: the public records lists the following external suppliers of asbestos-bearing packing, gaskets, and seals used in conjunction with this manufacturer’s equipment — Goodyear, Johns-Manville.

Industries served: Heavy Industrial, Naval, Maritime, Chemical, Corrosive applications, Power plants, Oil refineries, Process piping.

Naval / marine service: This manufacturer’s equipment is documented in connection with U.S. Navy and commercial-marine service.

Documented product lines:

• Industrial Valves (1858-mid-1980s). Crane Co’s principal business line of industrial valves used in heavy industrial and naval applications. — asbestos components: packing, gaskets, discs.
• Jenkins Valves (1864-1965). Valves manufactured by Jenkins, a subsidiary of Crane Co., featuring a diamond-shaped logo with Jenkins inside. — asbestos components: packing, gaskets, discs.
• Pacific Valves. Valves manufactured by Pacific, a subsidiary of Crane Co. — asbestos components: packing, gaskets, discs.
• Cranite Packing Sheets (1920-1972). Asbestos-containing packing sheets containing 75-85% chrysotile asbestos, sold in sheet and pre-cut gasket form. — asbestos components: packing, gaskets.
• Industrial Pumps (1961-). Industrial pumps acquired around 1961 that incorporated asbestos gaskets and packing purchased from other companies. — asbestos components: packing, gaskets.
• Pacific Steel Boiler Corporation. Boiler division of Crane Co.
• HVAC Equipment (-1968). HVAC manufacturing ceased in 1968 and sold to Amana Corporation.

Crane Co. supplied valves extensively to the U.S. Navy, providing 1,500 to 15,000 valves per ship during WWII. Cranite substitute gasket material was installed on numerous Allen M. Sumner and Gearing-class destroyers built at multiple shipyards. A 1981 internal memo acknowledged Crane was forced to continue specifying asbestos materials in products until acceptable alternatives were found.