Flowserve industrial valves, pumps, and steam traps by Flowserve

Product Description

Flowserve Corporation exists today as the result of a long series of mergers and acquisitions involving some of the most recognized names in industrial flow control. Its corporate lineage includes companies such as BW/IP International, Durco International, Durametallic, Mark Controls, Valtek International, Ingersoll-Dresser Pump, and Rockwell International’s flow control division, among others.

According to asbestos litigation records, Flowserve industrial valves, pumps, and steam traps sold under the Flowserve name were assembled with asbestos-bearing internal sealing materials throughout the period American industry treated asbestos as the default high-temperature sealant. The product line was specified into refineries, power generation facilities, chemical plants, shipyards, paper mills, and military installations — environments where the equipment was expected to operate continuously under high pressure, elevated temperature, or corrosive process fluids. The same operating envelope that made these products attractive to industrial buyers also made asbestos-based packing, gaskets, and insulation the routine sealing solution well into the late 1970s.

Asbestos Content

Court filings document allegations that Flowserve industrial valves, pumps, and steam traps manufactured by Flowserve routinely incorporated asbestos in three structural roles common to industrial flow-control equipment of the era:

Braided and rope packing — Compressed chrysotile packing rings were installed around rotating shafts and valve stems to seal against process leakage. Plaintiffs alleged that this packing was specified by the manufacturer’s own service literature and supplied by third-party packing houses such as Garlock and John Crane, but installed and disturbed during routine maintenance on Flowserve equipment.

Compressed asbestos sheet gaskets — Flange gaskets, bonnet gaskets, and casing gaskets were cut from asbestos-containing sheet material. Court filings document that mechanics regularly scraped these gaskets free of mating surfaces during overhaul, generating respirable fiber concentrations in the breathing zone.

External thermal insulation — Where the equipment ran on steam, hot oil, or high-temperature process fluid, insulators wrapped casings and adjacent piping in asbestos block, blanket, or magnesia insulation. Although typically supplied by separate insulation contractors rather than the equipment manufacturer, plaintiffs alleged that Flowserve knew or had reason to know that asbestos insulation would be applied to its products in normal service.

The asbestos in these components was not unique to Flowserve; compressed asbestos sheet, braided packing, and magnesia insulation were industry-standard well into the 1970s. The relevance of the product to litigation lies in the volume of Flowserve industrial valves, pumps, and steam traps installed across American industrial worksites and the frequency with which their packing, gaskets, and insulation were disturbed during ordinary maintenance work.

How Workers Were Exposed

Workers most likely to have encountered asbestos through Flowserve Flowserve industrial valves, pumps, and steam traps include those whose trades brought them into routine maintenance contact with the equipment:

  • Pipefitters and steamfitters who installed, repaired, and repacked flow control equipment across industrial steam, process, and utility systems.
  • Boilermakers assembling and overhauling pressure systems where Flowserve equipment was tied into boilers, headers, and steam drums.
  • Machinists and millwrights who tore down, cleaned, and reassembled equipment during scheduled outages — operations that frequently involved scraping gasket residue from flanges and removing degraded packing from stuffing boxes.
  • Refinery and chemical-plant workers servicing process pumps, control valves, and relief assemblies during turnarounds.
  • Power-plant maintenance crews working on feedwater, condensate, and main-steam piping at coal-fired, oil-fired, and nuclear stations.
  • Shipyard workers — including Navy yard pipefitters, machinists, and shipfitters — who installed and overhauled Flowserve equipment in shipboard engineering spaces.

Court filings document that bystander and take-home pathways were also common. Workers who did not directly handle Flowserve equipment but who shared confined engine rooms, valve galleries, or boiler houses with those who did were alleged to have inhaled the same airborne fibers. Family members were exposed through fibers carried home on contaminated work clothing — a pathway recognized in occupational medicine and asbestos litigation as take-home or secondary exposure.

The latency period for asbestos-related diseases — mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, and pleural disease — ranges from roughly ten to fifty years between initial exposure and diagnosis. Workers exposed through Flowserve Flowserve industrial valves, pumps, and steam traps during the 1940s through the early 1980s may only now be receiving diagnoses tied to that occupational history.

The legal status of claims involving Flowserve Flowserve industrial valves, pumps, and steam traps is summarized on the manufacturer page linked above. Where a Flowserve corporate entity has established an asbestos bankruptcy trust under Section 524(g), trust claims may be filed in parallel with civil litigation against other defendants whose products contributed to the same exposure history. Where no trust exists, claims are pursued through the civil court system. Statute-of-limitations rules vary by state and disease type, and the limitations clock generally begins at the time of diagnosis rather than the time of exposure.

Individuals who worked with or around Flowserve equipment and have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease should preserve documentation of employment history, jobsites, and product identification, and consult an attorney experienced in asbestos claims promptly after diagnosis.

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.

Corporate context: Flowserve Corporation was formed in 1997 through the merger of Durco International and BW/IP International. The company subsequently acquired Ingersoll-Dresser Pumps in 2000, TKL in 2004, and the Invensys Flow Control Division in 2002, consolidating numerous historic pump and valve manufacturers under one corporate parent.

Documented product lines:

  • Byron Jackson (1872-present). Pump manufacturer founded in 1872, acquired by Borg-Warner in 1955, later part of BW/IP International.
  • United Centrifugal Pumps (1886-present). Pump manufacturer originally founded as The Oakland Iron Works in 1886, acquired by BW/IP in 1988.
  • Worthington Pumps (1845-present). Historic pump manufacturer founded in 1845, later part of Worthington-Simpson and subsequently Ingersoll-Dresser Pumps.
  • Durco (1912-present). The Duriron Castings Company founded in 1912, manufacturing pumps and valves, later became Durco International.
  • Ingersoll-Dresser Pumps (1992-2000). Joint venture formed in 1992 between Ingersoll-Rand and Dresser Industries pump divisions, acquired by Flowserve in 2000.
  • Cameron Steam Pump Works (1860-present). Steam pump manufacturer founded in 1860, acquired by Ingersoll-Rand in 1909.
  • Pacific Pumps (1923-present). Pump manufacturer founded in 1923, acquired by Dresser in 1940.
  • Aldrich Pump Company (1902-present). Pump manufacturer originally a division of Allentown Rolling Mills, acquired by Ingersoll-Rand in 1961.

Flowserve consolidates numerous historic pump and valve brands including Byron Jackson, Worthington, Durco, Edward, Vogt, Nordstrom, and Anchor/Darling; product identification should consider predecessor company markings.