Product Description
NRM Corporation of Akron, Ohio — National Rubber Machinery — was a major U.S. builder of rubber extruders and specialty tire-building machinery, supplying extruder lines to every major U.S. tire manufacturer for tire tread, sidewall, inner-liner, and steel-belt cushion production. Plaintiffs have alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that NRM tire extruders were manufactured with asbestos-fiber sheet gaskets sealing the extruder head to the extruder barrel flange, and with asbestos-block insulation lagging the heated extruder barrel jacket to maintain rubber compound temperature during extrusion.
According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, the asbestos pathway on NRM extruders was allegedly the head-flange sheet gaskets — which had to be replaced every time the head was pulled to change a tread die or clear a stall — and the barrel jacket insulation, which allegedly released respirable fibers during extruder rebuilds and jacket replacement.
Workers Exposed
Plaintiffs allegedly identified as exposed to NRM extruder asbestos in publicly filed litigation include:
- Tire extruder operators allegedly exposed while changing dies, breaking down head flanges, scraping old asbestos gasket material off flange faces, and reinstalling new asbestos sheet gaskets
- Rubber plant millwrights and mechanical maintenance allegedly exposed during extruder rebuilds — removing jacket insulation blocks, cutting new asbestos-block insulation to size, and replacing head gaskets
- Tire curing press operators and mold changers working downstream of the extruder line allegedly cross-exposed via shared plant ventilation
- Two-roll mill operators and helpers and rubber plant Banbury mixer operators working upstream in the compound room allegedly cross-exposed