Product Description
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Owens-Illinois Individual Section (IS) bottle-forming machines — the dominant American glass container forming platform — allegedly incorporated asbestos-fabric insulation wrapped around the blank-mold and blow-mold assemblies and asbestos-block lagging on the plunger-side mechanism that pressed molten glass gobs into the initial parison.
According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, the fabric mold insulation allegedly maintained mold face temperature during high-cycle operation on the hot-end of the container line, and the plunger-side block lagging allegedly shielded the mechanical drive components from radiant heat off the gob delivery path. Both applications allegedly frayed, cracked, and released fiber during mold swap-outs, plunger rebuilds, and routine hot-end maintenance in the forming department.
Workers Exposed
- Glass plant machine operators tending IS section sets, mold cooling, and gob timing
- Glass plant millwrights and mechanical maintenance rebuilding sections and plungers
- Refractory bricklayers moving between the tank hot-end and forming machine area
- Glass tank furnace operators and hot-end supervisors coordinating the melt-to-forming path
- Batch-house and cullet-house workers moving through the forming area