Product Description

Sullair Corporation, founded in 1965 and headquartered in Michigan City, Indiana, became one of the leading American manufacturers of industrial rotary-screw air compressors. Sullair’s rotary-screw design displaced older reciprocating technology in a broad range of applications and became standard equipment in industrial plant compressor rooms, portable compressor packages used in construction and pipeline work, and stationary installations supplying compressed air to manufacturing, mining, and process facilities.

Sullair compressors were installed at industrial worksites across the United States during the closing years of routine asbestos use in industrial equipment. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Sullair rotary-screw compressors reached American worksites with asbestos-bearing gaskets, insulation, and friction components in place during the late 1960s and 1970s and that Sullair service literature directed maintenance crews to reinstall asbestos-bearing components during routine overhaul work.

Asbestos Content

Plaintiffs alleged that Sullair rotary-screw compressors and portable packages contained asbestos in one or more of the following roles:

  • Compressed-asbestos-sheet gaskets — compressor housing joints, discharge flanges, oil-separator tank flanges, and aftercooler connections.
  • External thermal insulation and wrap — asbestos-bearing insulation on discharge piping, aftercoolers, oil coolers, and separator tanks.
  • Friction components — drive and clutch assemblies in engine-driven portable compressor packages.
  • Replacement parts and service kits — plaintiffs alleged that Sullair parts inventories included asbestos-bearing gaskets and insulation into the 1970s.

Workers Exposed

  • Industrial mechanics and plant maintenance workers — compressor-room overhauls at manufacturing plants and refineries.
  • Compressor operators — routine operation and monitoring in industrial compressor rooms.
  • Construction and pipeline workers — operation and service of Sullair portable compressor packages on jobsites.
  • Millwrights — installation and rigging of Sullair stationary compressors.
  • Bystanders — sharing confined compressor rooms during service work.

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

If You Worked With Sullair Compressors

If you worked with Sullair rotary-screw compressors or portable compressor packages — or worked in industrial plants and jobsites where Sullair equipment was in service during the late 1960s and 1970s — 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