Yarway Control Valves with Asbestos Gaskets

Product Description

Yarway Corporation manufactured a broad line of industrial control valves, steam traps, sight flow indicators, and related fluid-handling equipment from the early twentieth century through the latter decades of the 1900s. The company was a well-established supplier to the power generation, petrochemical, shipbuilding, and heavy manufacturing industries, markets where high-temperature steam and process fluids demanded valves capable of withstanding extreme pressure and heat cycles over decades of continuous service.

Yarway control valves were designed to regulate the flow of steam, condensate, hot water, and various industrial process media. They were installed throughout boiler rooms, turbine halls, refineries, marine engine spaces, and chemical processing plants across the United States and internationally. Because these valves were intended for demanding thermal environments, their internal sealing components — including body gaskets, bonnet gaskets, and packing materials — required materials capable of maintaining a reliable seal at elevated temperatures. From the 1920s through approximately 1980, asbestos-containing gaskets served that function in a significant portion of Yarway valve production.

The valves themselves were sold under a variety of product lines and configurations, ranging from small control valves to larger industrial service units. Many remained in service long after manufacture, meaning workers encountered original asbestos-containing components well into the 1980s and beyond during routine maintenance and overhaul activities.

Asbestos Content

Litigation records document that Yarway control valves produced during the relevant manufacturing period incorporated asbestos-containing gaskets and packing materials as internal sealing components. The asbestos fiber type associated with these products is chrysotile, the most widely used form of asbestos in industrial gasket and packing manufacturing throughout the twentieth century.

Chrysotile asbestos was selected for its well-documented thermal resistance, compressibility, and chemical durability. In valve applications, asbestos-reinforced gasket sheet material was cut or stamped to fit valve body flanges, bonnet joints, and other sealing surfaces. Braided or compressed asbestos packing was similarly used around valve stems to prevent leakage under pressure.

Plaintiffs alleged that the asbestos content of these gaskets and packing materials was not adequately disclosed to the workers who regularly handled, cut, installed, or removed them. Litigation records document claims that Yarway, like many industrial valve manufacturers of the era, did not provide warnings commensurate with the known hazards of asbestos fiber release during routine service operations on its products.

It is important to note that replacement gaskets installed in Yarway valves over the years may have been sourced from third-party gasket manufacturers. Workers were therefore potentially exposed to asbestos from both original Yarway components and aftermarket replacement materials used during the valve’s service life.

How Workers Were Exposed

Asbestos fiber release from valve gaskets and packing is closely associated with maintenance and repair activities rather than with passive operation of the equipment. Industrial workers who serviced, overhauled, or replaced components in Yarway control valves were most directly at risk of asbestos exposure.

Gasket removal was among the most significant exposure events. When a valve was opened for inspection or repair, the compressed asbestos body or bonnet gasket typically required breaking free from the sealing surfaces. Workers used wire brushes, scrapers, grinding wheels, and pneumatic tools to clean the flange faces of hardened gasket residue. These operations released respirable asbestos fibers into the breathing zone of the worker performing the task and into the surrounding work area, where bystander workers could also inhale airborne fibers.

Packing replacement presented similar hazards. Valve stem packing was routinely removed and replaced during preventive maintenance cycles. Handling braided asbestos packing — pulling it from the stuffing box, cutting new lengths, and pressing it into place — could dislodge and release chrysotile fibers.

Gasket fabrication was also an exposure source in facilities that cut their own gaskets from sheet stock. Workers who received bulk asbestos sheet gasket material and cut replacement gaskets to size using knives, scissors, or die-cut presses generated fiber-laden dust during cutting operations.

The trades and settings most prominently represented in litigation records include:

• Power plant workers who maintained steam distribution valves in boiler rooms and turbine buildings
• Refinery and chemical plant maintenance workers who regularly overhauled process control valves
• Shipyard workers and merchant mariners who serviced valve systems aboard vessels where Yarway products were commonly specified
• Industrial pipefitters and steamfitters who installed and maintained valve systems across heavy manufacturing facilities
• General industrial maintenance mechanics who performed valve overhaul work in plants where Yarway valves were part of the installed infrastructure

Plaintiffs alleged that repeated, cumulative exposures over the course of careers lasting decades constituted the primary mechanism of asbestos-related disease in this occupational population. Because many Yarway valves remained installed and in service for twenty or thirty years or more after manufacture, workers continued encountering original asbestos-containing gaskets long after the manufacturing period ended.

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: 1920s-mid 1980s

Corporate context: Formed in 1908 as Simplex Engineering Company. Purchased by Keystone International in the 1980s, then sold to Tyco International in 1997. Currently a subsidiary of Tyco Flow Control Group.

Documented asbestos components: gaskets, packing, 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 — Johns-Manville, Manhattan Asbestos.

Industries served: Power plants, Petroleum refining, Marine/Naval.

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

Documented product lines:

• Boiler trim valves (1930s-present). Valves used for servicing vents and drains within boilers — asbestos components: gaskets, packing.
• Gauges (1945-1965). Gauges for viewing water levels within a boiler — asbestos components: gaskets, packing.
• Indicator systems (1945-1965). Level indication equipment for boiler levels
• Steam control valves (1945-present). Valves used for controlling steam flow — asbestos components: gaskets, packing.
• Steam traps (1945-present). Devices used to remove condensate from steam systems — asbestos components: gaskets, packing.
• Hand-operated globe valves. Manually operated globe valves supplied to petroleum industry and marine applications — asbestos components: gaskets, packing.

Yarway began transitioning from asbestos to expandable graphite components in 1982-1983, a process that took approximately 5 years to complete. On ships, Yarway products were always insulated and contained asbestos gaskets and packing.