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Did you work with Pfaudler Company glass-lined chemical reactor manway, nozzle, and agitator-mount flange gaskets, allegedly fabricated from compressed asbestos fiber (CAF) sheet stock with a PTFE or elastomer envelope for corrosive-service reactor flange joints in pharmaceutical, dye, and specialty-chemical batch reactors? According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, it allegedly contained asbestos. Here is what it was, who was exposed, and who is responsible. Pfaudler Company glass-lined chemical reactor manway, nozzle, and agitator-mount flange gaskets, allegedly fabricated from compressed asbestos fiber (CAF) sheet stock with a PTFE or elastomer envelope for corrosive-service reactor flange joints in pharmaceutical, dye, and specialty-chemical batch reactors, sold from the 1940s until early the 1980s. Plaintiffs allegedly identified Pfaudler glass-lined reactor flange gaskets as asbestos-containing in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation. Alleged chrysotile-fiber compressed-sheet gasket core with an envelope facing, installed between the glass-lined lugged flanges of Pfaudler reactors — top manway, side nozzles, bottom outlet, and agitator drive-mount. Released as friable fiber when the envelope was cut and the CAF core was scraped from the flange face during batch turnaround, campaign changeover, or reactor-head lift by chemical plant millwrights and pipefitters. Workers allegedly exposed around this product included Chemical Plant Millwrights, Pipefitters, Pharmaceutical Plant Mechanics, and Industrial Insulators. Asbestos claims are brought against the companies that made the products. If you worked with or around Pfaudler Company glass-lined chemical reactor manway, nozzle, and agitator-mount flange gaskets, allegedly fabricated from compressed asbestos fiber (CAF) sheet stock with a PTFE or elastomer envelope for corrosive-service reactor flange joints in pharmaceutical, dye, and specialty-chemical batch reactors and were later diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease, you may have a legal claim against the manufacturer. This is educational information from an independent publisher — not a law firm — and is not legal advice.
Product Description
Pfaudler Company (Rochester, NY) allegedly manufactured glass-lined steel chemical reactors for pharmaceutical, dye, agrochemical, and specialty-chemical batch service throughout the mid-twentieth century. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Pfaudler reactors — with their characteristic lugged, glass-lined flanges on the top manway, side nozzles, bottom outlet, and agitator drive-mount — were supplied with, and later re-gasketed with, compressed asbestos fiber (CAF) sheet gaskets, often within a PTFE or elastomer envelope suitable for corrosive-service flange joints.
Because glass-lined reactor flanges are unusually load-sensitive (over-torque cracks the glass), plaintiffs alleged that Pfaudler-specified gasket materials — and Pfaudler-branded replacement gasket sets — were the mandated material of construction on many reactor lines through the early 1980s.
Workers Exposed
Plaintiffs allegedly identified the following trades as exposed during Pfaudler reactor service:
- Chemical plant millwrights lifting reactor heads during campaign changeovers and cleaning old gasket residue from lugged glass-lined flanges.
- Pfizer, Merck, and other pharmaceutical plant mechanics replacing manway and nozzle gaskets between batch campaigns.
- Pipefitters breaking nozzle flanges to swap process piping.
- Industrial insulators stripping insulation from reactor heads and jacket flanges before millwright work.
Alleged exposure mechanisms included cutting the envelope facing with a utility knife, scraping the exposed CAF core off the glass-lined flange, and cutting fresh gasket blanks from CAF sheet stock at the reactor deck.