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Did you work with Rice Barton Corporation custom Yankee dryer asbestos-block hood lagging and asbestos-fabric dryer-can wrap (Worcester MA)? According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, it allegedly contained asbestos. Here is what it was, who was exposed, and who is responsible. Rice Barton Corporation custom Yankee dryer asbestos-block hood lagging and asbestos-fabric dryer-can wrap (Worcester MA), sold from the 1940s until the 1980s. Plaintiffs allegedly identified Rice Barton Corporation custom Yankee dryers as a source of asbestos-block hood lagging and asbestos-fabric dryer-can wrap exposure across U.S. tissue mills. Plaintiffs allegedly encountered molded chrysotile asbestos-block hood lagging applied to the Rice Barton Yankee dryer hood enclosure and asbestos-fabric wrap material applied to the dryer-can shell surface, released as airborne fiber when tissue-machine mechanics and paper mill insulators tore off, cut, and refitted the hood block segments and dryer-can wrap during coating replacement and hood rebuilds. Workers allegedly exposed around this product included Paper machine tenders, Yankee-dryer maintenance mechanics, Insulators and pipe coverers, and Paper mill millwrights. Asbestos claims are brought against the companies that made the products. If you worked with or around Rice Barton Corporation custom Yankee dryer asbestos-block hood lagging and asbestos-fabric dryer-can wrap (Worcester MA) 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
Rice Barton Corporation, headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts, was a specialty builder of custom Yankee dryers, tissue machines, and paper-machine components supplied to U.S. tissue and specialty-paper mills. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Rice Barton Yankee dryer installations were supplied and serviced with molded chrysotile asbestos-block hood lagging fitted to the Yankee hood enclosure, and asbestos-fabric wrap material applied to the cast-iron dryer-can shell as a thermal-and-release layer.
According to publicly filed allegations, this asbestos configuration was carried forward across Rice Barton’s Yankee and tissue-machine product line from the 1940s through the early 1980s and appeared in tissue and specialty-paper mills across the U.S. Northeast, Midwest, and Southeast.
Workers Exposed
Publicly filed asbestos complaints have allegedly identified the following trades as exposed to Rice Barton Yankee-dryer materials:
- Paper machine tenders working the dry end during hood-lagging change-outs
- Yankee-dryer maintenance mechanics tearing off and refitting hood block segments
- Insulators and pipe coverers cutting and installing asbestos-block lagging
- Paper mill millwrights performing Yankee-dryer bearing and doctor-blade overhauls
- Tissue-machine helpers cleaning debris after hood tear-outs
- Paper mill electricians pulling drives adjacent to hood lagging