Flexitallic Gasket Company
The predecessor of Flexitallic’s United States business entities was founded in England during the mid-19th century. The company subsequently moved its operations to Camden, New Jersey in the early 1900s. The company’s U.S. business presence solidified in 1912, when its founder developed the first spiral wound industrial gasket. Structurally reinforced with metallic components, such gaskets are easily installed and able to withstand extreme operating conditions like those found in boilers or the petrochemical industry. The spiral wound industrial gasket was manufactured exclusively by Flexitallic until the 1940s. Over the years, the company developed a number of other proprietary gasket products for use in several industries.
In 1963, a group of investors purchased the company and incorporated it as Flexitallic Gasket Co., Inc. in the state of Connecticut. The new owners sold out in 1970, though, when British asbestos conglomerate T&N PLC (originally known as Turner & Newall Ltd.) bought the business. Eventually, in 1986, T&N once again moved the company’s domicile, this time to Delaware, calling the company Flexitallic, Inc. The company underwent yet another name change, to Gasket Holdings, Inc., before T&N sold its assets to Dan-Loc Bolt and Gasket, a company with headquarters in Houston, Texas in 1997. Dan-Loc renamed the assets The Flexitallic Group and moved its headquarters to Houston where it continues to do business.
Flexitallic Gasket Company and Asbestos
The spiral wound gasket invented by Flexitallic in 1912 was the sole asbestos-containing product manufactured by Flexitallic Gasket Company and is the primary basis for practically all of the asbestos-related claims against the company. The gasket was made by spiraling alternating strips of asbestos tape and metal into a ring, which was then fitted inside an exterior metal ring.
Asbestos was chosen as the filler material due to its superiority to corrosion caused by alkalinity in liquids or gasses that may pass through the gasket, as well as its extremely high melting point. In April 1992, the company discontinued use of asbestos in its product and made no further sales of asbestos-containing gaskets. Individuals who worked with Flexitallic Gasket Company in the direct manufacturing of their product could have suffered asbestos exposure.
Flexitallic Gasket Company and Asbestos Litigation
At the time T&N sold the Flexitallic trade name and assets to Dan-Loc Bolt and Gasket in April, 1997, Gasket Holdings, Inc. and T&N agreed to indemnify Dan-Loc for any asbestos-related claims arising from products sold prior to April, 1997. Approximately one year later, T&N PLC was crumbling under the weight of asbestos claims and was purchased by Federal-Mogul. As part of the purchase, Federal-Mogul agreed to honor the indemnity agreement with Dan-Loc.
The T&N/Flexitallic claims, in turn, proved too much for Federal-Mogul to bear and the company, along with its Gasket Holdings, Inc. subsidiary, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2001. If T&N PLC asbestos lawsuits were the driving force that sent Federal-Mogul into bankruptcy, Flexitallic Gasket Company claims led the way, accounting for nearly 158,000 of the 350,000 or so asbestos-related claims against the company.
The current Flexitallic Group, owned by Dan-Loc, has never used asbestos in manufacturing its products. Nor has the company sold or distributed asbestos products. So, neither the Flexitallic Group nor Dan-Loc Bolt and Gasket bear any direct, independent liability for asbestos-related claims as a result of the 1997 asset purchase and concurrent indemnification agreements.
Individuals who worked in a Flexitallic manufacturing facility that produced asbestos-containing products should advise their physicians and seek annual checks for an asbestos-related disease, including mesothelioma. While symptoms of asbestos exposure are not immediately felt, mesothelioma and other conditions can arise many years after exposure.
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© 2012 The Mesothelioma Center |
Last Modified Thursday, February 9th, 2012 | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy |
The information provided by The Mesothelioma Center is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
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