Ingersoll Rand - Asbestos Product Manufacturers

Simon Ingersoll created Ingersoll Rock Drill Company in 1871. The company then merged with Rand Drill Company in 1905, creating the company known as Ingersoll Rand. In 2001, the shareholders decided to move to Bermuda and take advantage of the savings on United States corporate income taxes. This change in location helped save the company an estimated $40 million a year.

In 2004, the company decided to sell the Drilling Solutions business to Atlas Copco. They later sold their Bobcat and utility equipment divisions, leaving the company with Industrial Technologies, Climate Control Technologies, and Security Technologies. While mining and construction equipment make up the majority of Ingersoll Rand, the company also manufactures a variety of products, including:

• Cisa
• Club Car Golf Cars
• Falcon Door Hardware
• Hussmann Refrigeration Units
• Interflex
• Kryptonite Locks
• LCN Door Closers
• Normbau
• OMI
• Schlage Locks
• Thermo King Transport Refrigeration Units
• Trane HVAC Equipment
• Von Duprin Exit Devices

Asbestos-Containing Products

Ingersoll Rand used the toxic mineral asbestos largely because it was inexpensive, easy to come by, and fire-resistant. In the technical manuals of the company, it was repeatedly used in the packing and manufacturing process, which caused asbestos fibers to continuously break off into the air. When this occurred, the fibers would typically be inhaled by the workers in the surrounding areas. Some of the asbestos-containing products that Ingersoll Rand used included:

• Braided asbestos for packing valves in boxes
• Fibrous piston packing for steam pumps and direct-acting steam pumps
• Gasket material for pipeline pumps in the petroleum industry
• Graphited asbestos as a packing material for centrifugal pump construction for John Crane Company
• Single-acting piston stuffing box

Current Events

Today, Ingersoll Rand is a $17 billion industrial company responsible for a variety of products, services and other solutions to several businesses. However, Ingersoll Rand was not able to avoid asbestos-related legal issues. The company has created a $449 million fund to cover current and future asbestos-related claims made against them.

Ingersoll Rand is currently facing lawsuits in both federal and state courts. The majority of these suits are a direct result of the use of asbestos-containing packing supplies and gaskets. To date, the company has settled over 200,000 claims totaling more than $300 million. There are still over 100,000 claims outstanding.

If you have developed an asbestos-related disease such as mesothelioma as a result of working for Ingersoll Rand or worked with products manufactured by Ingersoll Rand, and would like more information, please fill out the form on this page to receive an informative packet in the mail.