Garlock Sealing Technologies, an Enpro Company that, produces sealing products. Garlock has a global presence, with 1,887 employees, at 14 facilities, in twelve countries.

History

In the later nineteenth century, Olin J. Garlock devised a better way to seal piston rods in industrial

steam engines A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

. The invention led to the creation of Garlock Sealing Technologies. Founded in 1887, in

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...

, New York. For a detailed history of Garlock from its founding in 1887 until the takeover by Colt Industries in 1976 see ''Garlock - The First Eighty-Eight Years 1887-1975'' written by Robert M. Waples and son. (Waples was President then Chairman 1955-1960)

Industries

Garlock provides fluid sealing solutions for the following industries:

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sou ...

, chemical processing, and

refining {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 Refining (also perhaps called by the mathematical term affining) is the process of purification of a (1) substance or a (2) form. The term is usually used of a natural resource that is almost in a usable form, b ...

pulp and paper The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood as raw material and produce pulp, paper, paperboard and other cellulose-based products. Manufacturing process The pulp is fed to a paper machine where it is formed as a paper web an ...

power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stor ...

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

steel mills A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finished ...

, food and pharmaceutical,

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

and original equipment manufacturers.

Patented products

Some of Garlock's sealing products include KLOZURE oil seals, bearing isolators and mechanical seals; GYLON gasketing, CEFIL'AIR pneumatic seals and HELICOFLEX metal seals; sheet rubber products, valve and pump packing, hydraulic seals, molded rubber products, expansion joints, butterfly valves, LubriKup oil seals, pump diaphragms and THERMa-PUR high temperature material. Some of these products have US and International patent protection, including Australia.

Partnerships and recent news

The Timken Company The Timken Company is a global manufacturer of bearings and power transmission products. Timken operates from 42 countries. Company history In 1898, Henry Timken obtained a patent for an improved tapered roller bearing, and in 1899 incorporat ...

- A supply agreement that will increase global sales for KLOZURE oil seals and bearing isolators. * Nippon Valqua - A strategic alliance, with Garlock enjoying exclusive sales rights for Nippon Valqua products in the Americas and Nippon Valqua having exclusive sales rights for Garlock products in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. * In 2007, Garlock expanded by leasing over 6000 m2 in Portwall Distribution Center II.

Litigation

Gore-Tex Gore-Tex is a waterproof, breathable fabric membrane and registered trademark of W. L. Gore & Associates. Invented in 1969, Gore-Tex can repel liquid water while allowing water vapor to pass through and is designed to be a lightweight, waterpr ...

In the 1970s, Garlock infringed

W. L. Gore and Associates W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. is an American multinational manufacturing company specializing in products derived from fluoropolymers. It is a privately held corporation headquartered in Newark, Delaware. It is best known as the developer of wat ...

patents and was sued by Gore in the Federal District Court of Ohio. After a "bitterly contested case" that "involved over two years of discovery, five weeks of trial, the testimony of 35 witnesses (19 live, 16 by deposition), and over 300 exhibits," (quoting the Federal Circuit) the District Court held Gore's patents to be invalid. On appeal, however, the Federal Circuit disagreed in the famous case of ''Gore v. Garlock'', reversing the lower court's decision on the ground, ''inter alia'', that Cropper forfeited any superior claim to the invention by virtue of having concealed the process for making ePTFE from the public, thereby establishing Gore as the legal inventor.

Asbestos

Garlock has been subject to multiple lawsuits regarding

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

, which were components of earlier products. Now, Garlock produces only asbestos free products. Some of the notable suits include: * Donald Reynolds, who worked at the Ashland Oil refinery in Tonawanda for more than 35 years, was diagnosed with

malignant mesothelioma Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium). The most common area affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lining ...

, an incurable lung disease, in 2003. Reynolds and his wife filed this personal injury action against 20 defendants, including Garlock Sealing Technologies LLC and Niagara Insulations, Inc., alleging that his disease was the result of workplace exposure to asbestos. By the time the trial was held in 2004, the only remaining defendants were Garlock, which provided the refinery with asbestos-containing pump gaskets and packing, and Niagara, which provided asbestos containing pipe insulation. * Buddy Jones worked at

Newport News Shipbuilding Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...

(now

Northrop Grumman Newport News Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...

) for several years in the 1960s. After that he became a computer programmer in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. In late 2004, he became ill and was first diagnosed with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

. Later, there were tumors found in Jones' lungs. The Newport News Circuit Court verdict in Wanda Jones' wrongful death lawsuit against three companies that manufactured the materials used at Newport News Shipbuilding was handed down on July 26, 2006. * Vaughn Oney was sometimes in contact with asbestos daily between 1963 and 1973. Mr. Oney retired in 1994 when he was in his early fifties and was in good health, but was diagnosed with

mesothelioma Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium). The most common area affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lining ...

in 2004. A verdict was awarded by a jury in State Circuit Court in Virginia in the amount of 9.25 million for his death. * In a landmark January 2014 decision in the case '' In re Garlock Sealing Technologies, LLC'', a U.S. bankruptcy judge set Garlock’s liability for all present and future claims at $125 million, a fraction of the $1.4 billion plaintiff lawyers sought. Soon after the trial commencing on 22 July 2013, the judge ordered the courtroom closed to the public due to concerns about fraud. The decision considered over 4000 mesothelioma claimants who had sued Garlock prior to its bankruptcy filing, and also an unknown number of victims who will develop mesothelioma in the future.

References

External links

Garlock Corporate WebsiteEnpro Corporate Website