Crane Co., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, was one of the largest and most prominent manufacturers of industrial valves, pipe fittings, and fluid handling equipment in the United States — with its extensive valve product line used throughout US Navy engineering systems on virtually every class of surface ship and submarine. Crane’s gate valves, globe valves, check valves, ball valves, and specialty valves were specified for Navy steam plant, feedwater, seawater, and fuel oil systems across the fleet. Crane’s Deming pump division supplied centrifugal pumps for Navy auxiliary engineering applications. Crane products with asbestos-containing sealing components were maintained by engineering ratings throughout the WWII and Cold War-era Navy.

Asbestos in Crane Valve Products

Crane Co. valves used asbestos in valve stem packing and body gasket materials:

  • Valve stem packing — Crane gate valves and globe valves used asbestos compressed packing rings or asbestos braided packing in the valve stuffing box as standard construction for steam and water service valve stem sealing. Engineering ratings repacking Crane steam system valves removed deteriorated asbestos packing and installed new asbestos packing at each repacking interval, with packing pick-out operations releasing fiber from the hardened residual packing material
  • Bonnet and body gaskets — Crane valves with bolted-bonnet construction used asbestos-containing sheet gaskets at the bonnet-to-body joint. Crane bolted-bonnet valve overhaul required removing the bonnet gasket and replacing with new asbestos gasket material, with gasket removal and the cleaning of flange faces releasing fiber from the old gasket
  • Companion flange gaskets — the flanged connections at Crane valve inlet and outlet ports used asbestos ring gaskets at the flanged joint, disturbed during valve removal from the piping system

Deming Pump Products

Crane’s Deming centrifugal pump division supplied pumps for Navy auxiliary applications:

  • Mechanical seal components — Deming centrifugal pumps used mechanical shaft seals with asbestos-containing face components in early production units. Machinist’s Mates replacing failed mechanical seals in Deming auxiliary pumps handled asbestos-containing seal components at each seal replacement
  • Stuffing box packing — older Deming pump designs using compression packing stuffing boxes rather than mechanical seals used asbestos braided packing, disturbed at each repacking interval

Crane Co. valves appeared across the entire Navy fleet due to broad valve specification coverage:

  • Crane’s extensive Navy valve business meant that Crane valve products appeared in steam system, feedwater, seawater, and fuel oil service aboard virtually every class of Navy surface ship and submarine throughout the WWII and Cold War era
  • The sheer volume of Crane valves aboard Navy vessels meant that engineering ratings working in Navy steam plants regularly encountered Crane valves in day-to-day valve maintenance throughout their naval service

VA Claims for Veterans Exposed to Crane Co. Products

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure from valve and pump maintenance in Navy engineering plants. Engineering ratings who performed maintenance on Crane Co. and other valve manufacturers’ products with asbestos-containing stem packing and gaskets and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.