Flexitallic Gasket Company, based in Camden, New Jersey, was the inventor and primary manufacturer of the spiral wound metallic gasket — a patented gasket design combining V-section metal strips wound together with a soft filler material (typically asbestos) to create a high-performance sealing product for demanding flange applications. Flexitallic spiral wound gaskets became a Navy standard sealing product for high-pressure, high-temperature steam plant flange connections where the performance requirements exceeded compressed asbestos sheet gasket capability — particularly at boiler outlet flanges, turbine casing flanges, and high-pressure steam distribution connections.

Flexitallic Spiral Wound Gaskets in Navy Steam Plants

Flexitallic’s spiral wound gasket design with asbestos filler was specified for high-performance steam plant sealing applications aboard Navy vessels:

  • High-pressure steam flange connections at boiler outlet flanges, main steam stop valves, and main steam system flanges operating at the highest pressures in the engineering plant — where Flexitallic spiral wound gaskets provided the performance required
  • Turbine casing flange connections at main propulsion turbine casing flanges and high-pressure turbine inlet connections, where the thermal cycling and high steam pressure required the spiral wound gasket design
  • Superheater connections on B&W and CE boilers, where the highest-temperature steam in the engineering plant required the high-performance sealing of Flexitallic spiral wound gaskets
  • High-pressure auxiliary system flanges on feedwater system connections and high-pressure auxiliary steam flanges

Gasket Removal and Replacement Exposure

Flexitallic spiral wound gaskets used asbestos as the filler material wound between the metal strip spirals. During gasket removal — required whenever a steam flange was opened for maintenance or valve work — the removal of a used spiral wound gasket released asbestos fiber as the compressed asbestos filler material was disturbed. Installation of new spiral wound gaskets involved handling the asbestos-containing gasket product directly. Engineering ratings performing flange work at high-pressure steam connections encountered Flexitallic spiral wound gaskets throughout the steam plant maintenance cycle.

Flexitallic in the Asbestos Litigation Record

Flexitallic Gasket Company appears as a defendant in asbestos litigation filed by Navy veterans and shipyard workers documenting exposure from spiral wound gasket maintenance. The company’s role as the inventor and dominant manufacturer of the spiral wound asbestos-filled gasket used throughout Navy high-pressure steam applications is documented in the asbestos litigation record.

VA Claims

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure from gasket maintenance in Navy steam plants. Engineering ratings who performed high-pressure flange work involving Flexitallic and other spiral wound asbestos gaskets and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.