Keene Corporation

Keene Corporation was a company based in New York that bought the insulation maker Baldwin-Ehret-Hill in 1968 and so took on the asbestos history of Ehret Magnesia and Baldwin-Hill, whose 85% magnesia and calcium silicate pipe covering, insulating cements and spray insulation contained asbestos. By 1993 Keene had been named in about 190,000 asbestos injury claims, and it went into bankruptcy in New York that year.

Draft. The history on this page was written from the documents in our library and has not yet been reviewed by a person.

History

The company's own account of its asbestos products was published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the Federal Register of February 13, 1990. The Asbestos Information Act of 1988 required past and present makers of certain asbestos products to identify them, and EPA printed summaries of what the companies sent in.⁵ Keene's entry gives its address as 200 Park Avenue, New York. It names a former subsidiary, Keene Building Products Corporation, and that subsidiary's predecessors: Baldwin-Ehret-Hill, Inc. and Ehret Magnesia Manufacturing Company, both Pennsylvania corporations, and Baldwin Hill Company, a New Jersey corporation. It gives the years of manufacture as 1904 through about 1972.¹

Ehret's plant was at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, reported in October 1930 that a new power plant there was finished, and in February 1951 that the company had completed a new plant at the same site for its 85% magnesia pipe covering and block.⁶ The Navy's lists of approved insulation products carry the Valley Forge products first under Ehret Magnesia, then under Baldwin-Ehret-Hill, and later under Keene Corp.⁶ A 1969 entry lists Thermasil under "Keene Corp., Industrial Insulation Div." of Trenton, New Jersey, with its plant at Valley Forge.^7,8

The federal appeals court in New York summed up the purchase in 1993. Keene bought Baldwin-Ehret-Hill in 1968, when it made acoustical ceilings, ventilation systems and thermal insulation. Baldwin-Ehret-Hill became a Keene subsidiary and was later merged into Keene Building Products Corporation. The court said Baldwin-Ehret-Hill used asbestos in its insulation and acoustical products from 1968 until 1972 or early 1973.²

According to the 1986 Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases, Baldwin-Hill began making mineral wool insulation that contained asbestos in 1935, when Ehret was also making asbestos-containing products, and the two later merged to form Baldwin-Ehret-Hill.²⁴ The book says Baldwin-Ehret-Hill bought Standard Asbestos Manufacturing Co. in 1963 and, in 1964, the contracting branches formerly run by Mundet Cork.^25,24 It describes Keene as formed in New York as successor in interest to Keene Packaging Associates, and says Keene bought 98 percent of Baldwin-Ehret-Hill in 1968.²⁴ It says Baldwin-Ehret-Hill was later renamed Keene Insulation Products Corporation, and that this company stopped making asbestos-containing products in 1972.²⁴ That name differs from Keene Building Products Corporation, the successor named by the 1993 court and in Keene's 1990 entry.^2,1 The book also lists Chase Foster Inc. as a company that became the Chase Foster Division of Keene.²⁶

A Johns-Manville internal memo of September 19, 1980, written for J-M's asbestos litigation attorneys and staff, summarized Keene's answers to interrogatories, mostly from California cases; a copy is filed in the Keene section of the binder The Travelers Insurance Company compiled for a 1980 asbestos seminar.²⁷ As the memo gives Keene's account, Keene Corporation itself made no asbestos-containing products; its wholly owned subsidiary Keene Building Products Corporation made seven thermal insulation products.²⁷ The memo says Baldwin-Ehret-Hill was formed in 1959 by a merger of Baldwin-Hill and Ehret Magnesia, and that Keene Building Products became its successor in 1970.²⁷ It says Baldwin-Ehret-Hill bought the inventory of Keasbey & Mattison in 1963; the Travelers data sheet in the same section puts that purchase under Keene and says the inventory was later sold.^27,32 The memo says that Mundet Cork was apparently sold to Crown Cork & Seal before February 1964, that Baldwin-Ehret-Hill then bought Mundet's machinery and contracting operation from Crown, and that in 1964 it bought a network of 12 contract units from Mundet; Baldwin-Ehret-Hill said it made no products under Mundet's name.²⁷ The memo says Keene Building Products had a contract unit in San Francisco from about 1964 through 1970 and one in Los Angeles for part of that time, while the data sheet says Keene had no contract units in California.^27,33 The data sheet lists Keene's plants as Trenton, New Jersey, and Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; the memo places Mono-Block at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and says Keene's position was that, because of where its plants were, its products were sold mainly in the eastern United States.^32,28,29

Keene had other lines of business. In October 1970 Asbestos reported on the Water Pollution Control Division of Keene Corporation, of Aurora, Illinois, which designed and made equipment for municipal water pollution control plants.⁹ A 1971 patent assigned to Keene, of Trenton, covered a machine for slitting and trimming pipe covering.¹⁰

Asbestos products

Keene's 1990 entry describes each product and its asbestos:^1,3

• Thermalite, 85% magnesia pipe and block covering, made from 1904 to 1964 by Ehret and Baldwin-Ehret-Hill. Keene said "the best information" was that it held 10 to 15% asbestos, mostly amosite.^1,11
• Enduro pipe covering and block cement, made by Ehret from 1924 to 1955, believed to hold 8.7% amosite and 1.1% chrysotile.¹
• Number One Plus cement, made from 1938 to 1971, with 7.5% chrysotile until asbestos was removed in 1971.¹
• Mono-Block, made from 1941 to 1968, with 0.95% amosite, removed in 1968.¹
• Thermasil calcium silicate pipe and block, made from 1956 to 1972, with about 10% amosite until February 1969, then less, until all asbestos was removed in November 1972.¹
• The military formulation of Super Powerhouse cement, with 5% chrysotile, made from 1957 to 1971 and sold only for U.S. military installations.¹
• Pyrospray Types I, T and S and Mono-Spray, sprayed mineral wool insulations made from 1963, with between 12.5% and 32% asbestos depending on the type and year.³
• Styltone acoustical ceiling tiles, believed to hold about 4.3% amosite, sold with asbestos until 1972.³

An insurance company's product list, prepared for a Travelers asbestos seminar, gives some different figures. It lists Thermalite from 1900 and Mono-Block at 5% asbestos.^11,12 Asbestos reported in February 1951 that Ehret's plant was making an improved 85% magnesia insulation and called it "the new product--called Ehret Thermalite," while Keene's 1990 entry dates Thermalite to 1904.^13,1

The two documents in the Keene section of the Travelers binder, the J-M memo and a Travelers data sheet, both drawn largely from Keene's interrogatory answers, disagree with Keene's 1990 entry and in places with each other on fiber type. The memo says Pyrospray Types I, T and S held 32, 15 and 22 percent amosite; the data sheet gives 32, 24 and 15 percent chrysotile.^29,32 The memo says Mono-Block was believed to hold about 2 to 5 percent chrysotile and the data sheet gives 3 percent chrysotile, while Keene's 1990 entry gives 0.95% amosite.^28,32,1 According to the memo, products made from 1959 to 1970 carried a "B.E.H." logo and those Keene Building Products made from 1970 through 1972 bore "Keene" in an oval; before 1959 the cements and Mono-Block were marked "BH," and Thermalite and Thermasil "Ehret."²⁹ It says Keene had a licensing agreement with Grunzweig and Hartmann concerning Mono-Block from the late 1950s until 1970 and believed the product was marketed abroad, and that Thermasil and Thermalite were apparently made under licensing agreements with Pabco.³⁰

Other companies sold Keene products under their own names. The insulation contractor ACandS said in 1984 that it had bought asbestos-containing products from Keene Corporation and its predecessors, and it listed Keene among the makers of the calcium silicate pipe covering and block it relabeled "LK."¹⁴ Celotex, in its 1984 answers, said Philip Carey's calcium silicate pipe and block of 1950 to 1955 was not made by Carey and was "believed manufactured by Keene or Baldwin, Ehret & Hill." It also said Carey brokered Keene's M+-50 cement after 1967 and that asbestos was taken out of the Keene cement between 1972 and 1973.¹⁵

Union Carbide's 1980 and 1981 insulation specifications list Keene Corp. among the makers of an approved hydraulic-setting insulating cement, beside the name Super-Powerhouse.¹⁶ A list of fiber customers sent by North American Asbestos Corporation in 1976 names Keene Corporation among its customers from 1970 through 1974.¹⁷ The 1980 J-M memo names Keene's raw fiber sources as Canadian Johns-Manville Asbestos Limited, North American Asbestos Corporation and the U.S. General Services Administration, with documents suggesting purchases from National Gypsum in 1964 and 1965; the Travelers data sheet names Johns-Manville (1966 to 1970), GAF and others.^30,33

On sales, the data sheet says Keene denied sales to the U.S. Government, including the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, and it lists Keene's block and pipe covering on the military qualified products list from 1969 to 1976 and Thermasil, as a Baldwin-Ehret-Hill product, as early as August 11, 1961.³³ The memo says Super Powerhouse was made to government specifications for military projects, and Keene's 1990 entry says its military formulation was sold only for U.S. military installations.^29,1

What the documents show

Keene appears in lawsuits reported by Asbestos in the 1970s and 1980s. In July 1975 the journal reported a suit against 13 companies, Keene Corporation among them, by workers who said they had not been warned of the dangers of handling asbestos.¹⁸ In June 1981 it reported twelve lawsuits filed in federal court in Miami against 15 asbestos product makers, Keene among them.¹⁹

Exhibit lists that defendants filed in Texas asbestos trials in 2000 and 2001 include a "Keene warning used in 1969" and a photograph of it.²⁰

In the data sheet The Travelers Insurance Company compiled for a 1980 asbestos seminar from defendants' interrogatory answers, Keene gave its first knowledge of asbestos hazards as coming "upon service of summons and complaint in this litigation," and its first labeling as 1969.³³ The 1980 J-M memo reports Keene's answers differently: that Keene first acquired knowledge of the hazard in 1969, when it began labeling its products and developing asbestos-free ones, that it was first advised of threshold limit values that year, and that Dr. Selikoff's 1965 work was its first notice that insulation installers were at risk.³¹ The memo notes one interrogatory answer saying cautionary warnings appeared on the predecessor's asbestos cement before 1967, and says Baldwin-Ehret-Hill took part with NIMA in 1967 in publishing recommended health and safety practices for handling thermal insulation containing asbestos.^30,31 It says Keene was not a member of the Asbestos Textile Institute or the Industrial Hygiene Foundation.³¹

According to the 1986 Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases, Keene had offered a $10,000 reward for proof that Baldwin-Hill and Baldwin-Ehret-Hill were insured from 1935 to 1952, because it appeared unable to find evidence that those companies carried liability insurance in those years.²⁴ The 1980 J-M memo dates the merger that formed Baldwin-Ehret-Hill to 1959, after the years the book names.²⁷

In Keene Corp. v. Gardner (1992), a Texas appeals court upheld a verdict against Keene, holding that there was enough evidence that a worker at an Alabama plant had often been near Mono-Block as it was cut and used.²¹ In Boyett v. Keene Corp. (1993), a federal court in Texas dealt with a claim over service on three ships that the court said were insulated with 85% magnesia products made by Ehret, Keene's predecessor.²²

Bankruptcy

In 1993 the federal appeals court in New York said that since 1977 Keene had been named in about 190,000 asbestos injury claims, had resolved more than 95,000 of them, and had spent $447 million on asbestos litigation. About 98,000 claims were still pending, and some 2,000 new ones were filed each month.² In May 1993 Keene had asked a federal court to settle all present and future claims through a class action limited to its available funds. The appeals court held that the suit presented no case or controversy, warned that accepting Keene's approach would lead to further evasion of the Bankruptcy Code, and ordered the complaint dismissed.²

Keene then filed for bankruptcy. Its case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York carries a 1993 docket number, 93 B 46090.⁴ Keene's reorganization plan, confirmed in 1996, set up a trust for asbestos claims, and the reorganized company took the name Reinhold Industries. Our list of asbestos trusts does not include a Keene trust.²³

References

1. Asbestos; Publication of Identifying Information, Federal Register, February 13, 1990, p. 11
2. In re Joint Eastern and Southern District Asbestos Litigation (In re Keene Corp.) (2d Cir. 1993)
3. Asbestos; Publication of Identifying Information, Federal Register, February 13, 1990, p. 12
4. In re Keene Corp. (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 1994)
5. Asbestos; Publication of Identifying Information, Federal Register, February 13, 1990, p. 3
6. Ehret Magnesia plant at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, plant page
7. Thermasil (Keene), product page
8. Military Qualified Products List (1951–1995), p. 105
9. Asbestos, October 1970, p. 20
10. Method and apparatus for slitting and trimming pipe covering (US Patent 3,577,889, 1971), p. 1
11. Thermalite (Keene), product page
12. Mono-Block (Keene), product page
13. Asbestos, February 1951, p. 18 (PDF p. 20)
14. ACandS's Answers to Plaintiffs' Master Interrogatories in Bellows v. Fibreboard (1984), pp. 10, 15
15. Celotex's Answers to Plaintiff's Master Interrogatories in Laird v. Celotex (1984), pp. 42–43
16. UC-3253: D. T. Watters to I. P. Blackwood et al. on Potential Health Risks of Insulation Materials (1981), p. 4; UC-3721: Perlite Insulation Material Specification (1980), p. 2
17. UC-1118: North American Asbestos Corporation Transmittal of Textile and Fiber Customer Lists, 1954–1975 (1976), p. 15
18. Asbestos, July 1975, p. 16
19. Asbestos, June 1981, p. 14
20. UC-1657: Defendants' Pretrial Filings and Exhibit Lists, Moake v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas (2000), p. 10; UC-2009: Defendants' Exhibit List, Villarreal v. GAF Corporation Holdings (2001), p. 8
21. Keene Corp. v. Gardner (Tex. App. 1992)
22. Boyett v. Keene Corp. (E.D. Tex. 1993)
23. Asbestos Trusts A–Z
24. Barbara J. Peters and George A. Peters, Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, vol. 2 (New York: Garland Law Publishing, 1986), p. 167.
25. Barbara J. Peters and George A. Peters, Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, vol. 2 (New York: Garland Law Publishing, 1986), p. 161.
26. Barbara J. Peters and George A. Peters, Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, vol. 2 (New York: Garland Law Publishing, 1986), p. 158.
27. Travelers Asbestos Seminar Booklet (1980): Keene Corporation Product Information, p. 2 (Johns-Manville memo, September 19, 1980)
28. Travelers Asbestos Seminar Booklet (1980): Keene Corporation Product Information, p. 3 (Johns-Manville memo)
29. Travelers Asbestos Seminar Booklet (1980): Keene Corporation Product Information, p. 4 (Johns-Manville memo)
30. Travelers Asbestos Seminar Booklet (1980): Keene Corporation Product Information, p. 5 (Johns-Manville memo)
31. Travelers Asbestos Seminar Booklet (1980): Keene Corporation Product Information, p. 6 (Johns-Manville memo)
32. Travelers Asbestos Seminar Booklet (1980): Keene Corporation Product Information, p. 8
33. Travelers Asbestos Seminar Booklet (1980): Keene Corporation Product Information, p. 9

Asbestos products

11 products our documents name Keene Corporation as making or selling. Each product's page says what the documents say about it, including its asbestos content.

• Alba-cel (Keene)
• Enduro (Keene)
• Mono-block (Keene)
• Mono-spray (Keene)
• MW50 (Keene)
• Number One Plus (Keene)
• Powerhouse (Keene)
• Pyrospray I,T & S (Keene)
• Super Powerhouse (Keene)
• Thermalite (Keene)
• Thermasil (Keene)

Plants

Plants where asbestos products were made that the documents say Keene Corporation ran.

• Ehret Magnesia Mfg. Co. and later owners plant at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Court cases

104 court decisions in our case-law library name Keene Corporation as a defendant, newest first.

• Harder v. ACandS, Inc. (1998)
• Nelson v. Keene Corp. (1996)
• Viereck v. Fibreboard Corp. (1996)
• Simmons v. Pacor, Inc. (1996)
• Holbrook v. Lykes Bros. SS Co., Inc. (1996)
• Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Baltimore City (1996)
• Barnes v. Keene Corp. (1995)
• Higgins v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas (1995)
• Ripa v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas (1995)
• Schiavo v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas (1995)
• Kirk v. Raymark Industries, Inc. (1995)
• In re Keene Corp. (1994)
• Busfield v. AC & S., Inc. (1994)
• DiDio v. Philadelphia Asbestos Corp. (1994)
• Atkinson v. Celotex Corp. (1994)
• Tabolt v. Flintkote Co. (In re New York Asbestos Litigation, 1994)
• Coates v. AC and S, Inc. (1994)
• In re Joint E. & SO. Dist. Asbestos Lit. (1993)
• Angelo v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (1993)
• Johnstone v. American Oil Co. (1993)
• Srite v. Owens-Illinois, Inc. (1993)
• Giffear v. Johns-Manville Corp. (1993)
• Keene Corp. v. Rogers (1993)
• Jackson v. Anchor Packing Co. (1993)
• Dempsey v. Pacor, Inc. (1993)
• Malcolm v. National Gypsum Co. (1993)
• Hogland v. Celotex Corp. (1993)
• Miller v. American President Lines, Ltd. (1993)
• Beeman v. Manville Corp. Asbestos Fund (1993)
• Didner v. Keene Corp. (1993)
• Boyett v. Keene Corp. (1993)
• Tragarz v. Keene Corp. (1992)
• Blancha v. Raymark Industries (1992)
• Keene Corp. v. Gardner (1992)
• Marinari v. Asbestos Corp., Ltd. (1992)
• Feldman v. Owens-Illinois (In re Brooklyn Navy Yard Asbestos Litigation, 1992)
• Rotondo v. Keene Corp. (1992)
• In re Asbestos Cases (1991)
• Miller v. Armstrong World Industries (1991)
• Moran v. G. & WH Corson, Inc. (1991)
• Hoffman v. Allied Corp. (1990)
• Bushless v. GAF Corp. (1990)
• White v. Celotex Corp. (1990)
• Howell v. Celotex Corp. (1990)
• Leng v. Celotex Corp. (1990)
• Kraciun v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. (1990)
• Sholtis v. American Cyanamid Co. (1989)
• Naden v. Celotex Corp. (1989)
• Falk v. Keene Corp. (1989)
• District of Columbia v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation (1989)
• Mauro v. Raymark Industries, Inc. (1989)
• Gaulding v. Celotex Corp. (1989)
• Sofie v. Fibreboard Corp. (1989)
• Miller v. Celotex Corp. (1989)
• Fisher v. Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp. (1989)
• Falk v. Keene Corporation (1989)
• Pecorino v. Raymark Industries, Inc. (1988)
• Menne v. Celotex Corp. (1988)
• Marshall v. Celotex Corp. (1988)
• Hardy v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1988)
• Blazek v. Nicolet, Inc. (1988)
• Knox v. AC & S, Inc. (1988)
• Campo v. Asbestospray Corp. (1988)
• Goldman v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1987)
• Case v. Fibreboard Corp. (1987)
• In re Asbestos Litigation (1987)
• Swogger v. Waterman SS Corp. (1987)
• Marshall v. Celotex Corp. (1987)
• Marshall v. Celotex Corp. (1987)
• Rice v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (1987)
• Marshall v. Celotex Corp. (1987)
• Menne v. Celotex Corp. (1986)
• Morgan v. Johns-Manville Corp. (1986)
• Seckular v. Celotex (1986)
• In re Moorenovich (1986)
• Jenkins v. Raymark Industries, Inc. (1986)
• Knauer v. Johns-Manville Corp. (1986)
• Lohrmann v. Pittsburgh Corning Corp. (1986)
• Graffagnino v. Fibreboard Corp. (1985)
• Wilder v. Amatex Corp. (1985)
• Keene Corp. v. Bahl (1985)
• Celotex Corp. v. Copeland (1985)
• Gideon v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1985)
• Lowe v. Johns-Manville Corp. (1985)
• Rocco v. Johns-Manville Corp. (1985)
• Joyce v. AC & s., Inc. (1984)
• English v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1984)
• Doe v. Johns-Manville Corp. (1984)
• Froud v. Celotex Corp. (1983)
• Hobby v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1983)
• Nutt v. AC & S., Inc. (1983)
• Wedgeworth v. Fibreboard Corp. (1983)
• Staiano v. Johns-Manville Corp. (1982)
• Wilson v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1982)
• Hardy v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1982)
• Froud v. Celotex Corporation (1982)
• DeCosse v. Armstrong Cork Co. (1982)
• Bertrand v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1982)
• Carbonaro v. Johns-Manville Corp. (1981)
• Fearson v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1981)
• Clutter v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1981)
• Hardy v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1981)
• Neubauer v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas (1981)
• McCarty v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1980)

In the Union Carbide documents

Keene Corporation is named in 12 Union Carbide documents dated 1971 to 2001 (12 mentioned), from asbestos lawsuits over Union Carbide's Calidria asbestos. 11 of them are published in our collection.

• B. L. Ingalls to Dennis P. Bridge (PPG Industries) Enclosing NRC Report 'Airborne Asbestos' and Discussing Calidria RG-244 in Polyester (1971) UC-5381 (mentioned)
• William P. Barrett, 'Not told, workers say: 6 charge DuPont hid data on asbestosis,' The Bulletin (1980) UC-1947 (mentioned)
• Union Carbide Chemicals/Plastics Insulation Standard, Material Specification 4M:4M-B / 4A:4A-B / 4SS:4SS-B for Perlite Insulation (1980) UC-3721 (mentioned)
• D. T. Watters to I. P. Blackwood et al. on Potential Health Risks of Insulation Materials (Perlite Insulation Specification 4) (1981) UC-3253 (mentioned)
• Summonses and Amended Complaints in Partain v. North Bros. Co. et al. and Cooper v. North Bros. Co. et al., Naming Union Carbide as Defendant (1983) UC-1411 (mentioned)
• Powers & Frost, L.L.P. (Sharla J. Frost) to Brazoria County District Clerk Jerry Deere Transmitting Defendants' Pretrial Filings and Exhibit Lists, Moake v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas (2000) UC-1657 (mentioned)
• Defendants' Line and Page Designations of Deposition and Trial Testimony in Moake v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas (2000) UC-1658 (mentioned)
• Defendants' Exhibit List with General Exhibit List in Villarreal v. GAF Corporation Holdings, Inc., et al., Cameron County, Texas (2001) UC-2009 (mentioned)
• Defendants' Line and Page Designations of Deposition and Trial Testimony, Villarreal v. GAF Corporation Holdings, Inc., et al. (2001) UC-2008 (mentioned)
• Clippings: "Asbestos Exempted" (EPA Spray-On Asbestos Standard) and David Harris, "21 asbestos firms sued over ills" (The Inquirer) UC-1946 (mentioned)
• Union Carbide's Responses to Plaintiffs' Set No. 46 Interrogatories on Asbestos Exports and Imports at the Ports of Stockton and Sacramento (undated) UC-5327 (mentioned)

Names in the documents

The spellings documents use for Keene Corporation, OCR misreadings included, so a search for any of them finds this page: Keene Corp · Keene.

Where this comes from

This page brings together every document in our library that names Keene Corporation, across collections. Titles and affiliations are taken from the documents themselves, and units and subsidiaries are grouped under the company they belong to.