Western Electric and Asbestos 

Founded in 1869 as Gray & Barton, Western Electric was one of America’s most prominent telecommunications equipment manufacturers. For over fifty years, the company used asbestos-containing materials in dozens of its products, creating widespread exposure risks for workers and their families. The company’s extensive use of this hazardous mineral from at least 1919 until 1974 resulted in countless people across multiple industries being diagnosed with mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.

The History of Western Electric

Western Electric’s history dates back to 1869, when founders Elisha Gray and Enos Barton established a telegraph supply business called Gray and Barton in Cleveland. The business relocated to Chicago soon after, and then underwent its first major transformation in 1872, when it became the Western Electric Manufacturing Co.[1] 

The business was extremely successful throughout the 1870s, growing from a modest staff of 20 employees in 1870 to 130 workers by 1880. Western Electric was the principal manufacturer for Western Union, the telegraph company, and rose to further prominence during the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, where its exhibits earned five gold medals. Alongside telegraph equipment, the company showcased a wide array of electrical innovations, including alarms and mimeograph pens. Despite its creativity, the technological development that had the greatest impact on the company’s future was introduced by someone outside of the company. On February 14, Alexander Graham Bell secured a patent for his invention, the telephone. His application was filed at the U.S. Patent Office a matter of hours before Elisha Gray—who had sold his stake in Western Electric in 1875 and withdrawn from the industry—submitted his own claim.[2]

In 1881, the American Bell Telephone Co. (later AT&T) acquired it for nearly $1 million in annual sales. The addition of Western Electric to Bell’s operations was crucial in the establishment of a nationwide phone system because of the production and distribution of hardware capabilities that the company provided. The company was given a new name —Western Electric Co. — and was quickly established as the primary manufacturing division for Bell.[1] 

Under its new ownership, the company continued to grow and flourish. By the end of the century, it employed approximately 5,300 workers, and this led to relocating again to the Chicago suburb of Cicero. It built a massive manufacturing complex known as Hawthorne Works, and by 1917, the facility had become one of the world’s largest manufacturing plants, employing 25,000 residents of Cicero. For seventy years, the Hawthorne Works produced out telephones, cable, and every major telephone switching system, along with the supporting equipment needed to keep them operating. To handle the immense flow of materials, Western Electric managed the Manufacturer’s Junction Railway at Hawthorne, referred to as “the biggest little railway in the world,” which carried both raw supplies and finished cable across the complex.[2]

Western Electric dominated the market in the 1920s. Its reported annual revenues reached $300 million, and the company controlled roughly 90 percent of America’s telephone equipment market. The Hawthorne Works was recognized for both its size as well as its pioneering “scientific management” techniques in employee relations and manufacturing processes.

It was during this era of expansion and innovation that Western Electric began incorporating asbestos into its telecommunications products. The mineral’s remarkable ability to add both strength and flexibility, as well as heat resistance, fire resistance, and electrical insulation, made it seem ideal for the company’s diverse product line. Some Western Electric products contained concentrations of up to 40% chrysotile asbestos.

Corporate Shift and Manufacturing Evolution 

In 1925, Bell Telephone Laboratories was established as a separate research entity jointly owned by Western Electric and AT&T, and the company’s international operations were divested to International Telephone and Telegraph Company (ITT). This reorganization established Western Electric’s role until the 1980s: Manufacturing telecommunications equipment while Bell Labs handled research and development. This divestiture also led to the creation of Graybar Electric Company, which assumed Western Electric’s highly successful electrical equipment distribution business.[2]

Depression and Wartime Transformation

As with so many other American businesses, the Great Depression devastated Western Electric’s operations. Sales plummeted from $411 million in 1929 to under $70 million by 1933, and employment at the Hawthorne plant dropped from 43,000 to 6,000 workers. The company “Make Work” programs into place, having employees manufacture furniture and consumer goods to keep them working during the crisis.

World War II transformed Western Electric again. The company became a major defense contractor, and by 1944, roughly 85 percent of its production supported the federal government rather than the Bell System. The company became America’s top radar manufacturer, producing approximately half the nation’s radar systems. This new role led to building sixteen satellite plants and hiring thousands of subcontractors. At the same time, the wartime workforce shifted, with women representing 60 percent of the company’s employees by 1944.

The company’s wartime innovations extended beyond radar. It installed the world’s largest private branch exchange at the Pentagon and developed communications equipment for military operations around the world. This defense relationship continued throughout the Cold War, with Western Electric eventually creating the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line—a 3,000-mile Arctic radar system completed in 1957 that The New York Times called “one of the modern wonders of the world.”[2]

Return to Consumer Products

After the war, the company made tremendous strides in technology and returned to the rapidly expanding consumer market. Western Electric mass-produced color telephones in 1954 and introduced the Princess telephone, featuring an illuminated dial and five color options, in 1955. It developed phones with handset dials and touch-tone technology that transformed telecommunications accessibility. But the most significant technological breakthrough dated back to 1947 when Bell Labs physicists developed the transistor, earning the Nobel Prize in 1956. The invention revolutionized electronics and led to Western Electric’s electronic switching systems, which were first introduced in 1963. By 1970, 120 electronic switching offices served nearly two million customers.[2]

Corporate Restructuring 

In 1984, the breakup of AT&T eliminated Western Electric as a separate entity. It became part of AT&T Technologies, alongside Bell Laboratories. The company’s manufacturing assets and technology were acquired by Lucent Technologies in 1996.

Western Electric’s Asbestos-Containing Products

Western Electric’s use of asbestos spanned a wide range of telecommunications and electrical equipment. It incorporated the mineral as a component in manufacturing processes, both for its internal use and for Bell Operating Companies.

The catalog of asbestos-containing Western Electric products was vast, and included:[3]

Electrical Components and Motors:

• Alternating current motors equipped with solenoid brakes
• Switchboard panels for telecommunications systems
• Fuse holders designed for electrical safety applications
• Various resistors manufactured using asbestos sheets
• Resistance units for electrical control systems

Wire and Cable Products: 

Wire coverings represented a significant aspect of Western Electric’s asbestos applications, especially for products that would be exposed to elevated heat or fire hazards. The company manufactured several specialized wire types under the “Deltabeston” brand name, including fixture wires, heater wires, magnet wires, moving picture machine wires, stove wires, and switchboard wires—all containing asbestos insulation.

Specialized Equipment:

• Gaskets for light fixtures requiring heat resistance
• Heater cords with asbestos insulation for temperature control
• Tubing used in grid rheostats and resistance boxes
• Washers were utilized throughout the Bell telephone system
• Asbestos tape for various electrical applications

Additional Products: 

The company also produced or utilized Champion Maxwell spark plugs, D&W railway cut-outs housed in asbestos-lined cases, Fibra-Flo 7C filters containing asbestos (manufactured by Johns-Manville), and Type BF Matthews Fuswitch units made with asbestos boards.

Western Electric included asbestos within its manufacturing process from approximately 1919 until 1974, when federal regulations and increased awareness of its dangers led to them discontinuing its use. This 55-year period of asbestos incorporation affected numerous product lines and exposed countless individuals to the mineral’s health risks.

Workers and Industries Affected by Western Electric’s Asbestos Products

The far-reaching nature of Western Electric’s telecommunications equipment meant that the risks of asbestos exposure from its products extended far beyond its manufacturing facilities. Workers across numerous industries, as well as the military, encountered these products during installation, maintenance, repair, and routine operations.

High-Risk Occupations: 

• Assemblers who handled asbestos-containing components during manufacturing 
• Electricians who installed and maintained Western Electric’s wiring systems 
• Maintenance workers who performed repairs on aging telecommunications equipment 
• Auto engineers and mechanics who faced exposure through automotive electrical systems 
• Boiler workers who encountered asbestos-containing electrical components in industrial settings

Utility and Power Industry Workers: 

• Power line workers 
• Power plant operators
• Power supply planners 
• General utility workers who regularly worked with Western Electric’s electrical equipment 
• Equipment operators 
• Factory workers
• Field service technicians 
• Industrial workers across various sectors

Specialized Trades: 

• Insulators
• Machinists
• Metal workers
• Production specialists
• Welders
• Electric technicians and engineers 

While anyone working with Western Electric’s telecommunications systems, parts, or equipment faced risk due to their frequent handling of wire coverings and electrical components, the risk of exposure wasn’t limited to occupational contact. Secondary exposure posed significant threats to workers’ family members, who breathed in asbestos fibers carried into their homes on their loved ones’ clothing, hair, and skin. Consumers and maintenance personnel also faced risks during normal product use and repair activities, especially as older Western Electric products began breaking down over time.

Health Consequences of Asbestos Exposure

When asbestos-containing materials deteriorate or are disturbed during maintenance, renovation, or normal use, microscopic fibers break off and become airborne, where they can remain suspended for hours. When seen under a microscope, these fibers possess sharp, sometimes hook-like structures that, once inhaled or ingested, can become permanently lodged in lung tissue and the cells of other organs. The fibers’ unique structure makes it nearly impossible for the body to expel them, and once there, they can cause inflammation and cellular damage that can lead to potentially fatal diseases.

Exposure to Western Electric’s asbestos-containing products could result in devastating health outcomes. Many asbestos-related diseases develop invisibly for decades before showing up as serious illnesses. 

The primary health conditions linked to asbestos exposure include:

Mesothelioma – This rare and highly aggressive cancer most commonly grows in the protective lining surrounding the lungs, though it can also appear in the abdominal cavity, or the cavities holding the heart and testicles. Almost always caused by asbestos exposure, mesothelioma is an extremely grave condition: Most patients only live 12 to 21 months after being diagnosed.

Lung Cancer – Asbestos exposure raises the risk of lung cancer, especially among those who also smoke cigarettes. The combined effect creates a significant increase in cancer development.

Asbestosis – This chronic lung condition is not cancerous but is still debilitating. It involves extensive scarring of lung tissue that worsens over time, making breathing increasingly difficult and potentially leading to respiratory failure.

Additional Cancers – There are connections between asbestos exposure and an increased risk of other cancers, including those affecting the larynx, ovaries, and gastrointestinal system.

The latency period for asbestos-related diseases is typically between 20 and 50 years, meaning symptoms may not appear until decades after exposure. This delay can complicate the diagnostic process, as patients and physicians may not immediately connect their current health problems with past asbestos exposure.

Get Professional Support and Compensation

Have you or someone you love been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease after having been exposed to Western Electric products? You may have legal options for pursuing compensation, but the complex and challenging nature of asbestos litigation makes it important that you only use a lawyer with extensive and specific knowledge and experience.

Working with an asbestos attorney offers many important benefits, including access to resources that can identify all the potential sources of your exposure, as well as meticulous collection and compilation of medical evidence that establishes the connection between your illness you’re your exposure, and claim preparation that meets your specific goals and all legal requirements imposed by the courts.

There are several options for compensation, including filing a claim against Western Electric’s successor companies, including any other parties whose products you may have been exposed to. A mesothelioma attorney can also negotiate out-of-court settlements and help you identify any asbestos bankruptcy trusts you may be entitled to file claims against. 

The statute of limitations deadlines that apply to personal injury lawsuits vary by state, so prompt legal consultation is crucial for protecting your rights. An experienced asbestos attorney can evaluate your exposure history, arrange for testimony from expert witnesses, and develop a comprehensive strategy for pursuing all available forms of compensation.