Dunn Sulphite Paper Company
Dunn Sulphite Paper Company is located in Port Huron, Michigan. Theodore W. Dunn opened the Dunn Sulphite Paper Company in 1924, building his mill on the point where Lake Huron spills into the St. Clair River.
In 1965, the Dunn family sold the plant to Dennison Manufacturing, which oversaw a period of significant renovation and expansion. Over the next four decades, the plant cycled through several corporate owners, including James River (1987), Crown Vantage (1995), and Curtis Papers (2000). In 2003 a local management and investment group purchased the facility and the Dunn Paper brand was restored. It remained in operation until November 2022. Over the years, hundreds of workers were exposed to asbestos at the mill.
The mill had always been a paper mill, buying its pulp since startup. It bought mostly virgin bleached pulp, hardwood and softwood, all from North American sources. At startup in 1924, Dunn Paper could produce 15,000-18,000 tons/yr on two Beloit paper machines with Yankee cylinders that could impart machine grade (MG) properties.
Dennison was interested in the one-time carbonizing paper market. It was this growth in this market that spurred the investment in paper machines 3 and 4 that were installed in 1969 and 1973 respectively. Paper machines 1 and 2 were also making one-time carbonizing once the technology was introduced in the 1950s. High-strength machine grade (MG) papers were needed for one-time carbonizing and Dunn had the ability to produce them. At one point in the 1970s, all four paper machines were making one-time carbonizing. The growth of thermal paper spelled the end of the one-time carbonizing era. Therefore, in the 1970s, the company invested heavily in product development in an effort to re-invent itself. This led to its production of bleached coated and uncoated packaging papers.
Most recently Dunn Paper Company was manufactured specialty papers for high performance applications. Projects included a new reel and waxer for PM 1; the conversion of one of the mill’s two power boilers to burn No. 6 fuel oil (giving the mill a hedge on natural gas); a new broke pulping system allowing the mill to pump broke to any of the four paper machines; and 25 separate energy projects that yielded more than $1.9 million in savings.
It offered dry wax, uncoated, coated, and fluorocarbon treated papers for use in fast food and other food service applications; thermal transfer bases, matte and security labels, release bases, and beverage labels for the label and release base market; flexible packaging products, such as coated and uncoated pouch papers for converters; and specialty bag papers for pharmacy, novelty, merchandise, multiwall, theater popcorn, cookie, bread, and single-layer paper bag applications.
Due to the paper making process asbestos was used extensively and located thru out the plant on condensers, compressors, the digestors, evaporators, heat exchangers, fans, pumps, pipelines, valves, and other equipment including the paper machines and the pulp making equipment. Asbestos-containing brakes, blankets, clothing, clutches, gaskets, steam hoses, steam joints, composite pipes, packing and other asbestos-materials were used.
The Dunn Paper Company plant consisted of numerous departments. In addition to the Stock preparation and paper machine departments there was the coating, laboratory, shipping & finishing, rollwrap, maintenance and construction, powerhouse and wastewater treatment departments. Many of these departments required electrical power and steam to run the equipment to make the paper.
The powerhouse had two steam generating boilers and one electrical generating steam operated turbine. The boilers had stokers and ash handling equipment for stoking the boilers with coal and removing the ash produced by burning the coal. There was also one hot water supply boiler on the premises. Other powerhouse equipment included deaerators, condensers, feedwater systems, heat exchangers, fans, pumps, valves and compressors. In addition to the two steam generating boilers there was also one hot water supply boiler at the plant. There were also steam powered turbines that drove pumps, paper machines, and other equipment.
Asbestos Exposure at Dunn Sulphite Paper Company
Asbestos exposure in paper mills occurs through construction and equipment maintenance. Since pulping, recovery, and boiler operations involve high heat and steam asbestos was used to insulate boilers, piping systems, turbines and other vessels, which maintenance and production workers often encountered. Maintenance personnel were also at a high risk of exposure because asbestos gaskets, hoses, packing and other materials were present in the mill machinery that they were required to inspect and repair. The various materials used to build paper mills such as industrial adhesives, ceiling and floor tiles, insulated piping contained asbestos, and if workers encountered deteriorating materials, they may have been exposed to and inhaled asbestos fibers.
Maintenance workers were not the only paper mill employees at risk of asbestos exposure. Just working inside the plant posed a threat to asbestos exposure because the large amount of asbestos dust that collected in the air could be inhaled by any worker in the plant.
Production workers also were exposed during the making of the paper on the machines which included a drying process where asbestos containing dryer felts or fabrics are used to enhance the production of high-speed paper machines. After the pulp passes through the initial chemical and mechanical processing stages, the paper product is run through the paper machine, and the dryer sections remove the leftover moisture. During daily routine operations and maintenance, asbestos dust was released from dryer felts in dryer machines. When the dryer felts had to be replaced, workers were exposed to asbestos particles when they hand cut and fitted the new felt into the machines. The paper machine sections are often run by steam turbines which drive line shafts. Each line shaft has a brake and clutch system.
Once these fibers are inhaled, they can become lodged in organ tissues and remain there throughout a worker’s life. The accumulation of these fibers can cause fibrosis and scarring that lead to the development of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses 10 – 40 years later. Even if you smoked you may be entitled to compensation if you are suffering from an asbestos related disease.
Occupations at Risk for Asbestos Exposure, Manistique Paper Mill
- Maintenance: Construction and Maintenance Mechanics, Electricians, Insulators, Machinists, Oilers, Painters, Pipefitters, Welders and other trades. They construct, maintain, and repair the equipment throughout the plant.
- Powerhouse: Boiler and Turbine Operators, and Maintenance Men, they operate and monitor the boilers, turbines, condensers, and compressors.
- Material Handling: Hi-Lo Operators, Crane Operators, Equipment Operators, Laborers, Sludge Operators and Tractor Operators. They handle and move the logs, chips, and sludge for the mill.
- Wood Processing: Chipman, Chip Plant Operator, Liquors Mixer, Operators, and Utility Workers. They operate and monitor the chipper and send processed wood to pulp mill.
- Pulp Mill: Effluent Treater, Pulp Operator and Secondary Treatment. They cook the wood chips into pulp and treat it with chemicals.
- Paper Mill Machine: Back Tender, Beater Room Operator and Helper, Brakeman, Paper Machine Tender. They take the pulp and turn it into paper through the various sections on the paper machine.
- Shipping: Car loader, Power Trucker, Trackmobile Operator and Weigher. Prepare the paper for shipping to customers.
- Maintenance Foreman and Supervisors: They schedule and supervise the maintenance and repair of the papermill buildings and equipment.
- Truck and Tractor Operators: They operate truck and or tractors to move raw materials (forest logs), chips and equipment in the mill.
- First Line Supervisors/Managers Production and Operating Workers: They directly supervise and coordinate production and operations employees (Precision Workers, Inspectors, Machine Setters and Operators, Assemblers, Fabricators, and Plant and System Operators.
- Industrial Production Managers: They plan, coordinate, or direct the manufacturing process.
- Engineers – They coordinate, plan and schedule construction and maintenance projects.
Asbestos was used in products such as paper machine dryer felts, pipe coverings, chemical pipe, building materials, insulation, gaskets, packing and brakes used in paper mill machinery in mills that were built between the 1900s and 1970s. Asbestos was also used in insulation and could be found in cement blocks, cements and pipe covering used on boilers, blowers, condensers, digesters, evaporators, heat exchangers, piping, pumps, and turbines.
Equipment at Dunn Sulphite Paper Company that contained asbestos include: boilers, compressors, heat exchangers, fans, stokers, paper machines, turbines, pumps, valves and also had asbestos-containing materials including brakes, dryer felts, gaskets, packing, steam hoses and joints.
Why Does it Matter Dunn Sulphite Paper Company is in our Job site Database?
Dunn Sulphite Paper Company is one of tens of thousands of jobsites in our database.
In order to successfully pursue an asbestos claim, your lawyer needs to be familiar with the jobsites you worked at, including:
- the companies that employed you,
- the products they purchased and used, and
- the companies who produced those products;
- depositions, testimony of other asbestos disease victims
- documentation from the Plant and Defendants
After more than 40 years pioneering asbestos litigation, we have a vast knowledgebase covering things such as company diagrams, invoices from asbestos product manufacturers, revealing company memos demonstrating their knowledge of the risks, asbestos product packaging through the years, depositions from leading experts, and medical and scientific literature dating from the late 1800s to the current day.
Being familiar with many different industries, manufacturers, and products means we can efficiently and effectively identify all the asbestos containing products that contributed to your injury. It’s a breadth of knowledge gained from years of experience representing victims of asbestos exposure.
If you or a loved one have questions regarding asbestos exposure at Dunn Sulphite Paper Company or anywhere in Port Huron, we have Michigan-based and licensed lawyers with over 50 combined years of experience that would be able to assist you. Attorneys John Kelsey and John Pomerville have been representing Michigan asbestos victims in the lower and upper peninsulas for over 25 years.
If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma call Goldberg, Persky & White, to preserve your legal rights as this is a time sensitive matter and knowing the facts will help you make the best medical and legal decisions possible and help you recover financial compensation for medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering.
Dunn Sulphite Paper Company
Dunn Sulphite Paper Company is located in Port Huron, Michigan. Theodore W. Dunn opened the Dunn Sulphite Paper Company in 1924, building his mill on the point where Lake Huron spills into the St. Clair River.
In 1965, the Dunn family sold the plant to Dennison Manufacturing, which oversaw a period of significant renovation and expansion. Over the next four decades, the plant cycled through several corporate owners, including James River (1987), Crown Vantage (1995), and Curtis Papers (2000). In 2003 a local management and investment group purchased the facility and the Dunn Paper brand was restored. It remained in operation until November 2022. Over the years, hundreds of workers were exposed to asbestos at the mill.
The mill had always been a paper mill, buying its pulp since startup. It bought mostly virgin bleached pulp, hardwood and softwood, all from North American sources. At startup in 1924, Dunn Paper could produce 15,000-18,000 tons/yr on two Beloit paper machines with Yankee cylinders that could impart machine grade (MG) properties.
Dennison was interested in the one-time carbonizing paper market. It was this growth in this market that spurred the investment in paper machines 3 and 4 that were installed in 1969 and 1973 respectively. Paper machines 1 and 2 were also making one-time carbonizing once the technology was introduced in the 1950s. High-strength machine grade (MG) papers were needed for one-time carbonizing and Dunn had the ability to produce them. At one point in the 1970s, all four paper machines were making one-time carbonizing. The growth of thermal paper spelled the end of the one-time carbonizing era. Therefore, in the 1970s, the company invested heavily in product development in an effort to re-invent itself. This led to its production of bleached coated and uncoated packaging papers.
Most recently Dunn Paper Company was manufactured specialty papers for high performance applications. Projects included a new reel and waxer for PM 1; the conversion of one of the mill’s two power boilers to burn No. 6 fuel oil (giving the mill a hedge on natural gas); a new broke pulping system allowing the mill to pump broke to any of the four paper machines; and 25 separate energy projects that yielded more than $1.9 million in savings.
It offered dry wax, uncoated, coated, and fluorocarbon treated papers for use in fast food and other food service applications; thermal transfer bases, matte and security labels, release bases, and beverage labels for the label and release base market; flexible packaging products, such as coated and uncoated pouch papers for converters; and specialty bag papers for pharmacy, novelty, merchandise, multiwall, theater popcorn, cookie, bread, and single-layer paper bag applications.
Due to the paper making process asbestos was used extensively and located thru out the plant on condensers, compressors, the digestors, evaporators, heat exchangers, fans, pumps, pipelines, valves, and other equipment including the paper machines and the pulp making equipment. Asbestos-containing brakes, blankets, clothing, clutches, gaskets, steam hoses, steam joints, composite pipes, packing and other asbestos-materials were used.
The Dunn Paper Company plant consisted of numerous departments. In addition to the Stock preparation and paper machine departments there was the coating, laboratory, shipping & finishing, rollwrap, maintenance and construction, powerhouse and wastewater treatment departments. Many of these departments required electrical power and steam to run the equipment to make the paper.
The powerhouse had two steam generating boilers and one electrical generating steam operated turbine. The boilers had stokers and ash handling equipment for stoking the boilers with coal and removing the ash produced by burning the coal. There was also one hot water supply boiler on the premises. Other powerhouse equipment included deaerators, condensers, feedwater systems, heat exchangers, fans, pumps, valves and compressors. In addition to the two steam generating boilers there was also one hot water supply boiler at the plant. There were also steam powered turbines that drove pumps, paper machines, and other equipment.
Asbestos Exposure at Dunn Sulphite Paper Company
Asbestos exposure in paper mills occurs through construction and equipment maintenance. Since pulping, recovery, and boiler operations involve high heat and steam asbestos was used to insulate boilers, piping systems, turbines and other vessels, which maintenance and production workers often encountered. Maintenance personnel were also at a high risk of exposure because asbestos gaskets, hoses, packing and other materials were present in the mill machinery that they were required to inspect and repair. The various materials used to build paper mills such as industrial adhesives, ceiling and floor tiles, insulated piping contained asbestos, and if workers encountered deteriorating materials, they may have been exposed to and inhaled asbestos fibers.
Maintenance workers were not the only paper mill employees at risk of asbestos exposure. Just working inside the plant posed a threat to asbestos exposure because the large amount of asbestos dust that collected in the air could be inhaled by any worker in the plant.
Production workers also were exposed during the making of the paper on the machines which included a drying process where asbestos containing dryer felts or fabrics are used to enhance the production of high-speed paper machines. After the pulp passes through the initial chemical and mechanical processing stages, the paper product is run through the paper machine, and the dryer sections remove the leftover moisture. During daily routine operations and maintenance, asbestos dust was released from dryer felts in dryer machines. When the dryer felts had to be replaced, workers were exposed to asbestos particles when they hand cut and fitted the new felt into the machines. The paper machine sections are often run by steam turbines which drive line shafts. Each line shaft has a brake and clutch system.
Once these fibers are inhaled, they can become lodged in organ tissues and remain there throughout a worker’s life. The accumulation of these fibers can cause fibrosis and scarring that lead to the development of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses 10 – 40 years later. Even if you smoked you may be entitled to compensation if you are suffering from an asbestos related disease.
Occupations at Risk for Asbestos Exposure, Manistique Paper Mill
- Maintenance: Construction and Maintenance Mechanics, Electricians, Insulators, Machinists, Oilers, Painters, Pipefitters, Welders and other trades. They construct, maintain, and repair the equipment throughout the plant.
- Powerhouse: Boiler and Turbine Operators, and Maintenance Men, they operate and monitor the boilers, turbines, condensers, and compressors.
- Material Handling: Hi-Lo Operators, Crane Operators, Equipment Operators, Laborers, Sludge Operators and Tractor Operators. They handle and move the logs, chips, and sludge for the mill.
- Wood Processing: Chipman, Chip Plant Operator, Liquors Mixer, Operators, and Utility Workers. They operate and monitor the chipper and send processed wood to pulp mill.
- Pulp Mill: Effluent Treater, Pulp Operator and Secondary Treatment. They cook the wood chips into pulp and treat it with chemicals.
- Paper Mill Machine: Back Tender, Beater Room Operator and Helper, Brakeman, Paper Machine Tender. They take the pulp and turn it into paper through the various sections on the paper machine.
- Shipping: Car loader, Power Trucker, Trackmobile Operator and Weigher. Prepare the paper for shipping to customers.
- Maintenance Foreman and Supervisors: They schedule and supervise the maintenance and repair of the papermill buildings and equipment.
- Truck and Tractor Operators: They operate truck and or tractors to move raw materials (forest logs), chips and equipment in the mill.
- First Line Supervisors/Managers Production and Operating Workers: They directly supervise and coordinate production and operations employees (Precision Workers, Inspectors, Machine Setters and Operators, Assemblers, Fabricators, and Plant and System Operators.
- Industrial Production Managers: They plan, coordinate, or direct the manufacturing process.
- Engineers – They coordinate, plan and schedule construction and maintenance projects.
Asbestos was used in products such as paper machine dryer felts, pipe coverings, chemical pipe, building materials, insulation, gaskets, packing and brakes used in paper mill machinery in mills that were built between the 1900s and 1970s. Asbestos was also used in insulation and could be found in cement blocks, cements and pipe covering used on boilers, blowers, condensers, digesters, evaporators, heat exchangers, piping, pumps, and turbines.
Equipment at Dunn Sulphite Paper Company that contained asbestos include: boilers, compressors, heat exchangers, fans, stokers, paper machines, turbines, pumps, valves and also had asbestos-containing materials including brakes, dryer felts, gaskets, packing, steam hoses and joints.
Why Does it Matter Dunn Sulphite Paper Company is in our Job site Database?
Dunn Sulphite Paper Company is one of tens of thousands of jobsites in our database.
In order to successfully pursue an asbestos claim, your lawyer needs to be familiar with the jobsites you worked at, including:
- the companies that employed you,
- the products they purchased and used, and
- the companies who produced those products;
- depositions, testimony of other asbestos disease victims
- documentation from the Plant and Defendants
After more than 40 years pioneering asbestos litigation, we have a vast knowledgebase covering things such as company diagrams, invoices from asbestos product manufacturers, revealing company memos demonstrating their knowledge of the risks, asbestos product packaging through the years, depositions from leading experts, and medical and scientific literature dating from the late 1800s to the current day.
Being familiar with many different industries, manufacturers, and products means we can efficiently and effectively identify all the asbestos containing products that contributed to your injury. It’s a breadth of knowledge gained from years of experience representing victims of asbestos exposure.
If you or a loved one have questions regarding asbestos exposure at Dunn Sulphite Paper Company or anywhere in Port Huron, we have Michigan-based and licensed lawyers with over 50 combined years of experience that would be able to assist you. Attorneys John Kelsey and John Pomerville have been representing Michigan asbestos victims in the lower and upper peninsulas for over 25 years.
If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma call Goldberg, Persky & White, to preserve your legal rights as this is a time sensitive matter and knowing the facts will help you make the best medical and legal decisions possible and help you recover financial compensation for medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering.