NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Bermuda-based Ingersoll-Rand Co., the maker of Thermo King refrigerated trucks, took a $277 million charge in the fourth quarter, boosting its reserve to cover asbestos claims through 2053.

The charge, which is after tax, reflects an increase in the total liability for existing and future claims to $755 million from $217 million, the company said on Friday in a statement. Ingersoll previously set aside a reserve for cases projected seven years ahead, and worked with an independent consultant to determine the total liability.

Ingersoll, which agreed to buy air conditioner maker Trane Inc. for $9.95 billion last month, has resolved more than 208,000 asbestos claims in the past 25 years relating to pumps and compressors. The products were made with gaskets and packings that may have contained asbestos, the company said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Asbestos is a combination of flame-retardant minerals once used in industrial equipment, consumer products and building materials which is linked to asbestosis and mesothelioma, a fatal lung disease. Ingersoll manufactured pumps containing asbestos until the 1980s, according to plaintiffs' lawyer Patrick Haines of the Lanier Law Firm in Houston, Texas, who specialises in asbestos litigation.

More than 60 companies have cited asbestos personal injury lawsuits as the reason for filing for bankruptcy, including Federal-Mogul Corp., which made brake pads containing asbestos. The company exited bankruptcy December 27.

Ingersoll paid $37 million to defend and settle cases last year and had 100,623 open claims as of December 31, according to the regulatory filing. More than 90 percent of claims resulted from non-malignant cases that don't involve mesothelioma.

Ingersoll, which does business from Montvale, New Jersey, gained five cent cents to close at $40.46 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Friday. The stock had lost less than one percent in the past 12 months before Friday.

The $277 million is being recorded as a non-cash charge to earnings of discontinued operations, after taxes, the company said. Ingersoll also recorded an $89 million gain in insurance recoveries during the fourth quarter.