Debt (Details) (USD $) Share data in Millions, unless otherwise specified	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 29, 2012	Oct. 01, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt	$ 220,120,000		$ 197,741,000
Less current portion of debt	(12,570,000)		(41,265,000)
Long-term debt	207,550,000		156,476,000
Principal amount of debt redeemed	148,926,000	1,902,000
Letters of Credit Outstanding, Amount	10,900,000
Line of Credit Facility, Remaining Borrowing Capacity	139,100,000
6% Subordinated Debentures [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt	0		148,176,000
Debt, stated interest rate (in hundredths)	6.00%
Debt instrument maturity date	Dec. 31, 2014
Principal amount of debt redeemed	148,200,000
Interest paid upon redemption of debentures	1,300,000
Leucadia [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Repurchase of common stock (in shares)	10.4
Total cost of common stock repurchased	427,300,000
2001 Series IRB [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt	8,500,000		9,250,000
Debt, stated interest rate (in hundredths)	1.39%
Credit Facility due 2016 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt	200,000,000		0
Debt, stated interest rate (in hundredths)	1.72%
Mueller-Xingrong line of credit [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt	11,570,000		40,265,000
Debt, stated interest rate (in hundredths)	6.00%
Other [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt	$ 50,000		$ 50,000