IN JANUARY
Jet ‘Shoes’
Successful lab and flight tests
have been completed on Fire
stone aircraft tires to be used
on many of the new Boeing 727
jets. Here is one of them, equip
ped with Firestone tires, during
pre-certification tests. Firestone
labs, simulating flight condi
tions, tested the tires at 225 mph
speeds with top loads of 39,600
pounds on the main landing-gear
tires. Flight runs gave tires
punishing takeoff and emer-
gency-braking tests at high
speeds. Hundreds of the nylon
tubeless tires have been deliver
ed to commercial airlines for use
on short-to-medium-range jets.
Record Tire Shipments,
Rubber Use For UK
PRODUCTS
THAT MAKE
OUR JOBS
Record shipments of passenger
tires and consumption of rubber
in the United Kingdom are pre
dicted this year by M. A. Di-
Federico, president of Firestone
International Company.
His forecast came as Firestone
climaxed observance recently of
the 35th anniversary of the
opening of its first overseas tire
plant at Brentford, England.
DiFederico said the United
Kingdom will ship some 15 mil
lion passenger tires in 1964, com
pared with an estimated 14,-
682,000 last year. The forecast
ments of passenger tires in the
represents an increase of nearly
325 per cent in annual ship-
United Kingdom since 1952.
INCREASED tire shipments
this year will be accompanied
by increase in rubber consump
tion from 305,000 long tons last
year to 315 long tons in 1964,
according to DiFederico.
The Brentford pant, opened in
1928, was expanded the follow
ing year and three times in later
years. More recently, moderniza
tion programs have been com
pleted.
During World War II produc
tion at Brentford turned to mili
tary tires and other defense
products. After the war, facili
ties were further expanded for
peacetime operation.
The plant turns out more than
1,000 sizes and types of tires
from small scooter tires to huge
off-highway tires. It also pro
duces large quantities of tread
and repair materials, rubber-to-
metal bonded parts and ship
fenders.
Savings Bonds
Director Honored
Walter P. Johnson of Greens
boro, state director of the U. S.
Savings Bonds program, has re
ceived a citation for his service
in planning and coordinating na
tionwide payroll savings drives
in industries including textiles.
Mr. Johnson is known to many
employees of the Firestone Gas
tonia plant through his visits
here during the past several
years.
FONEEBS
N TEXT LES
Like other inventions of the
time, opposition to its adoption
was violent and his "machine"
was destroyed by a mob. Little
by little, however, Jacquard
looms were put into operation.
The loom established Lyons,
France, as an art center of the
textile industry. Today, they are
used throughout the American
textile industry for the weaving
of names, monograms, scenic de
signs and intricate patterns in
modern fabrics.
JOSEPH MARIE
CHARLES JACQUARD
A Frenchman, Joseph Marie
Charles Jacquard, was the in
ventor of the loom that bears his
name. His loom is still consider
ed one of the most significant of
the pioneering textile inventions.
Jacquard's loom made it pos
sible to weave unusual and beau
tiful designs into fabrics of all
kinds—wool, cotton, silk, linen.
Financed by the French Gov
ernment, then under Napoleon
Bonaparte, Jacquard designed
his loom using weighted strings,
a pulley and perforated cards.
This same principle was later
used in the player piano and also
gave birth to the punch-card
system used in modern day busi
ness machines.
Many Things Worth A Trip
RECREATION
TRAVEL NOTES
Winter is here but spring is hardly more than
a stone’s throw away from playgrounds in the
Carolinas and other parts of the Mid-South.
Soon after the Christmas season is a memory,
touches of warmer weather appear on the
Southeastern Coast, in the Sandhills and the
Thermal Belt at the foothills of the Carolinas’
high mountain ranges.
Every month in the year brings festivals,
sports events and other special travel attrac
tions. The Firestone travelers can choose from a
list of sports events, garden tours, visits to his
toric shrines.
Plant recreation offers its usual monthly sug
gestions for your on-the-go pleasure and profit
during January.
Space Probes and Satellites • At Morehead
Planetarium, Chapel Hill, the program “Space
Probes and Satellites” begins Jan. 7 and con
tinues through Feb. 3.
The North Carolina mountain country now
has a major tourist season extender in the form
of winter-sports facilities. A combination of
manmade snow and skiing as a popular pastime
have provided this state two main slopes with
other facilities—at Cataloochee Ranch in the
Great Smokies and at Blowing Rock in the Blue
Ridge. Of others being provided, one at Shulls
Mills near Boone is scheduled for limited opera
tion early this year. All of them offer an Alpine
flavor.
Variety in the Thermal Belt • In the Try on,
Polk county, area on the southern slopes of the
Blue Ridge is the unusual Thermal Belt noted
for its mild winters. The town of Tryon attracts
many visitors year-round, with its native handi
crafts, varied activities and natural resources.
Points of interest:
Lake Adger, Lake Lanier, Melrose Falls, Old
Blockhouse — a pre-Revolutionary structure
built as an Indian trading post and fort, Pear
son’s Falls, Skunkawaken Falls and famed Toy
House just off US 176 where you find unusual
handmade toys.
New Bern—Antiquity and More • “You ma)'
think you’ve been everywhere and seen every'
thing, but have you seen New Bern?” asks
recreation. This history-clad city near the cen
tral NC coast is most famed for its restored
Tryon Place, home of the last Royal Governor
of the state.
Completed in 1770, Tryon Palace was the
fixed colonial capitol and the first state capita
of North Carolina. It is elaborately furnished
with period pieces.
New Bern abounds with other historic housed
including the John Wright Stanly House buil^
in the 1770s and now the public library, the
more-Oliver House from the late 18th century
and now headquarters of the New Bern KiS'
torical Association, First Presbyterian Churd^
dating to a century and a half ago, and
Paul’s Roman Catholic Church (1841) oldest °
that faith in the state.
Mapped tours guide guests to points of int®r'
est, including those already listed, and Louis^
ana House, Haslen House—site of the first
printing office, and New Bern Academy.
of interest is Firemen’s Museum, with its
hibit of antique fire-fighting relics, murals an
pictures.
NC Museum of Art • Highlighting
scheduled
events in the state for January is the A war
Winners Exhibition at the NC Museum of
in Raleigh, Jan. 18.
A sampling of sports events are Mid-Wint^^
Skeet Championship at Pinehurst, Jan.
9th annual Southeastern Brittany Club
Trials at Pinehurst, 27-30; and major-colle^^
basketball at Durham, Jan. 11, 30; Winsto>^'
Salem, 13; Raleigh, 18, 25; Greensboro, 25.
James
Barker—Shop
SERVICE
RECORDS
FOR
DECEMBER
As December 1938 began,
James C. Barker of the shop
put in his first day of em
ployment here. Before 1964
arrived, he was well into his
26th year on the job.
While he was marking his
quarter-century anniversary, 11
others here joined the long list
of those who stay on their jobs
a long time. The list:
Twenty Years
Roy Bruce Bagwell and Tom
McClure, twisting (synthetics);
Jasper McCollum, warehouse;
Edna M. Smith, quality control;
Era Gribble, weaving (synthet
ics).
Fitfeen Years
Violet R. Painter and Hillard
E. Terry, twisting (synthetics).
Ten Years
Dewey L. Smith and Virginia
Mae Wilson, twisting (synthet
ics).
Five Years
Wiley Hardin, twisting (syn
thetics); Judson Bert Looper,
weaving (cotton).
Barker received the standard
appreciation gift of $100 and 25-
New Classes At Textile School
A new series of classes in five
major subjects began Jan. 2 at
North Carolina Vocational Tex
tile School, Belmont. Courses
are in yarn manufacturing,
weaving and designing, knitting,
mill maintenance, and tailoring.
It takes two years to com
plete a course at NCVTS—one
year of foundation study and
one year of advanced. A di-
Southern Division
Has New Manager
William F. Smith, 44, is new
manager of the company’s South
ern Division. Before this ap
pointment, he was manager of
Firestone’s Memphis (Tenn.)
sales district.
The Southern Division in
cludes South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
Arkansas, Louisiana, and parts
of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri,
and North Carolina.
Smith joined the company at
Memphis in 1938. He served in
World War II, then rejoined
Firestone. In 1947 he became
vice president and general man
ager of The Great Southern Fire-
year service pin. The 20-year
record-holders were awarded
a gold watch and service pin,
while others marking annivers
aries received service pins.
ploma is awarded upon cbr^P^®
tion of each course.
Any resident of North
lina who attends the school as^^
non-veteran (military) is ^
charged tuition.
“It has been our experie^*
that the person who attends t ^
school upon suggestion of his ]
supervisor, makes the best
dent,” said Chris E. Folk,
pal, in announcing the
classes. “In all cases the traini^^
gained here is bound to impr°
the student’s work perforrnan
and skills on the job,” hea^^^
stone Stores, returned to
stone in 1960. He became rr>a^^
ager of the Memphis district i
1961.
As Southern Division
ager, he is headquartered
Akron, Ohio.
‘F Highways
Save Lives
The Bureau of Public
credits the nation’s inters
highway system with savinS^^^
000 lives per year, mostly
cause of limited intersections
the superroads. ^
When the 41,000-mile
of superhighways is finish®
should prevent the deaths
some 8,000 motorists a year,
the Bureau of Public Roads-
January, 1964
Volume XIII
Page 2
Number 1
☆ ☆ ☆
Published by The Firestone
Tire & Rubber Company,
Firestone Textiles Division,
Gastonia, North Carolina.
Claude C. Callaway, Editor
O South Allantic Council of Indus
trial Editors
PLANT REPORTERS
Carding—Payton Lewis
Cloth Room—Margie Waldrep
Industrial Relations—Flora Pence
Main Office—Bea McCarter
Mechanical Department—Rosie Fran-
cum
Quality Control — Sallie
Louella Queen, Leila Rape
Bradsb®^
Twisting (cotton)—Elmina
Twisting (synthetics)—Vera
Elease Cole, Annie Cosey
Elkins, Catherine Fletcher 0
Warehouse—Nancy Cloninger gv®**
Robinson, Israel Good, ^
Rainey
Weaving (cotton)—Ruth Veitch
Weaving (synthetics)—Mary E. ^
son, Irene O'Dell, Mayzelie
Ophelia Wallace
Winding—Nell Bolick, Ruth