CASTONIA • NORTH CAROLINA
AN ALL-AMERICA CITY
VOLUME XIV - NUMBER t
JANUARY • 1965
Tir«$ton«
Janice, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. L. B. Grant, shows «
^mily heirloom clock belonging to her father who is employed ii
*^isting (synthetics).
Clocks
Primitive man discovered
^ere was a fourth dimension
^nd he was off on a search for a
to measure it. The sun’s
^ily appointed journey led him
to divide Time into useful
and in ages since, there
come such contrivances as
^adow sticks, hourglasses, sun-
clocks and watches.
^rom the ancients to the age
Of
space.
clocks in one form or
^^other have ordered men’s
iVes—marking off their labor-
hours as well as their mo-
^snts of leisure.
The passing centuries and
^®ir civilizations have produced
AND SOME THOUGHTS
FOR A NEW YEAR
many a different style of clock,
but their reason for being re
mains the same—to remind us
that
• Time’s chief purpose is to
teach us that life is temporary,
and viewed as such, we can un
derstand at least a little of the
meaning and magnitude of
Eternity.
• Time is Opportunity which
cannot be stayed, and all we can
possess of it is the Present Mo
ment.
• We had best appropriate its
hours wisely, if we would get
Today’s work done and be ready
for Tomorrow’s challenge.
Scouting Award To Donald Hull
Donald, son of Mr. and Mrs.
obert Hull Sr., received his
and Country Award in
Routing in late December. His
^ther is manager of quality
^^ntrol at Firestone. Donald, an
Scout since last spring, is
^ Member of Troop 4, sponsored
by First AR Presbyterian
Church.
His brother, Robert Jr., also
holds Eagle rank and has the
God and Country Award. Robert
is a first-year student at the
school of engineering of NC
State College.
Your Symbol
of Quality
and Service
VISITING PRESIDENT
Hathaway: Good Future For Textiles
Firestone President Earl B. Hathaway toured the Gas
tonia plant last month and called it “a vital operation in the
company’s continuing progress.” With him from Akron
were L. J. Campbell, vice president of the company’s non
tire facilities, and Richard M. Sawyer, president of textile
operations.
Visit of the executives to Gas- banner year ahead for the rub-
tonia came when the company ber industry,
was announcing its year-end re- "OUR PLANT at Gastonia is
port of the best year in its his- doing a wonderful job of mak-
tory, and predicting another ing fabric for our tire plants”.
Tax Papers
Are Coming;
File Early
If you do it early you can
have a load off your mind
while rejoicing at the refund
—that is, if you have one
coming. The word is from
payroll supervisor Mrs. Eula
Wilson, who each year at
this time puts out the re
minder on filing State and
Federal income tax returns.
Mrs. Wilson’s department
will soon be distributing to
employees the NC and Fed
eral withholding statements,
putting them into the hands
of wage earners before Janu
ary is over.
“By all means, take care of
your filing forms. When you
go to report them, carefully
follow instructions on the
back of each form,” she ad
vises.
If you have any change in
your status that would af
fect your tax exemptions, re
port them to the payroll de
partment. For this, first and
second-shift people go to the
payroll office itself, while
third-shift people go to the
first-aid nurse on duty.
Note: April 15 is deadline
date for filing individual in
come tax returns.
said Mr. Hathaway. “With in
creasing demand for tires, our
tire-cord operations in 1965 and
in the years ahead should re
main progressive — considering
that by 1969 the tire industry
expects to sell at least 165 mil
lion new and retread replace
ment tires a year”, he said.
President Hathaway pointed
to the company’s plans for mod
ernization, while speaking of
the year-end report which show
ed that the 1964 fiscal year was
the greatest period ever for
sales and profits.
Referring to new develop
ments in tires and other prod
ucts, the president told of the
company’s expansion of facili
ties in 1964 and of expansion
and improvement underway.
Looking at 1965 as promising
the best months in the com
pany’s 65-year history, he said
“Our industry will continue its
research and development ef
forts, paving the way for new
and improved products for the
home, farm, national defense,
industry, and especially for the
individual car owner.”
"xl 'b:
r
W
OPERATION TIRE FABRIC • Visiting Presi
dent Earl Hathaway (second from left) observed
tire-cord weaving with (from left) Richard M.
Sawyer, president of textiles; L. J. Campbell,
vice president of the company's non-tire facili
ties; Gastonia general manager Harold Mercer,
and E. S. Sweeney, manager of Firestone Tex
tiles, Bennettsville.
Officials From Eleven Tire Plants Saw Fabric Production gastonia
Thirty - four officials in-
J-^ding factory production
^anagers from 11 Firestone
plants in North America
. production and technical
?P ■■ management men from
^ron, toured the Gastonia
Want on one day of a three-
Charlotte conference in
^cember,
J-he conference, one of two,
t\f the company has for its
‘^^'th American tire plants each
in time
^he Southeast, and scheduled
for Charlotte so that those at
tending could visit the Gastoiiia
facility and observe and study
tire-cord production.
H. H. Weidenmann, vice presi
dent (tire production), and R. J.
Luebbers, production manager,
domestic tire plants, presided
over the Charlotte conference
and led the group on the tour
here, where plant general man
ager Harold Mercer was host.
Joining the group were Rich
ard M. Sawyer, president of the
company’s textile facilities; and
E. S. Sweeney, manager of Fire
stone Textiles at Bennettsville,
S. C.
AT GASTONIA, visiting of
ficials in six groups simultane
ously toured production and
shipping facilities, each group
led by a guide from the Gas
tonia plant. They observed ply
and cable twisting, weaving,
splicing, multi - stage, chafer,
packaging, warehouse and ship
ping operations; and the quality
control setup.
Visitors received information
sheets to help tour guides furth
er explain the operations ob
served.
Conferences such as the Char
lotte meeting are scheduled so
managers and production man
agers of the company’s tire
plants throughout North Ameri
ca can review developments and
study and plan manufacturing
methods. Meetings are held at
various locations where Fire
stone has production installa
tions related to tires.
Following the plant visit, the
PLANT TOUR
conferees went to the Gastonia
Country Club where they at
tended a dinner meeting with
plant officials and tour guides.
At this session, visiting officials
had opportunity to review and
study methods of tire cord pro
duction to which they had been
introduced on the tour here. Mr.
Mercer and Mr. Sawyer led a
question-and-answer discussion.
More Story and Pictures
On page 2