PAGE FOUR
MARCH 10,1954
Win Consolation Prize
m
FOLLOWING one of the exciting basketball games in industrial
competition here, Co-Captains Gladys Hamrick, left, and Llew Adams
manage a smile as they hold the Runner-up Trophy which their
team picked up in the Gastonia Industrial Basketball Tournament.
They lost the final tourney game to Shelby in a 63-61 overtime
thriller and thus barely missed getting the Championship Trophy.
^^Flaming Five^ Bowlers
WINDING up a perfect season (24-0 win-loss record), the
Spinning 1st shift duckpin bowlers, above, recently annexed the
league playoff championship in plant-wide competition. The players,
who call themselves the “Flaming Five,” are, left to right, Joker
Jolly, Lewis Clark, Mull Ramsey, Dock Reynolds, and Moses Player.
All-round Athletes
LITTLE League Basketballers—These lads are doing their share
to make Firestone Textiles a contender (and often a winner) in every
Little League sport offered in Gastonia. Many of the faces seen
here are as familiar on the diamond, bowling alleys, etc., as they
are on the basketball playing floor where they presently hold second
place in league competition. In the front row, left to right, are:
Roger Lunsford, Jerry Westbrooks, Kenny Bolick, Sammy Honey
cutt, David Jacobs, Ronnie Lovingood, and Billy Ledford. Second
row: Robert Ramsey, Steve Buchanan, Jack York, Bobbie Tate,
Roland Conrad, Jr., Steve Smith, and Adrian Summey.
Called “Dura-Trac”. . . .
Steel Wire Now Used In Truck Tire Retreads
A new retreading process for 9
molding heavy-duty steel wire in
to the tread contact area of truck
tires has been perfected by The
Firestone Tire & Rubber Company,
according to an announcement by
J. W. Hodgson, Manager, Treading
and Repair Sales.
Hailed as one of the greatest ad
vancements in retreading history,
the wire-equipped new treads, call
ed “Dura-Trac,” will provide great
er traction and improved protec
tion against road failure.
The Dura-Trac wire, having a
heavy gauge steel alloy base and
designed in a zigzag pattern, may
be used in any rib design truck
tire without altering or changing
the design in any way.
In the retreading process, the
wire is looped into the matrix rib
and butted. The tire is then placed
in the mold and cured in the nor
mal manner. The tread rubber,
when heat and pressure are applied
in the mold, flows around the wire
and “sets” it permanently into
the tread stock.
Increased traction is accomplish
ed by the hundreds of steel grip
ping points per rib foot of tread.
While the tire is rolling free, the
tread rib is relaxed and the wire
points do not contact the surface
of the road. When brakes are ap
plied on the truck or when the
vehicle is accelerating or skidding,
the tread rubber stretches and the
steel wire claws reach out and bite
into the road surface.
piRESTO^^E
In The News
(Editor’s Note: In this column,
“Firestone in the News,” the Fire
stone News will quote news and
comments about Firestone, its
people and its products, as they
appeared in the national magazines
and newspapers.)
In the “Akron Beacon Journal”
for December 13, 1953, Joseph E.
Kuebler, Business and Industrial
Editor, quoted the president of the
Packard Company as stating that
tubeless tires will be offered as
optional equipment on new cars in
1954. One of the top lines of
Packard will be equipped with this
premium white wall casing if the
customer wishes, and at the start
only Firestone’s tubeless product
will be available.
“Once a product gets on the
optional list,” he said, “there is a
good chance that eventually it will
become regular equipment.
“Packard’s move is highly sig
nificant to the tire industry,” wrote
Mr. Kuebler. “The belief right a-
long has been that if one car maker
broke the ice and made the tubeless
tire available as optional equip
ment, it wouldn’t be long before
its competitors would do likewise.”
From an article, “What’s New
in Rubber?” in a recent issue of
“Reader’s Digest”:
AIR-BELLOWS rubber springs,
developed by Firestone, replace
metal springs in a new General
Motors bus, producing an unbe
lievably soft, smooth ride. Air
pressure is maintained from the
bus’s compressed-air brake sys
tem. Because air increases its re
sistance the more it is compressed,
there is no limit to the spring’s
ability to absorb loads and jolts;
it never “hits bottom.” Tests by
GM engineers indicate that the new
sjpring, made of super-tough syn
thetic rubber reinforced with ny
lon tire fabric, will last the life
of the bus.
NEWLY retreaded “Dura-Trac” wire truck tire being removed
from mold. The presence of the heavy steel wire embedded in the
tread is easily seen. The Dura-Trac wire retreads, exclusive develop
ment of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, provide increased
traction and added protection against road failures.
Four Important Freedoms
FREEDOM
to W<H1(
where
we
FR
EED
to choose
type woil(
we wish
WORKING CONPITiO
COMM
SEC. 34.66 P. L. & R-
U. S. POSTAGE
PAID
GASTONIA, N. C.
PERMIT NO. 29