PAGE TWO
NEWS
JANUARY 10, 1955
Mrs, Fletcher Is First-Place Winner
Of Annual Football Bowl Contest
Mrs. Catherine Fletcher won the
recent annual Football Bowl Con
test. As top winner in the contest
ending December 30, and sponsor
ed by the Recreation Department,
Mrs. Fletcher became eligible for
the prize of $15.
In the rivalry which consisted in
selecting victors and actual scores
of the nation’s outstanding football
teams which played on December
30 and January 1, Mrs. Fletcher
picked all team winners correctly.
She also predicted the actual total
score of 168, amassed by teams
which played in the six major
sports bowls.
Second place went to Mrs.
Dell Morgan, who missed the cor
rect prediction of total scores by
two points. George Liles took third
place by guessing within four
points of the actual total score.
Mrs. Morgan and Liles picked all
six team winners accurately. For
f.econd place the prize was $10;
for third, $5.
The following persons qualified
for “honorable mention” for pick
ing correctly all six winning teams,
but missing the guess on the total
score:
Ophelia Wallace, George Dill, G.
C. Smith, Janice Tino, Charles P.
McArver, Donnie R. Medlin, Ruth
Neal, J. B. Easier, Roscoe Blanton,
Jean Brock, Robert Nash, Jr., Eu
gene Morris, Samuel Price.
Eunice Jacobs, Beatrice Moss,
Delsie Merritt, Lloyd Smith,
Ethlene Nichols, J. T. Merritt, Vir
ginia Smith, J. E. Spencer, and
Thomas Grant.
Voice Of Firestone
Programs Listed
Robert Merrill, Brian Sullivan,
Barbara Gibson and Cesare Siepi,
and Patrice Munsel have been list
ed as visiting artists on the Voice
of Firestone radio-television pro
grams over the American Broad
casting Company, for January 10,
17, 24, and 31.
Complete listings of entertain
ment on the programs are:
January 10; Espana Cali, by
Marquion, Firestone Orchestra and
Chorus; Ay Ay Ay, Friere, Robert
Merrill; La Bomba de Vera Cruz,
Tucci, Orchestra; Roreador Song,
from “Carmen,” Bizet, Merrill and
Chorus; Fm Falling In Love With
Someone, from “Naughty Mari
etta,” Herbert, Merrill; Rakoczy
March, Berlioz, Orchestra; Thine
Alone, from “Eileen,” Herbert,
Merrill and Chorus.
* * ^i:
January 17: Come to the Fair, by
Martin, Orchestra and Chorus; The
Night Is Young and You’re So
Beautiful, Suesse, Brian Sullivan;
Buglers Holiday, Anderson, Or-
ches'tra; Rose of Tralee, Glover,
Sullivan and Chorus; La Donna E
Mobile, from “Rigoletto,” Verdi,
Sullivan; Polka, from “Bartered
Bride,” Smetana, Orchestra; I
Dream of You, Goetschius, Sulli
van and Chorus.
January 24: Tico Tico, by Abreu,
Orchestra; Some Enchanted Even
ing, from “South Pacific,” Rodgers,
Cesare Siepi; La Danza, Rossini,
Barbara Gibson; Trio, from
“Faust,” Gounod, Gibson, Siepi and
Chelsea; Whispering Hope, Haw
thorne, Gibson and Siepi; Inter
mezzo, from “L’Amico Fritz,”
Mascagni, Orchestra; Will You Re
member, from “Maytime,” Rom
berg, Gibson and Siepi.
January 31: Mignonette, from
“The Red Mill,” by Herbert, Or
chestra and Chorus; When I Grow
Too Old To Dream, Romberg, Pa
trice Munsel; Minuet, Beethoven,
Orchestra; Gavotte, from “Manon,”
Massenet, Munsel and Chorus;
Black Is The Color On My True
Love’s Hair, traditional, Munsel;
Dance of the Cammoristi, from
“Jewels of the Madonna,” Wolf-
Ferrari, Orchestra; I’ll Follow My
Secret Heart, Coward, Munsel and
Chorus.
Cord-Treating
(Continued From Page 1)
out of the synthetic cords by ap
plying controlled tension at precise
temperatures, thereby locking the
cords and giving them a perman
ent “set,” preventing tread crack
ing and ply separation.
Until recently these operations
were performed by separate pro
cesses, a costly and time-consum-
ing operation. The new unit now
combines and performs these two
operations in one continuous pro
cess making mass production pos
sible and assuring uniform quality.
The new process has been under
development for several years and
its exclusive features were design
ed by Company engineers, accord
ing to Raymond C. Firestone, Ex
ecutive Vice-President of the
Company, and in charge of de
velopment and engineering, who
stated that it is the first one in the
rubber industry designed for the
processing of both rayon and nylon.
Describing the operation, Mr.
Firestone said.
“A factory in itself, the new ten
sion gum-dip unit contains a
FIRESTONE NEWS
Volume IV, No. 1, January 10, 1955
Published by The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company
Firestone Textiles Division
Gastonia, North Carolina
Department of Public Relations
CLAUDE CALLAWAY, Editor
Department Reporters
CARDING—Edna Harris, Jim Ballew, Jessie Westmoreland.
SPINNING—Ray Thomas, Mary Turner, Maude Johnson.
SPOOLING—Nell Bolick, Helen Reel, Rosalee Burger.
TWISTING—Pearl Aldridge, Dean Haun, Carrie Johnson, Lorene
Owensby, Dorothy Baber, Kathleen Clark.
SALES YARN TWISTING—Bonnie Dockery.
SYC WEAVING—Vivian Bumgardner, Lucille Davis, Sara Davis,
Nina Milton, Juanita McDonald.
CORD WEAVING—Roy Davis, Irene Burroughs, Mary Johnson.
QUALITY CONTROL-—Dealva Jacobs, Leila Rape, Louella Queen.
WINDING—Mayzelle Lewis, Dorcas Atkinson, Ann Stevenson,
Christine Stroupe.
CLOTH ROOM—Margie Waldrop.
SHOP—Rosa Francum.
WAREHOUSE—George Harper, Albert Meeks.
PLASTIC DIP—Frances Huffman.
MAIN OFFICE—Mozelle Brockman.
SUPERINTENDENT’S OFFICE—Sue Van Dyke.
PERSONNEL OFFICE—Barbara Abernathy.
chemical mixing section, giant gas-
fired, multiple heat-treating tow
ers, and bank after bank of huge,
individually powered tension rolls.
All parts are operated from a
single electronic brain center.
From this center constant control
is maintained at 56 different lo
cations to produce properly ten-
sioned and gum-dipped rayon and
nyoln for tires where every cord
must be equally strong to assure
motorists of maximum tire safety.”
* * *
To feed this giant tension gum-
dip unit, the largest rolls of fabric
ever produced from looms are be
ing made by the textile division of
the Company in Gastonia. Each
roll, or beam, contains approxi
mately 5,000 miles of cord.
As the cords pass through the
tension gum-dipping unit develop
ed by Firestone, they are softened
with a secret chemical solution,
then stretched and tempered in a
three-stage bank of powerful
water-cooled tension rolls and high-
temperature, direct, gas-fired
ovens. This conditions the fabric
to absorb the penetrating gum dip
which gives greater adhesion of the
rubber to the fabric than ever
known before.
Since there is no natural ad
hesion of either rayon or nylon to
rubber, the conditioning of the
fabric and the penetration charac
teristics of the gum dip are all im
portant.
Mr. Firestone stated that until
recently Firestone was the only
company to use the original gum-
dipping process for all of its tire
fabrics. Although Firestone de
veloped this extra quality process
for cotton tire cords 25 years ago,
it was not until the development
of rayon and nylon fabric tires
that other companies recognized
the necessity of dipping cord
fabric to assure motorists of
maximum safety in their tires.
* * *
This background of more than
a quarter of a century in develop
ing new and better gum-dipping
processes and solutions laid the
groundwork for the development of
the revolutionary new production
unit at Gastonia that now is con
tinuously producing the new safe-
ty-tensioned, gum-dipped tire
fabric for Firestone tires.
The unit has been under develop
ment for six years and most of its
exclusive features were designed
by Firestone engineers. Actual con
struction was begun early in 1954.
At every stage in the process, elec
tronic measuring devices and con
trols maintain constant tensions,
temperatures, speeds and thick
nesses of the fabric.
“This new unit is just one more
step in our Company’s continuous
program to provide the best tire
body to be used in the tire indus
try,” said Mr. Firestone. “Because
of characteristics peculiar to
synthetic cord, this special treat
ment is essential to stretch and
‘set’ the cord before it goes into
tires.”
In the gum-dipping process, the
cords are saturated with a solution
of chemicals and liquid rubber,
making them adhere more firmly
to the rubber body of the tire,
thus giving them greater ability
to withstand the thousands of
flexes which occur as the tire re
volves.
To keep the unit in continuous
operation. Firestone engineers de
veloped special automatic roll-
changing and fabric-splicing equip
ment. The splicing equipment' ex
erts a pressure of 900 pounds per
square inch, providing strong
splices that will allow the fabric
to go through the unit smoothly.
S
Waiter Tate, checks the wind-up operation as the safety-
tensioned, gum-dipped cord fabric is rolled off for shipment to
Firestone tire plants.
igat
A motion picture crew visited the gum-dipping factory and
made a newsreel which was shown on 150 television stations across
the country December 30. Here L. G. Caldwell, technical director of
Firestone Motion Pictures, Akron, Ohio, adjusts the camera, while
Horace Robinson (left) and J. G. Tino, Jr., arrange the lighting
equipment.
3
General Superintendent Nelson Kessell (center) explains
operation to one group of editors and writers who toured the cord-
treating unit December 29 and 30. Clyde Moss, Assistant to Super'
intendent Kessell; General Manager Harold Mercer; and FranciS
Galligan, Superintendent of the Cotton Division, are shown with
the group.
To cut down the number of
splices needed to keep the unit
supplied with fabric, the largest
rolls ever produced in a tire fabric
plant are being used. These are 53
inches in diameter, five feet wide,
weigh 3,480 pounds and contain
4,200 yards of fabric and nearly
5,000 miles of cord—enough
reach one-fifth of the way arou^^
the world. The nylon cord beio^
used contains approximately
000 miles of filaments, enough
three round trips to the moon.