DON’T BE A FOOL; OBEY
the safety rules.
—Roy Hutchins, Ply Twisting,
winner in the 1954 Safety Slo
gan Contest,
OUR TARGET IS NO
ACCIDENTS; WHAT’S YOURS?
—Juanita McDonald, SYC Weav
ing, winner in the 1954 Safety
Slogan Contest.
GASTONIA
VOLUME IV
GASTONIA, N. C., MARCH 10, 1955
NUMBER 5
Fall River Unit
Has Added New
Equipment
To help meet an expected record
demand for foamed rubber pro
ducts in 1955, Firestone Industrial
Pi’oducts Company completed in
stallation in January of 30 presses
■'vhich will increase by one-third
^he capacity for production of
foamex pillows and furniture
cushions at the Company’s Fall
River, Mass., factory.
According to P. P. Crisp, Presi
dent of the Industrial Products
Company, the new production units
Pall River will have a capacity
275,000 pounds of foamed rub-
products each month. The
presses and other equipment in
this unit represent an investment
of more than $900,000.
The new automatic units sup
plement other foamed rubber man
ufacturing equipment at the Fall
River plant, which is one of the
Nation’s largest producers of
ti^ansportation seating, mattresses,
pillows, furniture cushions and
folded and slab stock for use by
furniture manufacturers and do-
^t'yourself homemakers.
According to Mr. Crisp, demand
1955 for these products is ex
pected to be the highest in history.
Plant Here Receives Certificate Of Merit
For Outstanding Safety Record
For significant achievement in industrial safety, Fire
stone Textiles has been awarded the Certificate of Merit of
the North Carolina Industrial Commission. Presentation was
made at the regular quarterly meeting of the Blue Ridge
Safety Council in Shelby, February 10. This is the first time
that the Industrial Commission has awarded this particular
type of certificate in recognition of industrial safety.
In selecting Firestone for the O'
honor, the Commission noted the
overall safety performance of the
plant. Through a study of the
plant’s application to the Com
mission, an appraisal was arrived
at, which included a check of the
number of accident-free man
hours, quality and performance of
the safety program, and the plant’s
cooperation with the state Indus
trial Commission in the safety ac
tivities it sponsors in industry.
THE NORTH CAROLINA In
dustrial Commission, which ad
ministers the Worker’s Compensa
tion Act, has from its beginning
stressed a program of safety edu
cation and promotion with the in
dustrial establishments in North
Carolina. The Blue Ridge Safety
Council is one of eight regional
organizations existing in the in
terest of industrial safety and
sponsored by the commission. In
addition, the Commission sponsors
an annual statewide Industrial
Safety Conference, five statewide
safety contests; teaches industrial
safety courses, supplies industrial
safety films, and organizes safety
committees.
L. B. McAbee, Director of Safety
here, was elected Chairman of the
Blue Ridge Safety Council at the
February 10 meeting in Shelby.
Referring to the Certificate of
Merit which Firestone has receiv
ed, Mr. McAbee pointed out that
the honor represents safety per
formance here during the calendar
year of 1954—the period in which
Firestone Textiles operated more
than a million man hours without
a lost-time accident.
Employees Featured In Journal
Eight Firestone employees are
featured in a Company advertise-
'^®nt in the Journal of College
Placement for March, 1955.
The magazine is published for
college placement directors who
advise and counsel college gradu-
^tes in choosing their life work,
^hereby helping them to succeed.
The eight men are featured as
^^Presentative of the thousands of
college men who are finding suc
cess in their jobs at Firestone.
The ad states that in the years
ahead the Company will need
thousands of other young men
whom it can develop for key po
sitions in the fields of production,
development, time study, engineer
ing, research, sales and account
ing.
;i :
* * *
A FELLER AND HIS DOG need to have a man-to-man talk
now and then. Here Danny Ray Kelly, three and a half years
discusses a few things with Frisky, on the lawn of their home
409 South Vance street. Danny’s father, Don Kelly, is a loom
fix
•s
at Firestone. His maternal grandmother, Mrs. Arlecy Hogan,
a tie-in-hand, and Floyd Kelly, his grandfather, is a second hand
SYc Weaving.
Ten, Five-Year
Service Records
For March
Thirty-one names of employees
have been added to the list of long
term service record holders
here. Nine of them had completed
10 years service; and 22, 5 years,
as of March 1. As of that date, 831
employees had received their
10-year service pins; and 1,903
had received 5-year pins.
Following is the list of em
ployees’ names who completed five
and 10-year records by March 1:
Ten Years
Carding: Laura F. Wiley; Spool
ing: Jessie Kelly, Margaret L.
Head; Rayon Twisting: George
Enlow, Jr.; Allie Bell Jones; Rayon
Weaving: James E. Gaultney, Wil
lie W. Styles, Robert Neely, Willie
L. Geter.
Five Years
Carding: Fred E. Deal, Jr.;
Spinning: Mary E. Herring, Law
rence R. Brown; Spooling: Ophelia
L Wallace, Ruth V. Neal, Bryant
Elders, Jr.; Rayon Twisting: Wil
liam J. Rhyne, Edgar Bruce, Boyd
Gibby, H. F. Bradley, Azaleen
Loudermilk, Early Head and
Frances Lytton,
Rayon Weaving: Christine M.
Davis, Arlecy H. Hogan; Cotton
Weaving: Eula F. Davis, Addie H.
Powers, Pauline A. Moore, Blake
Deanhardt, Sara E. Davis; Cloth
Room: Ruby V. McAllister; Wind
ing: W. S. Huffstetler.
I
H. S. BAUCOM (right). Safety Director of North Carolina
Industrial Commission, presents L. B. McAbee, Safety Director here,
with the Commission’s Certificate of Merit recognizing outstanding
safety performance at the plant during 1954.
President Sees Increases In Use
Of Synthetic Rubber
Substantial increases in the use of synthetic rubber by
foreign countries, as well as by the United States, combined
with a higher 1955 rate of production of natural rubber,
assures the rubber industry of plentiful supplies of its
principal raw material, L. R. Jackson, President of The
Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, stated in early February.
In an analysis of estimated re-O
quirements of rubber in the 12
countries where Firestone operates
rubber plants, Mr. Jackson called
attention to the fact that foreign
countries are planning on using 30
per cent more synthetic rubber in
1955 than in 1954. This significant
increase in use of synthetic rubber
abroad is viewed as just the be
ginning of a movement toward
utilizing the superior qualities of
synthetic cold rubber in passenger
tire treads.
Present indications are that the
rubber industry in the United
States will use 750,000 tons of
synthetic rubber in 1955, which is
115,000 tons more than used in
1954.
THE TREND toward use of
greater amounts of synthetic rub
ber by manufacturers throughout
the world is also accelerated due
to its ready availability and lower
price. It is apparent, Mr. Jackson
added, that recent increases in the
price of natural rubber have been
responsible for the larger syn
thetic rubber reqiurements of
United Kingdom, South Africa,
Switzerland and other countries.
The Firestone President predicts"
there will be a world surplus of
natural rubber over consumption
requirements for 1955.
FOR SAFETY’S SAKE,
KEEP WIDE AWAKE.
—Ralph Dalton, Shop
L.K. Firestone Honored ByBSA
* >K )>
Leonard K. Firestone, President of The Firestone Tire & Rubber
Company of California, has received the Silver Beaver Award of the
Boy Scouts of America, highest honor for service to boyhood given
by a Scout Council.
Mr. Firestone, who served as President of the Los Angeles
Council during 1953, received the award at the Council’s 40th annual
dinner meeting at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on January
27. Presenting the award was Dr. L. F. Thompson, member of the Los
Angeles Council board.
A volunteer in Los Angeles Scouting since 1944, Mr. Firestone
headed the host Council when it carried the heaviest responsibility of
any Council during the National Jamboree in the summer of 1953.
The Council is one of the largest in the world, with a membership of
nearly 50,000.