JULY 11,1955
T1r«$fon« SfSWi
PAGE THREE
Machine Operator Vital To Quality Control
People who buy manufac
tured products have the priv
ilege of choice. And people
demand top quality. This is
true of the textile industry,
and as an example, today’s
demand for greater uniform
ity in cotton yarns makes it
necessary that manufacturers
have exact methods of testing
their products at each step in
processing.
IT IS EASY to understand the
importance of testing in its in
fluence on yarn uniformity. But
testing is naturally limited be
cause it is physically impossible
to check every pound of yarn that
is made. We must depend more
and more on the performance of
machinery, the efficiency of the
operators, the consistency of the
materials used, in order to insure
the production of yarns and fab-
^'ics of highest quality.
Here at Firestone the finest
and most efficient tools obtain
able are used in the labora
tory. With this testing equipment
We can determine just what quali
ties there are in the product of any
given operation. Most important,
We can detect any irregularities
or flaws in the product.
We keep a close control on
quality, all the way from the bale
of cotton as it enters the manu
facturing process, to the finished
yarn or fabric. Raw cotton stock is
tested for color, characteristic,
content of moisture, length of fi
ber, and amount of foreign mat
ter. If cotton fails to meet the
standard, we reject it; if it is ap
proved, we process it and keep a
’^igid control on the weight and
evenness of the picker laps, card
and drawing sliver and roving.
OBSERVE YARN DEFECT—Spinning Overseer Sam Guffey
points out to Card Department Supervisor A. A. Gaddis and Quality
Control Inspector Claude Stewart a very pronounced pattern un
evenness in cotton yarn. This defect was made on a spinning frame
in which a crooked roll was intentionally placed to create this pat
tern effect. While defects of this nature are normally caused by
mechanical failures, they can be more readily detected by the ma
chine operator than by routine laboratory testing of this product.
The amount of waste removed,
cleanliness of cotton, and the gen
eral appearance of the product
are all closely checked.
In the spinning operation the
finished yarn is tested for strength,
twist and evenness. Our electronic
testing equipment such as the
Varimeter and the Uster tester
has partially eliminated the hu
man element method of testing.
TESTING MACHINES are good,
but we must not forget that em
ployees on the job contribute
much toward quality control. In
our cotton spinning room during
a one-hour period there are ap-
Boehler With Company 15 Years
William Boehler,
Weaving Overseer at
Firestone Text iles
during 1950 - 1951,
'vas recently honored
in New York, upon
his completion of 15
years service with
the Company.
He is now Textile
Sales Engineer in the
Velon Yarn Division
of the Firestone
I^lastics Com pany,
and is with the New
^ork Sales Office.
Here Stuart G.
Keiller, (left) man
ager of the Velon
Yarn Division of the
Firestone P 1 a s tics
★ ★ ★
Co
m p a n y , hands
Hoehler a 15 - year
Sold pin.
proximately 1500 ends down to be
pieced up, 12,500 bobbins of yarn
to be doffed, 1200 doffing ends to
be pieced up, 1800 bobbins of rov
ing to be creeled. These and
numerous other tasks which, if
performed carelessly, can contri
bute to poor quality of yarn. For
this reason, much of the respon
sibility for making a good product
lies in the hands of the machine
operator.
HOW DOES the operator come
into the picture of a quality prod
uct ? He can take care in per
forming his tasks, and beyond
that, can point out to the supei
visor all deficiencies in the ma
chine. These may, for example,
take the form of worn travelers,
bent rollers, worn guides, off-cen
ter spindles, too much vibration
in the frame, and lack of moisture
in the air.
Rubber Industry
(Begins on page 1)
facilities which it purchased re
cently from the Government, he
pointed out. “Through research
in the synthetic field, new types
of rubber will be created and new
uses will be found for those al
ready in existence.
“The era of the tubeless tire
has arrived. It has been adopted
as standard equipment for new
cars and can be applied for re
placement to present wheels and
rims to cars now in service. Dur
ing the year the adoption of tube-
less truck tires for general use is
regarded as highly possible.”
Op INTEREST TO WOMEN
Correct Use Of Color Works Magic In Home
You will be pleasantly surprised at the change
^^e skilful use of color in the home will make. Often
I^^^ng color well in the home means using it boldly.
*'y the bright shades in materials and finishes that
^an be replaced easily. Make use of lemon yellow,
elly green, violet, bright blue, orange or another
'"trong shade for the pillows, lamp shades, or on a
®^all -Wall area of a room.
It is advisable to use plenty of one shade of
Eolov. To use about equal proportions of two or three
^olors in a room many produce an unpleasing effect,
^^tead, have a lot of the basic share, less of the
®®cond and hold down the third to 10 or 15 per cent
* * *
Let your color choice in the living room depend
the mood you want in that room. Warm, lively
^^^des are suitable for an active family. But the
couple that uses the room mostly for relaxation will
be happier with quiet, restful shades.
For bath and kitchens, choose clear colors in
such materials as the tile, where enduring finishes
are required.
It is wise to let each member of the family ex
press his own preferences in his bedroom. A soft
color encourages sleep. Children might want some
bright shade, but this should not be overdone.
The bathroom is a small place and lends itself
to only one color or shade. With many home makers,
gray and white for tilework are favorite colors, since
almost all colors combine well with either of these.
The entrance hall and hallway of your house
give opportunity for bold use of color. Since no one
stays long in such spaces, a bright color or a lively
pattern will not become tiring.
Company Leads In Rubber Production
The Firestone Company has become the world’s largest
producer of rubber. This fact was revealed recently by
Harvey S. Firestone, Jr., Company Chairman.
“Record-high production at two synthetic rubber plants,
purchased recently by Firestone from the Government, and
at the Company’s extensive natural rubber plantations in
Liberia, West Africa, amounts to more than 1,000,000 pounds
a day,” Mr. Firestone stated.
“With the purchase of the syn-O"
thetic rubber plants at Lake
Charles, La., and Akron, Ohio, our
Company took a significant step
toward realization of the policy
advocated by my father thirty
years ago, that ‘Americans Should
Produce Their Own Rubber.’ Our
Company now is producing rubber
at a rate almost equal to the re
quirements of our factories
throughout the world. In addition,
we are supplying 286 small busi
nesses and manufacturers with
rubber.”
AMERICAN INDUSTRY now
controls about 40 per cent of the
world’s rubber producing capacity.
Mr. Firestone pointed out that this
fact has special meaning when one
remembers that at the time of the
Pearl Harbor incident, 95 per cent
of the rubber used in the United
States had to be imported from the
Far East.
The Company is spending $1,200,-
000 to increase production facilities
at Firestone’s two synthetic rubber
plants. During the next few years
further expansion will be made.
Producing areas of Firestone’s
plantations in Liberia are being in
creased each year with new plant
ings and older sections are being
replanted with higher yielding
trees.
“As the world’s largest produc
er of rubber, and with our intensive
research program, we will be able
to supply our own factories with
constantly improved types of rub
ber. As a result, Firestone will pro
vide even better quality tires and
other rubber products for its custo
mers,” said Mr. Firestone.
TINY STRANDS OF STEEL
Wire Cord Bus, Truck Tires
Add To Highway Safety
CORDS OF HIGH-TENSILE STEEL WIRE, only slightly thick-
er than human hairs, are reeled off these spools, then precisely spaced
before entering a calendering machine which coats them with rubber.
Each of the four plies in a Firestone wire cord tire contains 728
cords. The wire is coated with brass so that rubber will stick to it.
Thirteen years’ work in engineering and producing
truck and bus tires that are built with steel wire cords, in
stead of the rayon or nylon cords used in most tires, has
resulted in one of the rubber industry’s greatest contribu
tions to highway safety, Raymond C. Firestone, Executive
Vice-President, has announced.
HIGH-SPEED bus and truck
tires that are manufactured with
thousands of tiny strands of steel
wire embedded in rubber have
proved to be the safest and
strongest pneumatic tires ever
built. Some users have reported as
high as 300,000 miles of service
the original treads, Mr. Firestone
said.
Firestone, the first company in
the United States to make tires
of this type, manufactured its
100,000th wire cord tire during
May. In billions of miles of serv
ice not one ever has had a blow
out, Mr. Firestone revealed.
THE COMPANY, he said, has
invested well over a million dollars
in research since 1943 on develop
ment work to make the wire cord
tire the safest tire that can be
used for truck and bus transpor
tation.
“The achievement we have made
9with wire cord tires is incalculable
because it is measured in lives of
men, women and children that have
been saved,” Mr. Firestone said.
Sudden tire failures on high
speed, intercity buses and trucks
frequently result in serious acci
dents. The hazard from such mis
haps is increasing with the larger
buses and trucks and greater higli-
way speeds. Danger from such
accidents is minimized by the use
of wire cord tires.
“Our Company and major bus
lines have 13 years’ experience to
prove that there is no danger of
a wire cord tire blowing out,” Mr.
Firestone said.
He noted that bus and truck op
erators especially favor wire cord
tires for use particularly on the
front wheels of their vehicles and
that in hot weather areas many
-Continued on page 4