APRIL, 1957
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PAGE 3
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STEEL PRODUCTS PLANT —The Firestone
plant in Wyandotte, Mich., produces rims for
trucks, buses and tractors; and automotive and
commercial stampings. Firestone Steel Products
FEATURING PLANT CITIES. . .
Company is the world's largest manufacturer of
rims for trucks and farm tractors.
BUSY RIVER—The plant is situated on the
Detroit River, "world's busiest stretch of water."
National Steel Corporation ships bringing ore
to the corporation's division. Great Lakes Steel
at Ecorse, are among the vessels lhat give the
Detroit River that title.
Wyandotte Steel Products Plant Located
On ‘World’s Busiest Stretch Of Water’
IF a study of the industrial
growth of this country stirs
the imagination, a visit to the
Wyandotte, Mich., plant of the
Firestone Steel Products Com
pany will bring the story to life.
Built by the company in 1937,
the plant is located in one of the
biggest and busiest industrial
centers in the world on what has
been named “the busiest stretch
of water in the world.”
Yet, little more than 200 years
ago this was the site of the old
Indian village of Maquaqua, the
inhabitants of which were known
as the Wyandots. It was in this
area that the Ottowa chief, Pon
tiac, called his council of tribal
chiefs to plot the Indian uprising
against the British at Detroit
after the close of the French and
Indian Wars.
Now more than 3,000,000 peo
ple live and work in the Detroit
area. The Detroit River has be
come an important link in the
Vast Great Lakes waterway sys
tem and will become even more
important when the St. Law
rence Seaway project is complet
ed.
THE PLANT is at the edge of
Wyandotte in the village of
Hiverview, newest and smallest
of the six “Down River” com-
fnunities which are part of the
sprawling network of towns in
the Detroit metropolitan area.
The Down River communities
'^'Ecorse, Grosse, He, Riverview,
^iver Rouge, Trenton and Wyan-
'^otte — have a population of
^bout 100,000. Wyandotte has a
■^0,000 population and River-
^iew 5,000, having grown 300
cent since 1950.
Wyandotte owes much of its
development to an almost limit-
^6ss subterranean chemical treas
ure. Salt deposits, hundreds of
^6et below the surface, have pro
vided one of the basic raw ma-
^^rials from which science has
derived fortunes in an endless
''^ariety of chemicals.
Prior to the discovery of salt
'■Measures, Wyandotte achieved
^^nsiderable renown for iron and
steel production from 1854 to
1892. The first Bessemer process
for producing steel commercial
ly originated in Wyandotte in
1864, and the first steel rails
made in America were manufac
tured in the city’s early rolling
mills. Ship building also flourish
ed until the close of World War
I.
The area’s know-how in steel
production and its proximity to
the automobile capital of the
world made the Down River area
an ideal site for the construction
of a steel products plant for Fire
stone.
The universal rim, to accom
modate either straight-side or
clincher tires, was introduced by
Firestone in 1906. A year later
the company developed the first
commercial demountable rim.
Both rims were manufactured
for Firestone by another firm.
THERE WERE 207 automobile
manufacturers at that time, and
they called upon the tire makers
to standardize rims. To accomp
lish this the larger tire com
panies pooled their patents and
formed the United Rim Com
pany. Harvey S. Firestone was
not asked to join. And when two
firms, under contract to him to
make rims, were threatened with
loss of United business and an in
fringement suit, they cancelled
their contracts, and the company
was without a source of supply.
Mr. Firestone knew that a tire
could not give satisfactory serv
ice without a suitable rim. So, in
1909, he began to manufacture
them himself. Events proved him
right. The United Rim Company
eventually went out of business
and Firestone went on to be
come a dominant manufacturer
in the field.
The Firestone Steel Products
Company was formed in 1918
and a $1,000,000 plant was built
in Akron to house all rim manu
facturing facilities. In this plant,
during the 1930’s, other types of
steel products were fabricated
too, including stainless steel beer
barrels.
The Steel Products Company
is now the world’s largest manu
facturer of rims for trucks and
farm tractors, with headquarters
in Akron.
NEEDING to expand, the com
pany bought 80 acres of filled
swamp land along the Detroit
River at Wyandotte for the con
struction of a new plant. The
first rim came off the production
lines on March 17, 1938. The
plant produces rims for trucks,
buses and tractors, and automo
tive and commercial stampings.
The Firestone Steel Products
Company developed the 15 de
gree system rim. The company
designed and developed tooling
and equipment for the new tube-
less truck rim and was the first
to produce these rims in sub
stantial quantities. The company
has now manufactured more
than a million 15 degree system
tubeless truck rims.
The Wyandotte plant helped
develop and produced the first
special rims used on power ad
justed tractor wheels.
THE FIRST Wyandotte em
ployees were hired during the
final months of 1937 while con
struction was still going on.
Third in size among industries
in Wyandotte and Riverview, the
plant now employs between 750
and 800 people.
Turning out many millions of
pounds of production per month,
the plant makes hundreds of dif
ferent types and sizes of rims—
ranging in size from 3 inches to
20 inches in cross section and 14
inches to 44 inches in diameter.
The wide agricultural rims up to
20 inches are made from single
pieces of steel. Also produced are
commercial stampings and
stampings for the automotive in
dustry. For the last three years
Firestone has been the 100 per
cent supplier of Ford engine
mounting brackets. The plant
has 15 lines.
During World War II the plant
converted to war production and
turned out machine gun belt
links, 110-gallon jettison tanks
—^Turn to page 5
PRESS LINE—These heavy presses are of 2,500-ton maximum
and 400-ton minimum loads. Plans call for installation of an auto
matic sheet feeder and transfer mechanism between presses.
CLEANING AND COATING—Steel rims for trucks and trac
tors are placed on this conveyor at the start of a process that cleans
and coats them with a corrosion-resistant synthetic resin paint. The
conveyor then takes the rims for a washing process in preparation
for painting.
BEFORE SHIPPING—Drop-center rims for use with tubeless
truck tires are checked in the warehouse before shipment to truck
assembly plant. Some unpainted rims are oiled for protection, since
they will be subjected to a further operation at the plant of the
customer.