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I
IN ANY SEASON
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ABOVE: Painting Foreman Homer Harmon (center), goes over
a day's work of job schedules with James Price (left), and James
Ledford. Painting operations range from touch-up work to major
jobs requiring several weeks to complete.
AT LEFT; Ernest Givens and Charles Hall (right), apply a
weather-resistant black to the iron gates in front of Main Office.
Painter Crew Spreads Barrels Of Beauty And Protection
With the return of suitable
weather after each winter sea
son, many a householder brings
out a brush and a bucket of
paint. There follows a brighten-
ing-up session on the house,
garage, and maybe the picket
fence and lawn furniture.
Ordinarily this happens once
a year.
With the five men who make
up the painting crew at Fire
stone Textiles, it’s a different
story. Applying paint as a rou
tine maintenance and safety
measure and for the beauty it
imparts, is no seasonal task.
Month-in and month-out, these
men conduct a paint-up cam
paign which eventually brings
them back to where they start
ed—only to begin all over again.
Paint breakdown from wear,
weather and time itself keep the
work going for the men who
wield the brushes—and for spe
cial jobs, the spray guns.
PLACING paint where it
ought to go is no minor under
taking, plant engineer W. G.
Henson would have you remem
ber. Keeping five men busy
around the calendar requires a
lot of planning. Involved also
are a few thousand gallons of
paint, linseed oil and other thin
ner—to say nothing of brushes
and kindred supplies and equip
ment.
Painting is done on a system
atic basis. Records are kept of
what is painted when, and the
work goes forward on a rotation
plan. There are allowances for
some unexpected touch-up and
other smaller jobs.
Observer Publishes
A special section of the April
18 Charlotte Observer publicized
Firestone Textiles and other
branches of the Company. The
16-page section on promotion of
the automotive industry featur
ed the Gastonia plant in an ar
ticle titled, “A u t o Industry
Foreign? No Sir!” Observer
writer Rolfe Neill related how
products turned out here play
leading roles in the worldwide
auto industry.
Another story in the same sec
tion of the paper told of air sus
pension as the leading feature of
1958 automobiles. Along with
the two articles, the newspaper
published two photographs. One
Starting at a given point in
the mill, the crew proceeds until
the entire areas to be covered
have been completed. It used to
take around seven years to com
plete the circuit. Nowadays it
takes about four.
Usually there is a major
project at hand. A recent big
undertaking was the warehouse,
where almost 400 gallons were
dispensed to give a new look to
the giant structure. Another big
job, finished early this year, was
the re-doing of all outside win
dows in the five floors of the
plant. It took about 450 gallons
to give the 1,000 windows their
protective and decorative touch.
COLOR plays an important
role in the painting program in
and around the mill.
Inside the plant, standard
white, green and gray go on
walls and ceilings. Dark green
extends in a wainscot stripe
57 inches from the floor; and
above the stripe, walls and ceil
ings receive the standard white
gloss. Restrooms are done in
white and pearl gray.
The decoration pattern for all
offices is an eye-rest green for
walls and soft whit3 for ceilings.
There are special jobs, too—like
the soft green walls and egg-
shell-white ceilings of the new
Recreation Center and its of
fices.
Wrought-iron fences, window
frames in the plant, and some
outdoor equipment get their
regular coatings of black. Alumi
num paint is used on all roof
ventilators, water towers, out
side utility pipes, exterior ducts
and mesh fencing.
Firestone St€)Fy
was of the wind-up operation in
the nylon gum-dipping unit here,
and the other was of an Airide
by Firestone application on car
go trucks.
“Detroit is closer to Gaston
county—much closer—than the
map indicates,” wrote Mr. Neill.
“Inside your car, under the
hood, or on the ground, there are
likely Gaston-originated prod
ucts in use; Tires, oil filters, seat
coverings, air springs. All these
items have their origins in tex
tiles, the economic sinew of this
area.
“Firestone Textiles puts near
ly $6 million annually into the
Men who spread paint at Fire
stone work hand-in-hand with
the safety program.
MILES of traffic lanes
throughout the mill are marked
with an eye-arresting yellow.
This color is also used in code
identification of gas lines. Every
three feet there is a bright yel
low stripe around the main lines,
and in areas where gas is used
from the supply, lines are color-
marked for emergency cut-off.
On moving parts of machinery
or in areas where danger must
be especially emphasized, the
standard safety markings are al
ternating stripes of yellow and
black,
Red is used for water buckets
and other fire-fighting equip
ment. A pattern of red-blue
stripes marks extinguishing
equipment intended only for
electrical fires.
REGULATION colors for ma
chinery are green and gray.
The April list:
Fifteen Years
Hazel H. Ballard, Spooling;
Carrie H. Hardin, Marie J.
Jones, Annis V. Myers, Rayon
Weaving; William F. Rockett,
Shop.
Ten Years
Edna J. Howard, Beatrice
Humphries, William W. Patter
son, Mary N. Wilkes, Annie L.
Tanner, Trula B. Ball, Rayon
Twisting.
Five Years
Randall J. Rowland, Spinning;
Vernon L. Owen, Cotton Twist-
community’s payroll. Its pri
mary product is tire cord which
is shipped to Firestone plants
everywhere. The plant also
makes nylon cord fabric for its
Noblesville, Ind., factory, where
it is used in the production of
air springs for motor vehicles.”
Sometime this summer there
will be a changeover to blue-
gray on the 3,000 electric motors.
Light gray will dress up the
motor switches.
Paint dispersal has been even
as much as 250 to 300 gallons in
a month, notes the plant engi
neer. But ordinarily in a day’s
time, a workman will apply
about a gallon, covering roughly
a surface of 600 square feet.
Each year Firestone’s paint-up
program of protecting, beautify
ing and making safe the build
ings, supplies and equipment
pours multiplied thousands of
dollars into the local economy.
Thi2'barrels and barrels of paint,
linseed oil and other prepara
tions, brushes and miscellaneous
supplies and equipment are all
purchased from local suppliers.
It is another example of how
large and small businesses de
pend upon each other for their
existence and prosperity.
ing; Roy Flynn, M. G. Russ,
Robert L. Shannon, Bobby A.
Rogers, Rayon Weaving; Earl H.
Shannon, P. G. Cloninger, Wind
ing.
As of April, the 20-year serv
ice record list stood at 278.
MAY, 1958
Chairman Serves
As USO Leader
Harvey S. Firestone, Jr. is
serving his eighth consecutive
term as national chairman of
United Service Organizations
(USO). The Company Chairman
was chosen for his present term
of service at the annual meeting
of the USO National Council in
Washington.
At the annual meeting Vice
President Richard M. Nixon was
principal speaker. During the
program, comedian Bob Hope
was honored by USO for his
“great contribution” to the “wel
fare and well-being of America’s
Armed Forces.”
The 600-member USO Council
has volunteer representatives
from every state, and is com
posed of leaders of industry,
business, religious faiths, labor
and the professions.
The six member agencies of
USO are Young Men’s Christian
Association, National Catholic
Community Service, National
Jewish Welfare Board, Young
Women’s Christian Association,
The Salvation Army, and Na
tional Travelers Aid Association.
Mr. Firestone has been asso
ciated with USO since its be
ginning in 1941. He first served
as Ohio state chairman and later
as national president. He has
held the post of national chair
man since 1951.
Richardsons Liked
New Orleans Trip
There’s no other city in the
whole country like it. And the
hospitality of New Orleans is
unsurpassed, in the opinion of
Mr. and Mrs. Grady Richardson,
who have returned from an un
hurried trip to the Mardi Gras
city.
Mr. Richardson retired from
the plant here last July, after
working several years as an
Gverhauler in Cotton Weaving.
He and Mrs. Richardson live be
tween Bessemer City and
Cherryville. They try to keep
their retirement years “in bal
ance” by visiting interesting
places across the country.
On their trip to New Orleans
this spring they visited the fa
mous Vieux Carre or French
Quarter and the cemetery there,
begun in 1788. Of particular in
terest to them were St. Louis
Cathedral, the Old Slave Mar
ket; Antoine's, the renowned
French restaurant; the Mississip
pi and the Huey P. Long Bridge
spanning the River.
Obstacles are those frightful
things you see when you take
your eyes off the goal.
—Hannah More
Give The Grass A Chance
During the summer of 1957, homeowners in the United
States operated almost 14 million power lawn mowers. In
1958, there will be another two or three million put to work.
Of the millions of mowers in use this summer, at least
half the operators who are not experienced with the power
grass-groomer will commit an error common to many:
Cutting the grass too short.
Agronomists who know their grass, say: “Give the
blades a chance.” ^
To remain healthy, ordinary grass should be trimmed
not shorter than one-and-a-half inches above the ground in
moderate weather. During hot, dry spells it should be cut
at ^east three inches above the ground. An exception is bent-
grass, which may be safely clipped to three-quarters of an
inch high.
FOR APRIL
Long-Service Records Listed
Five persons were added in April to the list of those
who have reached the 15-year service milestone. At the same
time several others joined the roster of ten and five-year
employees. Each of these persons has received a service
pin.