PAGE 2
OCTOBER, 1958
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PRODUCTS YOU HELP TO MAKE
Rubber Preparation Begins Tire-Building
Many are the steps that go
into the making of products at
Firestone. To give the customer
quality goods such as Firestone
tires, well-trained men and
women originate the tire de
signs, control the methods by
which the tires are made, and
carefully perform every step in
the manufacturing process.
Since tires are built in com
pany factories usually far re
moved from the fabrics plants,
the textile worker is not ordi
narily familiar with procedures
in the building of the tire itself.
Yet, he is interested in know
ing something of what goes into
making of the “end product”
which he helps to provide for
the customer.
This series of articles will at
tempt to show the major opera
tions in tire building from the
first preparation of raw rubber
stock through the inspection,
warehouse storage, and ship
ping of the finished product.
Before a tire can be built, a
number of exacting operations
and processes miist be attended
to. The building actually starts
Bathroom, Kitchen
Breed Accidents
Most home fires start in the
bedroom or the kitchen, the
National Board of Fire Under
writers says. That makes the
following fire safety precautions
especially important:
; ; : Never smoke in bed. You
might fall asleep, drop your
cigarette. Toxic gases from the
fire that might result could
render you unconscious before
the heat awakened you.
: : : Don’t string electric ex
tension cords around the room.
Never run cords under rugs or
over nails where they will wear,
causing short circuits and pos
sible fire.
: : : If you use a portable oil
or gas heater, be sure there is
fresh air in the room and turn
it off before going to bed. Many
people are suffocated every year
because they used unvented oil
or gas heaters in tightly-closed
rooms.
; : : Place portable heaters
where they won’t be tipped
easily, overturned or tripped on.
; : : Do not use lighted matches
to search dark closets. A flash
light is safe.
in the rubber-preparation de
partment. There, a bale server,
following laboratory specifica
tions, removes from storage
bales of the proper types of
natural and synthetic rubber,
and earmarks it for the tire to
be built.
AMONG the important early
steps is careful identification.
Depending on the type of tire,
certain grades of natural and
synthetic rubber must be blend
ed to meet specific requirements.
The bale server makes the
first of several checks to insure
that the proper rubber has been
selected, and that the natural
rubber is free of any foreign
material. Any contamination in
the rubber could ruin a batch.
Or, what could be worse, it
would result in an inferior
product.
From the bale server, the
rubber moves to a bale-splitter
machine. Here it is cut into
small pieces. During this step
the operator makes another
check for any possible con
tamination, and again sees that
the rubber meets every
standard.
After different kinds of rub
ber are blended they are con
veyed to a plasticator, a ma
chine that works somewhat like
a meat grinder. It softens the
raw rubber so it will mix readi
ly with the required pigments,
and have the specified plastici
ty—or softness.
AN OPERATOR of the plas
ticator keeps a watch on his
machine to see that the rubber
passes through in an even flow
and that proper temperatures
are maintained. As rubber is
forced out of the machine, the
operator controls the application
of proper amounts of lubricants,
so that the stock will not stick
during further processing.
Temperature is very impor
tant in maintaining high quality
in rubber that goes into tires.
Here again, the operator checks
to make sure he has proper
blends of rubber to meet lab
oratory specifications.
Required plasticity varies with
the use for which the rubber
is intended—treads, sidewalls,
plies or beads. Some compounds
require that the rubber pass
through the plasticator as many
as three times.
As rubber emerges from the
plasticator, it is hung in slabs
on a cooling conveyor. After
cooling, the rubber is sent on
another trip through the plas
ticator, when specified. Then it
is loaded onto skids to await the
next step: Compounding.
Quality workmanship starts
with the materials and in the
preparation of those materials.
It proceeds through every step
of the manufacturing operation
until it emerges a finished prod
uct upholding the company
slogan: “Best Today, Still Better
Tomorrow.”
Next in series: Compounding.
ADVENTURE IN LEARNING
Miss Marie Moore is representative of the many Firestone
employees' sons and daughters who are back at their work in
colleges and universities this year. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Howard Moore, Marie is in her third year at the Greensboro
Woman's College of the University of North Carolina. The 1955
graduate of Gastonia's Ashley High School hopes to work as a
research chemist in the oil refining industry. Her father is em'
ployed in the plant mechanical department.
Sales Make Jobs
—From page 1
has naturally led to curtailed
production and reduction in the
number of jobs the company
has available.
The company is determined
to do everything in its power to
change this trend. It is vital
that every man and woman who
works at Firestone support the
“buy-sell” program to the limit.
It will help safeguard your
job, help to bring back fellow
workers laid off recently.
On the “Sales-Make-Jobs
campaign, J. A. Meek, vice
president of production, com
mented:
“Our people have always been
good sales persons for the
quality products they help to
produce. In these times it is
most important that they spare
no effort in this program to in
crease sales which, in turn
mean more jobs and more
workers.”
Some Firestone Families Have ‘Week-End’ River Houses
The more than a dozen em
ployee-family river houses and
week-end retreats a few min
utes’ drive from Gastonia are
shining examples of the do-it-
yourself art. Firestone people
have put their resourcefulness
and willing hands to work on
the South Fork River, the
Catawba, Mill Creek, and other
waterways in the area. The re
sult: Nature hideaways ranging
from practical, one-room over-
☆ ☆ ☆
Furman Pearson likes the
cozy atmosphere of an open fire
at his South Fork River cabin
on cool autumn evenings. The
fireplace was one of his most
challenging do-it-yourself proj
ects.
night shelters to more elaborate
cabins boasting “all the comforts
of home.”
There are some things com
mon to them all. These places
stick close to the water’s edge,
and they provide a welcome re
treat from the busy life the
owners lead.
Of the several employee river
houses, Furman Pearson’s and
Charlie Plyler’s are typical
examples.
Mr. Pearson, a Shop mill
wright, has a cabin on the South
Fork River a little way above
where the water empties into
the Catawba. On a spacious
acreage leased from a power
company, he has constructed a
building of three rooms and a
back porch on the main floor;
and a shower and a workshop
area underneath. The workshop
opens toward a broad pier and
the connecting boathouse of con
crete blocks, now nearing com
pletion.
MOST of the work the owner
has done himself, using many
odds-and-ends of material. The
“extra touches” include a high-
arch fireplace, kitchen built-ins,
and a masonry-enclosed water
supply equipped with an elec
tric pump, and the landscaping,
with generous use of native
shrubs and flowers.
Furman, a well-known bee
keeper at 1300 Jackson road,
Gastonia, plans to move all his
honeymakers to the river later
on.
In recent months Wade Led-
well, a machine oiler at the
plant, has helped out with build-
ing and improvements around
the place. He likes to be called
the “official pilot” of the sleel?
motorboat—standard equipment
for a river hideaway.
The Plyler cabin is on Mil^
Creek in York County, S. C. Mr
Plyer, an overhauler in SYC
Weaving, and Mrs. Plyer, a re
spooler in Twisting, live at 10^
South Dalton street, Gastonia
The story of their river cabii^
set deep in a forest includes tb^
many contributions of theii
son-in-law, Woodrow Wooten oi
the Quality Control laboratorJ
here.
A FAMILY project, the build
ing was started early thi^
spring. As a result of caref^
planning and hard work in spa^^
time, it was ready for use hJ
the middle of summer. On lan^
leased from an individual oWJ^'
er, the cabin sports a wid®-
screened viewing porch, a kitch'
en and a “living” area.
“We haven’t been concerne'
too much with ‘fancying it
so far, because most of our
here is spent on the river,”
owners confess.
From “The Point” near
cabin, the Plylers, the Woote^'
and other relatives like espe^^^'
ally to fish and ride their out'
board. And some of the^^
couldn’t do without their
skiis.
☆ ☆ ☆
Mr. and Mrs. Charlie
improvise the comforts of hoH'’®
in their Mill Creek week-®** .
house near Bethel Gin in
Carolina. Their woodland
treat is a family-roundup
from spring through autumn-