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February 16, 195^
Company Is Important As Supplier For Defense
J -Iri*-*
NEW LAUNCHING SYSTEM for the U.S. Navy’s Regulus I and II
guided missiles was designed at the Monterey laboratory and built at the
Los Angeles plant. An artistes conception shows the launching system.
MANY DEFENSE products are manufactured by
the company. Col. J. E. Johnston, commanding officer
of the U.S. Army Ordnance District in Los Angeles,
and Leonard K. Firestone, president of Firestone Tire
& Rubber Company of California, inspect the rocket
engine system of the Corporal missile.
7
ROCKET POWERED sled for testing the fusing
system which detonates the U.S. Air Force’s Martin
Mace guided missile, an improved version of the Mata
dor, is examined by Dr. V. E. Lucas (left), manager
of the defense research division, and C. M. Cox, tech
nical assistant.
CORPORAL MISSILE, manufactured
at the Los Angeles plant, is a surface-
to-surface ballistic artillery missile de
signed for the Army. With a bullet-like
nose equipped to carry a nuclear war
head, the Corporal pushes through the
atmosphere at speeds greater than
sound.
SEARCH FOR AIRCRAFT is the job
of this tower looming out of the sea
near Cape Cod, Mass. It supports three
radomes of rubberized fabric manu
factured at the company’s Hamilton,
Ont., plant. The domes house radar
antennae which sweep the horizon for
unidentified aircraft.
and eighty-seven per cent, five years or more. The service records of all
our employees in the United States show that thirteen per cent have
been with the company twenty years or more, and seventy per cent,
five years or more.
Our Military Service Bureau is in contact with 350 Firestone em
ployees who are on leaves of absence while serving our country in the
Armed Forces; and we sent a gift box to each of them at Christmas time.
In the field of industrial safety, our plants continued to collect high
honors. The Pottstown, Pennsylvania, plant established a new, world
safety record for tire plants by working 9,917,334 man-hours without a
lost-time accident between January 24, 1956, and April 18, 1958. For this
they received the highest award of the National Safety Council, its
Award of Honor.
Pottstown won a second Award of Honor, as did the Sao Paulo,
Brazil, textile division, and the Los Angeles, California, guided missile
division, for improvements in their safety records on the basis of a
three-year average.
The Bombay, India, plant and the Akron Mechanical Building re
ceived Awards of Honor for working 6,679,236 and 3,180,309 man-hours
respectively without a lost-time accident.
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ON A COMPANY-WIDE BASIS, Firestone won the second highest
award of the National Safety Council, the Award of Merit, because of
the outstanding records of these plants and the excellent performances
of all other plants.
A total of 45,151 men and women of Firestone and 111,012 depend
ents now are protected by our employees’ group insurance plan which
for the year paid out a total of $8,565,926. Of this amount, $1,464,200
was in death benefits and $5,839,564 was in hospital and surgical benefits.
Firestone employees in Akron contributed 1,928 pints of blood to
the Red Cross, establishing an average of 161 pints a day against an
industry quota of 150 pints. Firestone employees in other locations also
are participating in this very worthy national program.
The year 1958 marked the fortieth anniversary of the company ^
suggestion program. During this period, we paid to employees more than
$1,185,000 for suggestions. Last year, the company awarded $69,340 to
employees for 3,178 suggestions. The highest award of the year was for
$2,500 presented to Robert E. Weir of Akron Plant 2, for his suggestion
which resulted in more efficient operation in the processing of tire treads-
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IMPORTANT EVENTS in the histories of four Firestone plants and
the Liberian plantations occurred during the year. Plant 2, Akron, pro
duced the company’s fifty millionth tubeless tire. The Los Angeles plan^
celebrated its thirtieth anniversary and produced its fifty-five milliontl^
tire. A twentieth anniversary was observed by the steel products plant
in Wyandotte, Michigan. Our first overseas plant in Brentford, England?
completed 30 years of operation. And the Liberian plantations produced
their one billionth pound of rubber.
Youth activities are encouraged by all Firestone plants. The company
continued to co-operate with and support such youth organizations as th^
Future Farmers of America, the 4-H Clubs and the Boy Scouts.
A wide variety of recreational activities for employejes in Akron
and in other plant cities was continued through the year.
The Firestone Scholarship Program provides financial assistance
worthy sons and daughters of Firestone employees who seek a colle^^
education. Since 1953, when the program was inaugurated, 141 student^
have been awarded scholarships, and they have been enrolled in 99 col'
leges and universities. This scholarship program was developed by