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Tire$tone S3HWI
OCTOBER, 1959
New Rubber Compound
Increases Mileage For Tires
A newly-developed synthetic
rubber compound, designated
X-99, promises to add an extra
5.000 miles to tires for every
30.000 miles of travel.
Tires built with X-99 tread
rubber offer a smoother, softer,
quieter ride. “Squeal” that here
tofore was considered normal in
turning corners—even at low
speeds—has been considerably
reduced by X-99.
The new compound has been
approved for immediate use in
the company’s Premium Quality
tire. The Premium Quality —
blowout-safe and puncture-proof
—is top tire in the company’s
line.
X-99 tread stock resulted from
Firestone’s discovery of a new
polymer and development of the
most advanced compounding
methods in the rubber industry.
It was put to severe testing be
fore it was approved for use in
consumer products.
TESTS began two years ago
for the X-99 compound, when
preliminary laboratory experi
ments showed promise for the
new rubber compound. Company
engineers checked the rubber
for ride, bounce, deflection, and
indentation properties before
turning to outdoor tests.
A total of 5,000,000 test miles
were recorded by late August
on tires with X-99 rubber at the
company’s Ft. Stockton, Texas
high-speed proving ground.
Other tests were made at Akron,
Ohio; Baltimore, Md.; and in
Western Texas.
UF Appeal
—From Page 1
of agencies sharing in UF funds
are the Boy Scouts and the Opti
mist Club. Besides these, there
are: American Red Cross, Girl
Scouts, Big Brothers, Salvation
Army, Red Shield Boys Club,
United Cerebral Palsy, Gaston
Life Saving Crew, Regional
Mental Health Center, Florence
Crittenton Home, Children’s
Home Society, United Medical
Research, United Service Or
ganizations, N.C. Mental Health
Association, National Social Wel
fare Assembly, International
Social Service, National Travel
er’s Aid, American Social Hy
giene Association, and the Na
tional Recreation Association.
To All Motorists
Everywhere;
School has been in session
long enough for us to be ac
customed to the routine. Chil
dren are on streets and roads
in your community and mine,
as they go from home to class
es and back again.
Surely, you want them to
travel safely.
I hope that each of us will
put that to a day-to-day test
by making sure we drive with
the greatest care possible. For
your sake and theirs, watch
for pedestrian children and
for the b r i g h 11 y-painted
school buses.
Obey all the traffic rules.
If you don't know the rules,
you ought to learn them!
THE MASTER WEAVER
i
WATCH PRESENTATION before bronze bust of company
founder Harvey S. Firestone. General manager Harold Mercer gives
watch to Leon Calhoun, while other 20-year employees—Dillard
Bradshaw (left), and Clyde Phillips—look on. Absent from picture;
Lee Roy Bentley and Maude Bryson.
Five Added To 20-Year List
In September, five persons in three departments joined
the honored group of 20-year service-record holders at the
Gastonia plant. They were Maude D. Bryson, Spinning;
Clyde D. Phillips, Dillard Bradshaw and Leon T. Calhoun
of Weaving (synthetics); and Lee Roy Bentley of Quality
Control. They advanced the 20-year list to 328 names.
At the time these employees Jimmie L. Hartgrove, Spooling;
marked anniversaries, 18 others
here received lapel pins for serv
ice ranging from five to 15 years.
The September list includes:
Fifteen Years
Pauline Mahaffey, Spinning;
William Harvey Aldridge,
Twisting (synthetics).
Ten Years
Edward L. Tart, Twisting (syn
thetics) ; Eugene W. Morris,
Weaving (cotton); Alvin D. Dill,
‘Rear View Mirror’
In Plant Library
Latest addition to the plant’s
library of motion picture films
is “Through a Rear View Mir
ror,” a Firestone color-and-
sound production which traces
development of the automobile.
The story is told in folk songs
by a balladier, reminiscing as he
follows the 19^7 Glidden Tour of
antique cars to Williamsburg,
Va.
This movie was recently in
cluded on a list of 50 outstand
ing TV films, selected by tele
vision program directors through
a survey conducted by Variety,
the newspaper of show business.
“Through a Rear View Mir
ror”, along with a number of
other Firestone movies, is avail
able at no cost other than re
turn postage, for use by schools,
churches, clubs and neighbor
hood groups.
Information on movies for free
loan may be had from the office
of Industrial Relations.
Shop; Opal H. Lunsford, Quali
ty Control; Ada L. Robinson,
Winding.
Five Years
Robert C. Truett, Carl W. Wal
lace, Minnie T. Welch, Ellene M.
Neesmith, Howard Groves, Mil
dred H. Sims, Eddie Ray Har
dee, Twisting (synthetics).
Thomas R. Dalton, Weaving
(synthetics); Finley Williams,
Warehouse; Ruth H. Cloninger,
Winding.
REMINISCING
Those ‘Good Old Days’ — Who Wants Them ?
Heard anybody talking lately
about “the good old days”? Ob
served a loom fixer recently:
Bygone years surely have their
pleasant memories, but time
often distorts our recollection—
making the ‘good old days' not
as inviting as we sometimes
think.”
In textiles, for instance, we
have come a long way on the
progress road—so much so that
the thinking employee wants
nothing to do with things that
remind him of the past.
Consider an example related
to the textile industry. In the
tire-building field, “the good old
days” meant that most of the
work of building a tire was done
by hand, including the prepara
tion of materials.
No Precision Machinery
Back in 1907 workmen built
tire bodies from stock cut with
out precision machinery. Beads
were formed and wrapped by
hand. Treads, too, were applied
on tire bodies without the help
of efficient machinery.
In short, building a Firestone
tire in the so-called “good old
days” required longer hours and
harder work than it does today.
Aided by modern labor-saving
machinery, the working condi
tions at Firestone have improv
ed to such a degree that tire
building now can be done faster
THE OLD WAY—Fifty years ago. this was the only method
of building a tire, so our people had to do it the hard way. A
worker applied the partially-cured tread on the body of the tire
which had been semi-cured. He then cemented and wrapped the
two together, in preparation for final curing. This process was
done by hand on a crude stand, cost of which was around $100.
THE MODERN WAY—Up-to-date, efficient machinery makes
tire-building easier today. Tires are produced on a semi-automatic
machine with callapsible drum, allowing removal of the tire for
curing. It is hoped that this job tomorrow can be made even
easier with increased know-how. which will make possible in
creased mechanization. Machine here cost around $35,000.
and with vastly less effort for
greater productivity, greater
uniformity, greater accuracy,
and greater wages—but at lower
unit cost.
All this suggests a subject
worthy of serious consideration:
If Firestone and other rubber
companies are to keep pace with
rising consumer demands and
keep ahead of rising competition
both in this country and abroad,
they must increase productivity
at lower cost in order to meet
consumer demands and to stay
competitive.
Better Machines; Better Jobs
For centuries, man has been
seeking to replace and reduce,
with tools and other devices, the
amount of effort required to do
a job. The constant increases in
mechanization are designed to
reduce the amount of effort
necessary to provide more and
better products at lower costs
to meet increasing market de
mands.
Because of increasing mechan
ization today, jobs are easier,
better and more stable than
ever before. Better machines
make better jobs, and better
jobs help maintain America’s
position as a world leader in
quality products at competitive
prices.
We have what we have be
cause our people produce more.
We produce more because our
machines are efficient.
Out of these observations
comes this conclusion:
Americans should be proud of
their important contribution in
the field of mechanization. In
our country, where progress is
a household word, much em
phasis is placed on an ever-in-
creasing standard of living.
Mechanization can help
guarantee the future of this
American ideal.