AN EYE
IS a poor
exchange!
PROTECT YOURS!
lONAL SAfCTY COUNCIL
0
IICASO. > PRINTf 0 IN U S
Need Safety Specs? Company
Helps Outfit You In Style
“Dashing Dan raised goggles
high—now a patch is on his
eye.”
So went the message on a
poster which drew a safety les
son from the carelessness of a
lathe operator.
While Dan’s goggles didn’t do
him any good — because he
wasn’t using them — there are
other people who are just as
careless. They risk the peril of
eye injury and loss of sight be
cause they have no protective
eyewear at all.
Dashing Dan was one of
those people who didn’t need
glasses for corrective purposes,
but ought to have been wearing
his goggles on the job.
But for those who wear glass
es and who work in jobs that
present constant danger to sight,
here is a reminder from plant
Safety:
For several years the com
pany has been finaixcially help
ing employees obtain safely
glasses. These are reminders on
how the plan works;
• The company pays $5 on
each order for prescription-
ground safety glasses. You, the
employee, pay the remainder
of the cost of the glasses, plus
the fee for examination and fit
ting.
• You do not need an appli
cation from your employer to
order your protective eyewear.
Just tell your eye doctor at the
time you have your examina
tion. You can work out details,
such as style of frames and costs,
with your doctor and the optical
supplier who serves the plant.
That address is 322 West Main
avenue in Gastonia.
• If you have had an eye
examination recently, it may
not be necessary for you to have
another one for safety glasses.
In such case, you can use the
prescription from which your
present glasses were made.
• The safety glasses you order
are delivered to Firestone First
Aid. You have the privilege of
paying your part of the cost
through payroll deduction. Cost
of glasses does not include the
doctor’s fee for examination. The
$5 which your employer con
tributes is applicable only to
ward the cost of prescription-
ground safety glasses ordered by
employees of Firestone Textiles
in Gastonia.
Reading Program
Rated ‘Best’
Television-Radio Guide mag
azine in its March issue cited
WBTV in Charlotte for this
year’s “best public service pro
gram on television.” In a two-
page article, “Early Morning
Learning”, the magazine praised
the station for its contribution
to the current literacy program
which WBTV is leading.
The TV program on weekday
mornings from 6:30 to 7 o’clock
is the basis of reading classes
for adults, meeting at such
places as community centers,
factories, clubhouses, public
schools, and in homes.
This is the second year of the
program, and also the second
year a class has been conducted
at Firestone in Gastonia. Miss
Myrtle Bradley of Main Office
is typical of the hundreds of
volunteer instructors in the lit
eracy program which has been
expanded to reach four states
of the Southeast this year. Be
sides WBTV, eight other sta
tions are participating in the
program.
CLASSES, begun in early
January, will continue into
June. At Firestone there are ten
students who meet from 6:15 to
7:15 five mornings a week, at
the plant Recreation Center.
Four of the weekly sessions in
clude television instruction, then
practice and review. One session
a week is a full practice-review
exercise.
Teaching methods are based
on the revolutionary reading-
writing development by Dr.
Frank C. Lauback, whose “each-
one-teach-one” system has led
millions to read.
The Carolinas program is
sponsored by the John C. Camp
bell Folk School at Brasstown,
and WBTV, which donates the
air time. It is endorsed and aid
ed by business and professional
groups, service organizations,
and business and industry.
Cup of Coffee for a Penny
Talk of inflation and the value of controlling
it now and then uncovers some interesting facts
about prices of the past. Example: That cup of
coffee you could buy for a penny back in 1850.
In recent years a letter writer for a brokerage
firm came across a menu from one of New York
City’s famous eating places, where swank parties
were held in the mid-1800s and years there
after, down to the time of Diamond Jim Brady
and P. T. Barnum of circus fame.
According to the old menu, if you wanted a
generous bowl of coffee or tea in those days, it
cost two cents—twice as much as a cup.
A bowl of soup went for two cents, beef steak
for four cents a serving, and a whole pie for the
same price. A regular dinner was twelve cents.
National Industrial Conference Board records
from 1850 show that a worker got an average
of seven cents an hour, and put in 62 hours a
week to earn it. Average take-home pay (no in
come taxes and no other deductions) was $4.40
a week. Compare that with today’s average of
well above $2 an hour, with an average of 39.7
hours spent on the job weekly.
Tubeless Tires: Better Performance
Although 1960 is the sixth
year that new cars have been
equipped with tubeless passen
ger tires, only a little more than
half the replacement passenger
tires sold in 1959 were of tube
less construction, rubber indus
try reports show.
Perhaps the main reason for
this somewhat strange situation
is that 47 per cent of the 55
million cars in operation today
are 1954 model cars or older, ac
cording to Firestone vice presi
dent of sales E. B. Hathaway.
These cars were originally
equipped with tube-type tires
and even though their owners
could know the extra safety of
tubeless tires, the majority con
tinue to buy tube-type replace
ments.
Firestone manufactured the
first tubeless tire to afford posi
tive protection against the dan
gers of blowouts and punctures
Elected Officer
In Textile Group
James M. Cooper, chief
methods and standards engineer
at Firestone in Gastonia, is the
new vice president of Southern
Textiles Methods and Standards
Association. He assumed the
duties of this office at the close
of the biennial meeting of the
organization in Clemson House,
Clemson, S. C., March 17-18.
Thomas A. Grant, also of the
methods and standards staff
here, attended the meeting with
Mr. Cooper.
Besides his duties as vice
president of STMSA, Mr. Cooper
is on the board of directors of
the group, is a member of the
manual publication committee,
and chairman of group assign
ments for a forthcoming supple
ment edition of the Textile Time
in 1951, and 18 months later an
nounced the first tubeless tirei
to be developed with high-
strength nylon cord. This was
the Firestone Nylon 500.
AUTO manufacturers started
using tubeless tires on 1955
model cars. Better performance
has accounted for the rapid
changeover to tubeless tires as
original equipment, Mr. Hatha
way noted. Other reasons he
listed: they are safer, cheaper
to operate, and resist air losses
from punctures.
For the past 18 months Fire
stone’s original equipment tire
—the DeLuxe Champion—has
been available only in tubeless
construction. The same has been
true of the Firestone Nylon 500
for more than a year.
Fourteen-inch tires, introduc
ed on most new cars in 1957, are
tubeless only. Second and third-
line tires are the only ones still
produced both in tubed and
tubeless construction.
Mr. Hathaway predicted:
“Within a few years, it is in
evitable that tubed-type tires
for passenger cars will be al
most non-existent.”
Study Handbook. Unit I of the
Handbook, a 216-page work,
was issued recently by a divi
sion of Interscience Publishers
Inc., of New York.
Mr. Grant was a contributing
author to the book of 19 chap
ters. Twenty-six other members
of STMSA combined their ef
forts with those of editor Nor-
bert Lloyd Enrick to prepare
the manuscript.
Southern Textiles Methods
and Standards Association ex
ists primarily for the purpose of
conducting research and provid
ing a forum through which
methods and standards person
nel share experiences, informa
tion and ideas.
More Records Set On Firestone Tires
Five new speed records were
established and eight major
events run on the International
Speedway during the 1960 Speed
Weeks at Daytona Beach, Fla.,
early this year.
All record-breaking vehicles
were on Firestone tires, as were
seven of the nine first-place
winners. From these victories,
company officials were confi
dent that in 1960 more major
auto races would be won on
Firestone tires than all others.
This has been the case with
Firestone every year for the
past half-century of the com
pany’s racing history.
The Daytona Beach races, won
early this year on Firestone tires
included:
• “Cotton” Owens, 25-mile
Grand National Qualification.
Won pole position in 500-miler
at average speed of 149.892—a
new record.
• “Fireball” Roberts, one-lap
Qualification. Record speed,
151.556.
• Jack Smith, in the second
25-mile Grand National Qualifi
cation to determine second
starting position in 500-mile
event. Average speed, 148.157.
• Marvin Panch, 50-mile race
of compact cars. Average speed,
122.282. Panch also won in a
30-mile race.
• “Fireball” Roberts, Grand
National 100-mile; average
speed, 137.614. Curtis Turner,
25-mile consolation race; aver
age speed, 144.694.
• Bubber Farr, 250-mile
Sportsman Modified race, with
average speed of 116.612.
Customer Liked
What He Bought
"You no doubt hear only
too quickly when a cus
tomer has a complaint about
your tires. Well, here is the
reverse," wrote A. S. Bren
nan of East Hartford, Conn.
Expressing his satisfaction
with Firestone products, Mr.
Brennan added:
"I have five 7.60 x 15 Fire
stone tires on my 1951 Olds-
mobile and have 67,500 miles
on them, with a total of
three flats caused by nail
punctures. There is still a
fair tread on each tire. They
have worn evenly and hold
a pretty constant air pres
sure. So it gives me a lot of
pleasure to compliment you
on your fine tires. You may
be assured I am a staunch
backer of Firestone."
Mr. Brennan's thoughtful
ness in expressing satisfac
tion with our product gives
all Firestone workers add
ed encouragement to keep
on producing quality goods
for satisfied customers.
UNSAFE STACKING
IS DANGEROUS
Get the habit of piling and un
piling materials in a proper
manner. Correct these unsafe
practices.
• Overloading and unstable
loading of skids and push
trucks.
• Leaving empty or loaded
trucks to block aisles or pas
sageways.
• Storing materials outside the
areas provided.
• Stacking material too high.
• Piling material in unstable
manner.
• Storing heavier items on
upper shelves.
• Climbing on piles; standing
on shelves or using a make
shift ladder to reach needed
material.
• Pulling instead of lifting ma
terial from unstable stack
and pulling stack over.
©
AMERICAN MUTUAL LIAB. INS. CO.
APRIL. 1960 f1re$fon«
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