s
TIRE CORD ADVANCES, TOO
Progress For Rubber Industry
New materials combined
with advanced technology
will give the rubber indus
try a rate of progress in the
1960s that will far outstrip
past performances. Dr. J. N.
Street, director of chemical
laboratories for the Fire
stone company, made this
prediction in speaking to
delegates attending the
Eighth Highway Transporta
tion Congress in Washington
recently.
MAN WITH A HOE
D. L. Dunlevy stays on friend
ly terms with The Good Earth
at his “little homeplace” on
Route 1, Dallas. His memories of
a half century in textile mills
have not dulled his rich retire
ment life of rewarding hobbies
and other worthwhile endeavors.
Mr. Dunlevy retired from the
mechanical department here al
most 15 years ago. He and Mrs.
Dunlevy moved from Gastonia
to their present house in 1945.
Since then, their creative hands
have improved the neat little
white house and its backyard
workshop, and have transform
ed the grounds into a model
landscaped garden cf flowers,
shrubs, grapevines, fruit-bear
ing trees, a vegetable plot.
In ihe course of his talk, he
Iraced development of modern
tire cord from rayon to nylon,
to steel. He noted that these ad
vances "have opened the door to
new developments which prom
ise a greatly increased safety
margin for passenger car tires."
He also predicted improvement
in carbon black and cord fabric
used in tires.
Speaking of new types of syn
thetic rubber. Dr. Street said
that modern polymerization
techniques pave the way to a
whole family of rubber develop
ments. “The next few years hold
promise of further significant
developments. These additional
tools will enable tire engineers
to build an improved product,”
he added.
Coral and Diene
Firestone in recent years has
developed two types of synthetic
rubber which can make the
United States independent of
foreign sources of rubber, in
event of a global war. The first
type. Coral, is a man-made
equivalent of natural rubber. It
has been tested extensively in
truck and military tires. The
other, Diene, is a rubber ex
tender. It can be blended with
either natural or synthetic rub
ber. Diene is more “lively"’ than
natural rubber, decreasing roll
ing resistance and power loss in
tires.
Dr. Street remarked that both
Coral and Diene have been sub
jected to extensive road tests,
and now are in limited use on
commercial truck and taxi
fleets.
Mr/s. C. W. Thomas
Live In Staunton
Mr. and Mrs. Cecil W. Thomas
Jr. went to live in Staunton, Va.,
following their June 25 wedding
ceremony in Bradley Memorial
Methodist Church, Gastonia.
Mrs. Thomas, the former Miss
Peggy Jean Davis, is the daugh
ter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry L.
Davis of 219 West Seventh ave
nue. Her mother works in Quil
ling and-Beaming.
A few days before her mar
riage, Peggy was graduated cum
laude, with a BA degree in ele
mentary education from High
Point College. Her minor studies
were in religious education.
At High Point, Peggy estab
lished an outstanding record as
a student attending the college
on a four-year Firestone scholar
ship. In Staunton, she will teach
in the public school system.
Her husband is the son of Mrs.
C. W. Thomas and the late Mr.
Thomas of Roanoke, Va. A
graduate of High Point College
in the class of 1957, he is a sales
representative for Lever Broth
ers Company.
Don’t Let Grass Grow
Under Your Feet
Have an idea? You can cash it in for
money—and at the same time, improve
your job or the job of your fellow worker.
Look around. Think. There may be a
better, more efficient way to do the job
than you did it yesterday. There may be a
safer way. Suggestions leading to these
goals will contribute toward making Fire
stone Textiles a better place to work, while
helping the company to serve its customers
with the best in quality products at fair
market prices.
Many award-winning suggestions come
from the average person on the job. What
ever your task in keeping the wheels of
progress going at Firestone, there is rich
reward for you—if you keep alert to ways
of doing your work better ... a new use of
a familiar tool ... or a new product nobody
ever dreamed of. . .
When you share ideas with your com
pany, your accepted suggestions help to
build a better place of employment ... in
crease the security of your job. Ideas put
money in your pocket, too—in more ways
than just the payment at the time your
suggestion is adopted.
• Think it through
• Write it down
• Turn it in
VISITING LEADERS—From left: General manager Harold
Mercer; H. G. Hall, synthetics; Dr. J. T. Caldwell; Philip R.
Williams, cotton; F. C. Martin, synthetics; Price Sherrill Jr.,
mechanical; Dr. J. H. Lampe; and C. C. Dawson. Hall, Williams,
Martin and Sherrill are all graduates of State College.
NC State College
Officials Here
Five men of the Firestone
Textiles, Gastonia, management
staff joined two top officials of
North Carolina State College
and a Gastonia textile manufac
turer in a brief “reunion” at the
plant here one day in June.
Dr. John T. Caldwell, chancel
lor of N.C. State College and
former president of the Uni
versity of Arkansas; and Dr. J.
Harold Lampe, dean of the
School of Engineering at State
College, were in Gastonia for
the second annual commence
ment exercises of Gaston Tech
nical Institute. With them at
Firestone was C. C. Dawson,
chairman of the advisory board
of G T I. He and Firestone
Textiles general manager Harold
Mercer have been members of
this board since its formation.
At the commencement in First
Baptist Church, Dr. Lampe in
troduced Chancellor Caldwell
who delivered the main address,
after which 62 seniors were
awarded associate degrees in
applied science. Gaston Techni
cal Institute, in quarters which
were once a part of the Fire
stone property here, is a divi
sion of the School of Engineer
ing, N.C. State College.
37th ‘500’ Win On Firestone Tires
Rolling on Firestone’s newly-
designed 1960 Indianapolis tires,
Jim Rathmann—a second-place
finisher three times — outsped
defender Rodger Ward by 13
seconds in this year’s Indian
apolis 500-mile Memorial Day
race.
It was the 37th consecutive
"500" victory for Firestone tires.
Rathmann’s record-setting
average speed, watched by some
200,000 spectators, was 138.767
miles an hour. With the new
Firestone tires, the first seven
finishers charted speeds greater
than the 135.857 record which
Ward set last year.
Heretofore, the Indianapolis
tire has been identified by three
circumferential grooves extend
ing from the low shoulder to
the center, leaving the left side
smooth. The new tire’s tread de
sign is a series of grooves that
vary in skid depth over its en
tire tread surface. Other im
provements include tighter con
trol on the selection of nylon
and increased adhesiveness of
tread to tire body.
Lyon Trophy Awarded
For Qualifying Win
Besides the 500-mile record,
the fastest qualifying time was
set this year by rookie Jim Hur-
tubise who turned the two and
one-half mile oval in 149.056.
For this, he won the Walter E.
Lyon Memorial Award trophy,
presented by W. R. McCrary,
field manager of Firestone’s
Racing Division.
Rathmann, runner-up in 1952,
1957 and 1959, beat Ward in the
second closest racing duel in the
44-year history of the track. The
two veteran drivers were still
taking turns leading as late as
the 197th lap of the 200-lap con
test.
Rathmann’s time was nearly
three miles an hour faster than
the record set last year. Ward’s
second-place speed was 138.631.
To Scout Jamboree
David Alan Darwin, son of
plant sales manager J. V. Dar
win, is among 74 Scouts and Ex
plorers from the Piedmont
Council who will attend the
Fifth National Jamboree of Boy
Scouts of America. The Jubilee
Jamboree of this Golden Anni
versary of Scouting is set for
Colorado Springs, Colo., July
22-28.
Textiles Through The Ages . . .
Textiles became a silent witness to the remote past
when Israeli archeologists recently discovered at least
seven letters of Bar Kochba, unsuccessful leader of a
Jewish rebellion against the Romans from 132 to 135 A.D.
The letters, tied in a bundle with a thread, were packed
in a goatskin bag along with several items including
mirrors, spindles of woven wool and a quantity of dyed
but unwoven wool.
The find, well preserved in the extreme dry air, was
made during an expedition last April into remote coves
of the Judean desert along the western shore of the Dead
Sea.
July, 1960 Page 2
Volume IX Number 8
☆ ☆ ☆
Published by The Firestone
Tire & Rubber Company.
Firestone Textiles Division,
Gastonia, North Carolina.
Claude Callaway, Editor
Charles A. Clark, Photographer
?LANT REPORTERS
Carding—Edna Harris, Jessie
Ammons
Cloth Room—Margie Waldrep
Industrial Relation s—Flora
Pence
Main Office—Doris Corelh
Quality Control—Sallie Craw
ford, Louella Queen, Leila
Rape
Spinning—L illie A. Brown,
Maude Peeler, Mary Turner
Spooling—Nell Bolick, Rosalie
Burger, Ophelia Wallace
Mechanical Department — Rosie
Francum
Twisting—Vera Carswell, Elease
Cole, Annie Cosey, Katie El
kins, Catherine Fletcher
Twisting (Sales)—Elmina Brad
shaw
Warahouse—M a r j o r i e Falls,
George Harper, Albert Meeks,
Rosevelt Rainey
Weaving (cotton)—Ruth Veitch
Weaving (synthetics)—Mary E.
Johnson, Irene Odell
Winding—Ruth Cloninger, May-
zelle Lewis