PRODUCTION AND YOUR JOB
Tire Manufacturing Moving
To Increased Mechanization
DONORS with one-gallon records (from left):
John Mercer, Frank Capps, Jack Faile, C. M.
Ferguson, J. E. Fletcher, Dorothy Couick, Robert
Jones, Edward Taylor, F. B. Harrison, Grady
Church, Fred Davis, W. F. Hogan and Roy Chas
tain.
RED CROSS THANKS—Gaston Chapter Red Cross vice chair
man Harold T. Sumner (center right) presents Marvin McCurry
with a Red Cross certificate recognizing him as a contributor of
three gallons of blood. Plant production manager F. B. Galligan
(next to Mr. McCurry) is also a three-gallon record holder. Others
in picture with two-gallon records are (from left): Archie Deal,
John Mitchell, Thomas Grant. - •
Tires stacked 95 miles high.
That’s 24 hours of production
in today’s manufacturing
plants of the world. These
one million tires—varied in
sizes and shapes—are turned
out by 190 plants in 51 coun
tries. Factories in the United
States produce more than
half the total.
To increase this production,
tire plants in changing markets
all over the world will become
increasingly mechanized, C. W.
Rippey, Firestone project engi
neer, told the Akron (Ohio)
Rubber Group at a recent meet
ing.
“Even in foreign countries, we
are not going to be able to build
a simple tire plant as has been
the practice in the past,” he said.
These new plants will “not only
make fullest use of each pro
duction minute, but will improve
the quality of the tire as well.”
Soviet Technology
Could Outstrip Us
Mr. Rippey noted that the Rus
sians are building a plant in the
Ukraine which was designed in
England. This facility is the last
word in tire-producing engineer
ing. The plant is equipped with
punch - card - operated Banbury
mixing machines, electronic
thawing ovens for natural rub
ber bales, push-button stock
servers for tire assembly ma
chines, automatic curing, load
ing and unloading—even auto
matic production controls.
The Russians claim a 20 per
cent increase in quality, using
the advanced techniques and
improved equipment, Mr. Rippey
Of the past 22 years, 1960
ranks among the lowest in polio
incidence, reports the Public
Health Service. But cost of re
pairing polio-ravaged lives this
j^ear remains high, according to
the National Foundation.
The March of Dimes organiza
tion says the reason is that the
physical damage caused by polio
often takes long years to repair.
Even though there were only
an estimated 3,100 new polio
cases in 1960, there were still
about 40,000 polio patients, most
of them stricken in previous
years, who needed financial aid
to continue their rehabilitation.
These statistics lead to the di
rect appeal: Get your Salk vac
cine now. Don’t let polio knock
you out for 10, 15 years—maybe
for the rest of your life. Don’t
risk polio devastating your life
—shattering your hopes.
FIGURES bear out another
reported. But Americans who
have inspected the products are
not particularly impressed.
This is strong evidence that
the Russians intend to rise to
the level of our tire production
efficiency, he observed. “They
bought this plant as the West’s
latest and best design, with the
admitted intention to operate
and study this factory and copy
the equipment and methods for
their other tire-producing facili
ties.”
Tiremaking Should Pace
Automotive Production
Mr. Rippey made these addi
tional comments:
» Trends in tire manufacturing
ing must follow trends in auto-
tive production. World produc
tion of cars, trucks and busses
progressed from 12 million in
1955 to 13 million in 1959. North
American automotive production
shows little increase, while most
foreign auto plants are increas
ing output every year.
» West Germany, for example,
produced 100 per cent more units
last year than in 1955. Automo
tive production in England
shows an increase of 72 per cent,
and the French are up 70 per
cent during the same period.
United States production during
the same time declined 26 per
cent.
» Increased foreign automotive
output has already created a
need for expanded tire produc
tion in foreign areas. Nine new
plants are being built in foreign
countries and many more are
undergoing expansion.
warning of the National Founda
tion:
Even though the Salk vaccine
has sharply reduced polio cases,
polio continues to strike among
the unvaccinated. This was re
flected in reports of polio flare-
ups this past summer and fall
from Rhode Island, New York
and Puerto Rico.
Now is the time to start your
series of Salk shots. Don’t wait
for the live virus vaccine, al
ready proved effective, but not
yet available to the public.
March of Dime's month ijs
coming in January. The dimes
and dollars you’ve given over
the years have helped develop
the Salk “killed-virus” vaccine
and the Sabin “live-virus” polio
vaccine.
Dimes and dollars you give
from now on will be fighting
on two other fronts besides polio
—birth defects and arthritis.
^ ^ ^
Blood Donors
Recognized
A recent dinner meeting at
the Recreation Center honor
ed all employees here who
had, of late, joined the one-
two - three -gallon donor
group.
General manager Harold
Mercer presented sterling
silver mechanical pencils to
one - gallon donors; sterling
silver ballpoint pens to those
with two-gallon records; and
leather billfolds to those who
had joined the three-gallon
group.
Harold T, Sumner, vice
chairman of the Gaston
Chapter of American Red
Cross, talked briefly on the
Carolinas Regional Blood-
bank program. He commend
ed Firestone’s record for the
outstanding contribution em
ployees here are making to
this vital phase of the Red
Cross work.
The Red Cross bloodmobile
makes two visits to the plant
here each year—in February
and in August.
William A. Spencer
William Milton Spencer, 70,
father of Robert Spencer, supply
manager at Firestone Textiles,
died Dec. 12 at his home on
Hedgewood Circle in Gastonia.
Burial was in Gaston Memorial
Park, following funeral services
conducted Dec. 14 at Bradley
Memorial Methodist Church,
where Mr. Spencer had been an
active member for many years.
He had served on the official
board, board of trustees, and
building committee. A former
member of the choir, throughout
the years he took an active part
in the Men's Bible Class activi
ties.
Those remaining of his family
are his wife Esther McGuire
Spencer; a daughter, Mrs. Clem-
mer Rhyne, Gastonia; four sons,
Robert G., Hazel and LaFon
Spencer of Gastonia, and Marsh
all Spencer of Petaluma, Calif.;
two brothers, C. D. and John
Spencer, Gastonia; four sisters,
Mrs. C. E. Wright, Mrs. A. L.
Falls, Mrs. Will Whitesides and
Mrs. Mott Foy of Gastonia; and
10 grandchildren.
The first motion picture was
a “talkie”, although sound pic
tures did not come into general
use until 1927. Thomas A. Edi
son made the first movie in
1889. It was accompanied by
sound synchronized from a
phonograph record, another
Edison invention.
IN THE
NEW YEAR
Refill Spiritual Wells
At no other time in history have church rolls grown so
large as now. But along with the attendance, are people
becoming more religious?
Methodist Bishop Hazen G. Werner of Columbus, Ohio,
has some doubts. He sums up the situation this way: “Re
demption has come to mean turning in trading stamps, and
dedication means that a person likes his job—so thin has
our religion grown.”
It’s worth some serious thought—something each in
dividual ought to take unto himself. If our spiritual wells
have run dry, what better time than the early days of the
New Year to replenish them?
Find the strength for your life—in spiritual things, the
only values that are eternal.
POLIO PROTECTED?
You Can’t Afford This Negligence
Some Mixed Yarn?
An inquisitive member of a
tourist party was viewing a mu
seum collection of Indian relics.
She pointed to a large decorated
skull in one of the show cases
and asked the guide if he knew
whose skull it was.
Tiring of answering an endless
line of pointless questions, the
guide, replied:
“That’s the skull of the Em
peror Montezuma.”
“And who was that?’'’ the
tourist persisted, pointing to a
smaller skull in an adjoining
case.
Answered the guide: “That,
Madam, is the skull of Monte
zuma when he was a little boy.”
• • •
A lot of our so-called “reason
ing’ is made up of finding argu
ments for going on believing as
we do.—Starter Maker
January, 1961 Page 4
Volume X Number 1
☆ ☆ ☆
Published by The Firestone
Tire & Rubber Company,
Firestone Textiles Division,
Gastonia, North Carolina.
Claude Callaway, Editor
Charles A. Clark, Photographer
?LANT REPORTERS
Carding—Payton Lewis, Jessie
Ammons
Cloth Room—Margie Waldrep
Industrial Relation s—Flora
Pence
Main Office—Bea McCarter
Quality Control—Sallie Craw
ford, Louella Queen, Leila
Rape
Spinning—L i 11 i e 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
Warehouse—N a n c y Cloninger.
George Harper, Albert Meeks,
Rosevelt Rainey
Weaving (cotton)—Ruth Veitch
Weaving (synthetics)—Mary E.
Johnson, Irene Odell
Winding—Ruth Cloninger, May-
zelle Lewis