FIRESTONE TRUCK
AND BUS TIRES
They Help Keep Nation’s Economy Rolling
ai the Gastonia fac
tory produce only a pari of what goes
into tires. Because of this, there are
many things that need explaining about
the goods the company manufactures.
Maybe you wonder why one tire is built
one way, while another that appears like
it, has different construction. This article
on transport tires is intended to acquaint
you with one family of the company's
major products.
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Among Firestone’s 1,800 kinds and
sizes of tires made for transportation,
agriculture, and construction, there is a
rugged, heavy-duty family that is vital
to the economy and well-being of people
around the world.
They haul produce, furniture and mail;
transport people on buses, and do a thou
sand and more other essential jobs com
mon to our everyday living.
In this giant task, Firestone’s extensive
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A Distinguished Family
Of Firestone Transports
Firestone met the trucking industry’s
need when production began on the
Transport-100 a few months ago. This
tire has a three-rib, bladed tread design
w^hich provides a 50 per cent increase in
mileage over previous original-equip-
ment transport tires. It adds efficiency
and safety, too.
The Transport-100 offers increased
side-and-forward traction and a new
Transport-100 Super Transport
low-noise level. Low-noise level has been
a feature of passenger tires for several
years. But with the coming of superhigh
ways—some close to residential areas—
there was need for noise reduction on
truck tires. So, Firestone led the way
with the low-noise development.
The Duplex, developed in 1960 and
soon to be in production, is a single
truck tire designed to replace duals on
tractor-trailer rigs. Because of its de
line of truck and bus tires plays a major
role. Harvey S. Firestone organized the
“Ship By Truck” program in 1918. Ever
since then, the company he founded has
had its research-development-production
people working together to give the
market top-quality tires for transporta
tion. And all along. Firestone has im
proved tires to meet ever-growing needs.
Trucking today is a great and grow
ing industry, always meeting new chal
lenges in overland hauling. Nowadays,
limited-access highways allow faster
truck travel and make it possible for
vehicles to go places that used to be
impossible to reach.
Because trucks now have more horse
power and increased gross-loading ca
pacity, the industry makes greater de
mands on tires, and looks for those that
offer greater mileage and more traction
to prevent slipping and increase braking
power at high speeds.
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sign, it takes up less room than duals; is
lighter, yet has almost the same overall
diameter as the dual tires it replaces.
The Duplex also meets the need for
heavier loading on axles of some truck
types. It will save room on truck or
trailer design, offer a smoother ride
which will reflect in savings from truck
maintenance costs and damaged cargo,
and allow greater mobility in off-high
way use.
Super Transport is an extra-value tire
for all types of highway service. A
premium model, it is designed with ex
tra tread both in skid depth and base
for added mileage. Base tread can be re
grooved for bonus mileage before re
treading when original tread wears thin.
Super Mileage Transport Cross Bar
offers up to 20 per cent increased mile
age and added traction. It is intended for
use on drive wheels of the more power
ful trucks for on-hig'hway use. Like the
Super Transport, the Cross Bar can be
regrooved for bonus mileage.
Transport is a top-quality tire under
the 100 level. This lower-priced tire of
fers dependability for high-speed, long
distance service in cities, rural areas as
well as on the highways.
Super All Traction Heavy Duty is the
last word when it comes to hugging the
road or other surface. It offers excellent
service on muddy, unpaved roads or un
der winter conditions off-the-highway.
You’ll find many of them on rural school
buses and vehicles of utility companies.
Super Mileage Lug, a moderate-trac-
tion tire, is at home on or off the high
way. It is especially suited for gravel
trucking and similar jobs. The All Trac
tion tire is ideal for trucks which must
leave the highway to pick up cargo.
Heavy Duty Transport Steelcord W-2
gives twice the ordinary tire mileage on
drive wheels of a truck. Built with a
zero-bias steelcord body ply and from
three to five steel stabilizer bands around
its circumference, it has a pliable side
wall with a rigid tread. The decreased
movement of the tread and the thin body
allow it to run with minimum heat
buildup.
The W-3 of the Heavy Duty Transport
Steelcord is designed for high loading
and severe service operations. It is not
readily adapted to highway use because
of its weight capacity—above what the
law allows on the roads. But it is well
suited to service where a cut-resisting
tire is needed. Owners and operators of
sanitation trucks and contracting equip
ment like the features of the W-3.
They're In Two Major Types
You can buy Firestone truck and bus
tires in both tubed and tubeless con
struction. The company developed the
tubeless truck tire to go with a one-
piece, drop-center rim, widely accepted
by the trucking industry. Firestone Steel
Products Company worked with the
company’s rubber division to develop a
simplified one-piece rim. It replaced a
six-piece assembly of tire, tube, flap, rim
base, flange and locking ring.
Super Mileage Lug All Traction
There are many advantages of the
tubeless truck tire over the tire-tube as
sembly. The tubeless tire will run about
25 degrees cooler, meaning longer life
and increased mileage. It is puncture-
resistant, with greater protection against
blowouts.
And it is weight-saving. A 9.00-20 tire-
tube-wheel assembly for a tractor-trail-
er weighs about 28 pounds more than its
Heavy Duty Transport Heavy Duty Transport
Steelcord W-2 Steelcord W-3
Super All Traction Transport Cross Bar
tubeless counterpart. A tractor-trailer
unit with 10 tubeless tires would gain a
reduction of 280 pounds—meaning more
payload per vehicle and more revenue
per mile.
The tubeless tire, quite popular with
large trucking companies, today is run
ning on several of the largest fleets. Re
duced down-time on the road and money
saved in service charges make the tube
less tire preferred by many large trans
port haulers.
What makes Firestone truck tires su
perior? The best in research, testing and
advance design go into every one of
them. The Transport-100 is a good ex
ample. More than 9,000 of these tires
were put to rugged tests—in labora
tories, on test tracks such as Firestone’s
7.7-mile track at Fort Stocktor Texas;
and on customer fleets—before final spe
cifications were written and production
was begun.
But this example is no exception. Such
testing is standard procedure at Fire
stone, where quality is paramount.
The company’s engineers and develop
ment people constantly work to provide
new design ideas to increase quality of
tires and to create new ones for special
jobs.
From the engineer down to the skilled
tire-builder, pride in the knowledge of
producing the best tires on the market
today helps make Firestone the leader
in its field.
Bite Tamed—But It’s Still Vicious
FRIENDS of Dr. W. B. Parks envisioned
him as going in for some unhurried leisure
during the upcoming years. So, at a testi
monial dinner for the retiring plant phy
sician, they gave him a sports jacket and
wished him well on fishing trips. Helping
him try on the gift from Firestone Fellow
ship Club was Mrs. Clayton Wilson, plant
paymaster. Other gifts were a set of luggage
and a certificate for merchandise.
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Doctor Retired—
But Not To Loaf
A man in Dallas, Texas has
invented a blade for a power
lawnmower that won’t hurl ob
jects it hits.
As safety - conscious people
know, solid objects struck by the
whirring blades of rotary mow
ers can travel like bullets. So,
people are killed and injured
every year.
Scouts Banquet
—From page I
Heavener, George Hook III,
Donald Hull, Robert Hull Jr.,
Danny Huss, David Huss.
Andrew Jenkins, Harold Kelly
Jr., Robert Kelso, Junior King,
James Lewis, Payton Lewis Jr.,
Robert Love, Mike Phaup, Ralph
Quinn, William Quinn, Jimmie
Ratchford, Van Riley, Eddy
Robinson, Jim Robinson, Ken
neth Rumney, Earl Stockton,
David Thornburg, Calvin Todd,
Charles Todd, Boyce Wilson III.
Inventor of the anti-hurl blade
once got his finger cut to the
bone when a neighbor’s rotary
chopper threw a tin can. The
victim forthwith got the idea for
an S-shaped blade which never
hits an object a solid blow. Its
slicing action does a better job
on the grass, too.
The blade may impel solid ob
jects it strikes but with much
less dangerous force.
As you’d expect, such an in
vention is an improvement in
safety, but not a substitute for
commonsense precaution with a
power mower. Even the S-blade
will slice a hand or foot just as
viciously as the conventional
straight-hacking blade, if the op
erator becomes careless.
Fabric count is the number
of warp ends and filling picks
per inch in woven fabric. Fab
ric count is essentially the same
thing as texture, thread count,
and pick count.
You can put your money in
the big one, a few comfortable
clothes in the little one and
take off on an extended rest
trip after all your years on the
job here.” Industrial relations
manager T. B. Ipock Jr. was re
ferring to Dr. W. B. Parks and
the luggage set which was among
the gifts presented the retiring
plant physician at a testimonial
dinner for him in the Recreation
Center recently.
After 26 years as Firestone
Textiles’ industrial physician,
Dr. Parks laid down the tools
of his profession at the plant,
affirming, “It seems such a short
time.”
“I’m going to miss being with
you people here day after day,”
he confessed, “but I’ll still be
across the way at 102 South Dal
ton street, continuing in private
general practice.”
At the testimonial dinner hon
oring Dr. Parks, several of the
78 people attending paid him
tribute. Words of commendation
were sent from W. A. Karl,
president of Firestone Textiles;
and from other company offi
cials.
Harold Mercer, general man
ager at Gastonia, summed up the
tributes; “I’ve never heard any
thing but praise for your serv
ices.”
JUNE, 1961 PAGE 3