■ilf
Roland Conrad
Mechanical
Gatha Piercy
Twisting (syn.)
W. H. Chasiain
Carding
Rulh Posey
Spinning
Mary E. H. Reece W. Paul Reeves Beatrice McCarter James Piercey
Twisting (syn.) Carding Payroll Twisting (syn.)
FOR
JULY
Service Roster Adds 27
Of The Passing Scene
Ruth Posey of Spinning
“put in” her first work shift
here on July 8, 1936. Before
the month was over that
year, seven others — still
here — also began working
at the Gastonia plant. All
eight of these persons, now
in their 26th year of employ
ment, are presented in photo
graphs with this story.
While these were marking
service anniversaries in July,
there were others who joined
them in completing long periods
of employment. Two of them
were for 20 years: Ray Stiles,
Weaving (synthetics); and Les-
sie Tanner, Weaving (cotton).
Others were:
Fifteen Years
Luke Sadler, Alice O. Conard
and Woodrow McKnight, all of
Twisting (synthetics); Stella L.
Phillips, Weaving (synthetics);
W. R. Turner Sr., and Robert
Floyd Hager, Weaving (cotton);
Margaret I. Rhyne and Helen
W. McCarter, Cloth Room.
Ten Years
Thomas O. Gibby, Ruth G.
Hardee and William Elvis Wat
ers, all Twisting (synthetics);
Faye Lavon Huffstetler, Grace
M. Hudspeth, Mary R. Gallo
way and Dessie Mae Welch,
Weaving (synthetics); Bobbie
B. Baldwin, Industrial Relations.
Five Years
William F. Collins, Jr., Twist
ing (synthetics).
Spare Tire Helps
In Water Rescue
In a drowning emergency,
many motorists can help in the
rescue by unbolting the spare
tire of the vehicle and rolling,
carrying or sliding it into the
water near the victim.
An ordinary spare tire, even
though mounted on a steel rim,
will support the weight of four
men in the water. The tire can
be removed from the trunk of
a car in less than 60 seconds
under average conditions.
The tire will not always ef
fect a rescue by itself. It is
only a free-floating support,
and additional help will likely
be needed. The fire or police
department or rescue squad
should be alerted imediately. A
rope thrown to the victim cling
ing to the tire completes rescue.
Nonswimmers or swimmers
untrained in rescue can help in
rescue by using the spare tire
lO support the victim — which,
at the same time, gives him a
sense of security — until further
help arrives. In event the res
cuer enters the water and is un
able to swim, the tire will easily
bear the weight of both.
The rescue can be made more
safely by keeping the tire be
tween the would-be rescuer and
the excited victim.
Safety-minded motorists do
well to carry a length of rope
in their cars. In a water-rescue
situation, the rope can be at
tached to an inflated spare tire
to pull the victim to shore.
Folks who gain success by
practice haven't much time to
preach.—First Shift Millright
You Can Age Fast
—If You Try
What makes one person ap
pear old and waiting around for
his final call at age 60, while
others revel in the Golden Years,
long after Social Security has
labeled them “retired”?
This weighty question came
up for discussion among some
oldsters who are members of the
newly-organized Firestone Tex
tiles Retired Employees Club.
The conversation shaped up in
a sort of negative pattern on
“Seven Steps to Senility.” Rate
yourself on them:
1. Insist you’re always right.
Seniority in years gives you a
universal viewpoint. Give advice
freely and always assert your
opinions and ideas with no flexi
bility.
2. Master conversations. At
your age you have the right to
talk but no obligation to listen.
Don’t let it worry you if accused
of being a bore, and don’t give
up if your audience grows smal
ler and smaller.
3. Don’t learn new tricks.
After all, if you’ve lived 40, 50
or 60 years, you’ve learned
enough for a lifetime. Fresh
ideas may confuse you, and
thinking could turn into hard
v/ork.
4. Restrict your associations.
People younger than you may
tire you out. Hunt up people of
your own age and sentimentalize
over “the good old days”.
Hang on to what you’ve learn
ed but don’t try new things.
Shut your mind to new ideas
and viewpoints. What good will
new information, new adven
tures be, anyway? Make it a
habit to read obituaries and
avoid stimulating articles in
newspapers and magazines that
deal with science and other ex
citing subjects.
6. Don’t be responsible for
anything. Let the younger folks
do that. Never be influenced by
reports of oldsters who get too
busy to attend their own birth
day parties.
7. Be sorry for yourself. See
that nobody cheats you out of
sympathy—because you deserve
it. Publicize your troubles, for it
is likely that yours are worse
than other peoples’.
The moral: You, too, can grow
old fast if you try.
Collectors: Note
Have you an 1804 United
States silver dollar? If you have,
it may be worth several thou
sand dollars. Originally 19,570
were minted. All but seven of
these were lost at sea.
MISWS
AUGUST, 1961 PAGE 3
They Bet Their Life On Firestone Race Tires
A championship racing car speeds
through a turn at the Indianapolis “500”
Speedway. Coming back onto the
straightaway, the driver glances quickly
at each of his tires as his car flashes
down the track and into the next turn.
For 500 miles these top drivers stake
their lives on the quality of their tires,
and most of these tires are made by
Firestone. For the past 38 consecutive
runnings of the Indianapolis race, the
winners have rolled on Firestone tires.
Why do they choose them? They know
Firestone is a veteran in the racing field,
celebrating 52 years of racing this year.
They know of Firestone’s exhaustive
testing program, putting racing tires to
more punishment than they could ever
receive on any track. And the tire is
especially designed for the track where
it will run.
Firestone’s Indianapolis tire is devel
oped for use on the two-and-a-half-mile
track which is the site of the Memorial
Day classic. It incorporates a very hard
tread compound and a special Ascot
tread contour.
An Ascot shape is similar to what a
regular tire would look like after being
run for a short time on the track. One
shoulder of it is high and the other is
rounded. The high shoulder faces the
inside of the track. The Ascot shape is
used in all tires for championship cars
that run on oval tracks unless the track
has high banked curves.
Firestone also builds other racing tires
for the championship cars. The Monza
tire is designed for use on the world’s
fastest race track at Monza, Italy. Also
of the same type as the Indianapolis and
Monza tires is the new Trenton tire. This
tire has a soft compound and a more
aggressive tread design. This year, the
Trenton tire was used at the New Jersey
race and the qualifying record at the
track was broken 16 times.
Stock-car racing is also a big user of
race tires. The company answered this
need with its Darlington tire. This low-
silhouette tire with high-strength nylon
cord has a wide aggressive tread design.
It is used on the Darlington, S. C. track
and at Daytona Beach, Fla., as well as
all major asphalt stock-car tracks in the
country, including Atlanta, Ga., and
Charlotte, N. C.
For stock-car racing on dirt tracks,
Firestone makes the Super Sports All-
Traction which has been proved to be
the outstanding dirt-track stock car tire
used in racing today. For sports cars,
Firestone offers the 170-T which comes
in regular tread compounds for dry
asphalt tracks and softer compounds for
wet weather.
Midget racing tires could fool the
novice into thinking they are toys, but
sometimes they run at speeds equal to
those at Indianapolis. The tires vary in
size and design with some cars using
two different-sized tires on the front
alone.
A step farther down in size is the
Micro "500" which is made for kart use
at speeds up to 100 to 125 miles per
hour. On paved tracks smooth tires are
used and on dirt tracks the tires are
grooved.
On the other end of the size scale is
Firestone’s Bonneville tire designed for
the record-breaking speed tests at the
Bonneville salt flats in Utah. With sizes
as large as 9.00 x 34, this one appears
to have no tread rubber at all. It really
has a very thin tread, but a many-ply
nylon cord body. It is tested for speeds
up to 500 mph, being used on cars that
derive power from jet thrust rather than
through the wheels.
Technical Problems Become Challenges
With racing tires, naturally Firestone
engineers face many problems. The
greatest are heat, centrifugal force, wear
and handling. As such problems are met
in the making of a racing tire, much of
the knowledge gained becomes usable in
other tire development.
Take the heat problem. High heat-
resistant compounds had to be devel
oped. Much of what the company
learned about heat-resistant tires is now
put to use in making aircraft tires, pas
senger tires, earth-moving tires and
truck and bus tires.
Centrifugal force causes tire distor
tion and makes the tread peak. Proper
cord body construction and compounds
correct this problem.
As an example of the load that centrif
ugal force can put on a tire, tread on
the Bonneville weighs 2.6 pounds. At
300 mph, the same tread under centrif
ugal load weighs 73 tons. Tread com
pounds must adhere strongly to keep
them on the tire body under this force
and yet they must also be long-wearing.
Tread compounds vary from extreme
ly soft to extremely hard. Drivers in the
Pike’s Peak Climb use the Town and
Country tire with very soft tread to get
the most bite on loose dirt. At Monza
KNOW
YOUR PRODUCTS
and Indianapolis, a hard tread compound
is used to withstand centrifugal force,
sliding and wheelspin.
Testing Program Inside and Out
In order to meet these first three
major problems, an exhaustive test pro
gram both indoors and under actual race
conditions is carried on. All types of
racing tires are tested on indoor ma
chines for straightaway speeds. Tires
are loaded to what they would carry on
the track plus a safety factor and are
tested at speeds in excess of what they
will run in the actual race.
Another outdoor test is for turns.
Here the tire runs a fixed test in repeti
tion going through turn, straightaway,
turn and straightaway. On the turns, an
extra load is induced to simulate centrif
ugal force.
The latest test machine is for ultra-
high speeds. This machine, at the Co
lumbiana, Ohio, Test Station, had to be
developed before work could begin on
the Bonneville tire. Powered by a racing
engine, it can simulate actual conditions
that will be experienced on the salt flats.
The machine will go from a stop to 600
mph in less than a minute.
Actual track tests must be run to de
termine how well a tire will handle.
Experienced drivers race to determine
if the tire will handle safely.
From the designing board to the final
tire, quality is a must. Only the best
possible tire for the job goes into pro
duction, and then under the control of
company engineers. A minor imperfec
tion in the tire sends it to the scrap pile.
These high standards and pride of
workmanship make Firestone the leader
in racing. From the start of the race to
the checkered flag, the driver’s life is
only as safe as his tires. On Firestone
tires he runs with confidence.
A Firestone employee's acquaintance with products which his
company manufactures, encourages pride in his work and helps to
keep the quality of Firestone at its usual high level. This is the
third article in a series attempting to explain uses and advantages
of the different lines of Firestone tires. Already, we have published
articles on passenger, truck, bus and other transport, and farm
tires. Next: A feature on off-highway tires for construction and
other jobs. —