C.4,99,
Best Today
Still Better
Tomorrow
Rubber • Chemicals • Texliles
Ynthelics • Metals • Plastics
Tir«$ton«
GASTONIA • NORTH CAROLINA
VOLUME XII-NUMBER 4
MARCH, 1963
President Raymond C. Firestone:
^^lanting
^ Tree
late February Mrs. R. G.
'^^derson of Firestone Variety
Garden Club helped pupils plant
a pin oak tree at the Gaston
County Center for Handicapped
Children on the Dallas-Cherry-
ville highway. Troy Hood (left)
and Randy McMillan did the
spadework for inis tree. They
were among a dozen boys of the
Center's 60 children who help
ed plant two pin oaks and three
pecan trees, a donation of the
Variety Club. Mrs. Henderson is
chairman of the tree-planting
program of Variety Garden Club.
^or Safety Milestone—An NCIC Certificate
|-. More than a million production hours without a lost-
industrial injury. For this achievement at Firestone in
^stonia the North Carolina Industrial Commission has
^s^nted the plant a commemorative certificate.
Safety manager Raymond Mack accepted the award
om William Silver of the NC Industrial Commission at
quarterly meeting of the Blue Ridge Safety Council in
Mountain last month.
record of 1,061,799 safe
j^'^^ction hours was made dur-
Ofi period July 1-November
last
At
a\v
year.
the dinner meeting and
program in Kings Moun
tain Armory, representatives of
the plant here joined some 300
others from businesses and in
dustries in the six-county area
of the Blue Ridge Safety Coun
cil.
Apartments Contest
^^cAbee Team The Winner
team captained by L. B.
ee of production supervi-
Won the all-departments
sion
(I contest held August
ifij- »
^is
Pet;
December of last year,
^as one of four teams which
the work of some 70
Sons
fu,
At
m supervision.
an awards dinner in Feb-
each member of the win-
S.team was presented a mer-
^*^dise certificate.
9sis of the contest was points
te
and its members could
^ through safety-promotion
. ^rts outlined by the contest
Am
'"as
ong ways by which credit
earned by a team and its
^^bers were:
^'completion of a calendar
free of a lost-time injury
jj|^ the job, purchase of safety
and prescription safety
eyeglasses during the contest
period, safety suggestions ap
proved during the contest, team
members’ safety talks with em
ployees on the job, and leader
ship participation in scheduled
safety meetings.
Safety manager Raymond
Mack said that as a result of the
contest, there were sales of 329
pairs of safety shoes, 16 pairs of
safety eyeglasses; 36 approved
safety suggestions and approxi
mately 7,000 personal talks on
safety made by supervisors with
employees.
Captains of the other three
teams in the contest were F. B.
Galligan, production manager;
Clyde E. Moss, research and de
velopment; and Philip R. Wil
liams, synthetics division man
ager. (Picture on Page 2)
Quality And Research
Foundations Of Success
Quality of product and research are major foundations
upon which our success as a company continues to be built,”
president Raymond C. Firestone reminded a group of Gas
tonia plant supervisors here recently.
Mr. Firestone and Richard M. the Gastonia plant have been as-
Sawyer, textiles division presi
dent, were on a visit to the
plant in February. The presi
dent noted that had been many
changes toward progress since
he was here seven years ago,
and expressed confidence in a
healthy production schedule dur
ing the remainder of 1963.
At a luncheon held in honor
of Mr. Firestone and Mr. Saw
yer, the president cited the re
cent addition of Montgomery
Ward as one of Firestone’s major
tire customers under a five-year
contract. The Montgomery Ward
business, he said, is a good ex
ample of how quality and re
search continue to insure in
tegrity in our products and bring
rewards through increased busi
ness.
Mr. Firestone commended the
supervisory training courses at
the plant here, a program in
which supervisory personnel
learn company policy and con
trols. Persons indoctrinated in
signed to the company's manu
facturing units around the
world.
Triplets Born
To Mr/s Lyles
They had already experienced
something of being proud grand
parents. But when quality con
trol inspector Frontus M. Lyles
and Mrs. Lyles of materials
preparation became grandpar
ents three times within six min
utes, there was cause for some
extra rejoicing.
Television, radio and news
papers featured the story when
Mr. and Mrs. Lyles’ son Milas
became the father of triplets,
born Feb. 9 at Gaston Memorial
Hospital. The girls are Karla
Loa and Jette Lee, and their
brother is Timothy Wayne.
Mr. and Mrs. Milas Lyles have
two other children: Terry 5; and
Michael, 3.
They heard an address by Wil-
ford Jones, safety director of
the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co..
Winston-Salem. “There is really
nothing new in accident con
trol’', he said. “But there are al
ways better ways to convey th'^
safety message to employees.’’
Mr. Jones called for salesman
ship of safety to every person on
the job. He Msted five major in
jury areas and situation-^’
Hands, eyes, feet; and two typen
of chance-takers — those who>
take chances with their life and
limb on the job, and those who
take chances when cleaning or
oiling machinery.
“You may have the best prod
uct in the world but if there is
no demand for it, you can’t sell
it. The same thing is true of
safety—even more so. You must
impress the need and create the
demand for safety,” he con
cluded.
Life is a loan from God. We
ought to see that it returns Him
interest.—Winder Tender
Has 35 Years On The Job
Company president Raymond C. Firestone pins a 35-year serv
ice lapel emblem on Frank Davis, warehouse manager at Firestone,
Gastonia. On hand to join in congratulating Mr. Davis were Fire
stone Textiles president Richard M. Sawyer (left) and Harold
Mercer. Gastonia plant general manager. Mr. Davis joined the
company at Fall River, Mass. in 1928, has been here since 1935.
His is the longest service record of any individual at the Gastonia
Firestone plant. Since 1961 Mr. Davis has been manager of cotton
classing, waste sales, receiving, warehousing, and shipping. (More
service anniversaries on page 4).
DO YOU
KNOW?
Terms We Use In The Tire Industry
People in the tire industry use
terms mentioned here in a rou
tine way. Those of us in the tex
tile industry so closely associat
ed with the company’s major
products—tires—may not know
what some of the terms mean.
Do you know?
Tire sizes: People often won
der about the terminology used
to describe the sizes of tires. The
first figure in a tire size stands
for the approximate measure
ment of a cross section of the
tire at its widest point, from
scuff rib to scuff rib. The sec
ond figure refers to the inside
diameter of the tire, from bead
to bead, or the diameter of the
“hole in the doughnut.”
Thus, a 7.50-14 tire has a cross
section width of 7^2 inches and
its inside diameter is 14 inches.
Tire sizes vary for different
makes and types of cars, de
pending essentially on the
weight of the vehicle.
Materials in a tire: They in
clude (1) rubber compounded
with carbon black to give tough
ness and long wear, sulphur for
—More on Page 3