Cfe7T, I
(UIONIA • NORTH CAROLINA
VOLUME XII - NUMBER II
OCTOBER • 1963
. F5^
Tire$toti«
Your Symbol
of Quality
and Service
j'^HtSEEING
Camp Firestone
this is
my valley
Smokies with her towering peaks—
^dowed slopes of the Balsams—cloud-
|.^^pped ranges of the Blue Ridge—russet
®lds of the Piedmont—wherever you look,
At® glory of Autumn is here. And in the
.^orth Carolina hillcountry the flame of fall
^ccented by the dark spires of evergreen.
October is “tour-the-mountains” month,
with Nature’s handiwork at its most spectac
ular showing.
This Firestone News photo of a homestead
set in a picturesque cove is representative
of the scenery across the Blue Ridge country
between Marion and Boone. Employees and
members of their families often make Camp
Firestone on Lake James a starting point
for sightseeing tours in the vast “rooftop-of-
America” mountain empire.
The lakeside company retreat near Marion
continues its current season into October
when the fall color season is at its best.
jjjj^estone is on the thres-
y p of a revolutionary de-
b ^Pment in tire cord. J. J.
Ve] director of tire de
ls said the company
QQ^^veloping a fiberglass
which is particularly
.i^ising for use in radial-
“ytires
C”'
radial-ply tire is a new
in which the cords run
. the body instead of at
^ngle of 34 to 38 degrees
around-the-tire direc-
ij as in conventional construc-
^on.
s^^^^use radial-type body con-
^ction lacks stability, nar
row layers of textile or wire
cords are placed under the tread
at an angle of about 20 degrees.
These layers act as a belt and
give the tire stability.
There is less movement of
tread surface in the tire “foot
print” and less shearing effect
between layers of body cords in
the radial-ply tire, resulting in
better tread wear, lower fuel use
and quicker steering response
at normal driving speeds.
But the stiff, constricting lay
ers of textile or wire under the
tread result in a harder, noisier
ride on rough roads and over
small obstructions such as road
SACIE Honor For Plant Paper
fee News of Gastonia
the first-place award
editorial writing at the
Atlantic Council of In-
Editors 17 th annual
® ing in Durham last month,
award cited two editorials
^Ubli
th,
ished in the News during
-Q Past 12 months. They were
^irne-worn Dolls—Tools and
to j®^®ss”; and “We’ll Never Get
^he That Way,” a piece on
j^^^bject of quality.
^as the fourth time the
publication had won
SACIE honors. It was judged
best newspaper-type publication
within the council membership
in 1959, received an award of
excellence for photographic
achievement in 1961, and was-
named first-place winner in in
dustrial photography last year.
The SACIE, with a member
ship of 101 principally in North
Carolina and South Carolina,
represents employee and service
publications of industry, busi
ness, institutions, and service
organizations.
expansion joints.
THIS is where fiberglass cord
—lacking the stiffness of other
materials—shows great promise.
Mr. Robson said fiberglass cord
will bend and envelop the ob
struction, absorbing the shock
and preventing noise which re
sults when unyielding wire or
other material contacts an ob
struction.
Fiberglass tire cord is made
from the same tiny glass fibers
for which there are so many ap
plications today in home and
industry. Mr. Robson said it has
the strength, low elongation, re
sistance to heat and moisture
and other desirable properties of
wire used for tire cord.
He believes fiberglass cord
will combine the soft, quiet ride
of the conventional passenger-
car tire with quick response and
easy maneuvering in the radial-
ply tire.
He sees the European market
as the first commercial outlet
for tires containing fiberglass
cord, noting that this has been
the best market for radial-ply
tires.
Because driving conditions are
different in the United States,
the future of the radial-ply tire
is somewhat uncertain, accord
ing to Mr. Robson.
Your UF Gift Helps
26 Services
Better Community Living
Through United Giving
Your “one gift—one time” to the United Fund this month
is an investment in better community living, undergirding
the work of 26 local health, welfare, recreation and other
services for people during the coming year.
This year’s United Fund ap- are chairmen of the in-plant
peal at Firestone is being made solicitation. They are assisted
Company Develops Fiberglass Cord For Tires
during the first two weeks of
the Greater Gastonia UF pro
gram, Oct. 8-Nov. 1. The general
appeal aims at a goal of $212,-
485.77, an increase of 9.2 per
cent over last year’s figure.
Production managers F. B.
Galligan and P. R. Williams Jr.
Best Quarter;
Record Sales
The best third quarter in
its history and record sales
and improved earnings for
the first nine months of the
current fiscal year are re
ported by the Firestone Com
pany.
Company chairman Harvey S.
Firestone Jr. and president Ray
mond C. Firestone reported sales
of $1,006,235,698 and earnings of
$44,614,613 for the nine months
ended July 31.
The statement reflects increas
es of 8.5 per cent in the previous
record sales of $927,207,969 and
1.5 per cent in net income of
$43,946,489 for the same period a
year ago.
It is the first time that sales
of the company for the first
nine months have exceeded a
billion dollars.
Figures include sales of $365,-
208,176 and earnings of $17,725,-
612 during the third quarter,
compared with previous record
sales of $321,927,497 and earn
ings of $14,202,330 during the
same period last year.
ESTIMATED earnings for the
current fiscal period include a
$3,064,674 net loss resulting from
the devaluation of assets of
certain foreign subsidiaries. Es
timated net income before the
devaluation loss was $47,679,-
287, compared with $44,826,282
by several dozen volunteer
workers helping to receive em
ployee contributions through
the payroll deduction plan.
A Record Lasi Year • In keep
ing with a tradition of generous
giving here, employees added a
record $16,585,40 to the local
United Fund in 1962. The per-
person average gift was $12.46.
“Since the goal is increased
this year because human need
increases as time goes on, we are
confident that our people will go
even beyond their good record of
giving last year,” said Mr. Galli
gan.
Mr. Williams pointed out that
in the past, “fair-share” giving
has been a good way by which
an individual can measure his
response to community need. A
“fair-share” guide is usually
considered as one hour’s pay per
month for a year or 6/10 of 1 per
cent of annual pay. For salaried
—More on page 3
FUND
ttUTEK CASTOMA VNiTEB
last year, an increase of 6.4 per
cent.
Estimated earnings on com
mon stock for the first nine
months were $1.59 per share,
compared with $1.56 last year.
Scholarship Students Down To Work
Three Gastonia-area students with Firestone college scholarships
are in school this year. Betty Ann McAbee is a senior at Erskine
College, Due West, S. C.; Neil Tate is a junior at Wake Forest Col
lege, Winston-Salem; and John Daniel Fowler Jr. has begun his
first year at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Miss McAbee, whose father is an assistant division manager
here, is majoring in elementary education. She was supervisor at
Firestone Playground (Gastonia) the past summer. During her three
years at Erskine she has been outstanding in student leadership.
Tate is working toward a degree in political science. During his
first two college years he has been in the honors program and
prominent in varsity debating. His mother, Mrs. Chester Tate, works
in twisting here.
Fowler is in a zoology-major program. The past summer, for the
second year, he attended the National Science Foundation Science
Institute at UNC, in a program of physiological research. His mother
works in twisting (synthetics respooling).