GASTONIA • NORTH CAROLINA
AN ALL-AMERICA CITY
VOLUME XIV - NUMBER 5
APRIL • 1965
5Tir«$lone
Your Symbol
of Quality
and Service
Plant In 31st Year
Of Gastonia Operation
Firestone Textiles has entered its 31st year of operation
in Gastonia. On April 1 of 1935, company Founder Harvey
S. Firestone bought the plant and other properties here
which, under two other corporate names, had dated back
to the early 1900s.
In the purchase, the company
acquired the mill village with
its rows of employee houses and
lands. A few years after the
purchase, Firestone became one
of the first companies to sell its
village homes to employees:
Noting Ihe anniversary month,
9eneral manager Harold Mercer
referred to Firestone's years in
Gastonia as "a story of con
tinuing progress, with great
chapters yet to come."
Years ago the plant here
became known as the world’s
largest textile operation under
One roof. Today it is one of the
World’s largest per-volume pro
ducers of tire fabrics. It has
gone from production of cotton
tire cord to the processing of a
Whole family of synthetic ma
terials which comprises today’s
major production here.
History Reviewed • Under
the name “Firestone Cotton
Inc.”, the plant, fir.st
turned out cotton tire fabrics
exclusively. W. A. Karl, the
late president of Firestone Tex
tiles, was at that time in charge
of textile purchases at the com
pany’s home office in Akron,
Ohio. The plant’s present gen
eral manager was the first comp
troller and assistant treasurer.
In 1938 when Mr. Mercer was
promoted to vice president and
general manager, R. M. Sawyer
became comptroller. He was lat
er transferred as manager of a
newly-acquired plant in Fort
Worth, Texas. After that assign
ment, he managed the Firestone
Textile plant at Sao Paulo, Bra
zil, and is now president of the
Textiles Division.
In the first two decades of
operation, the plant had pro
duced tire fabrics and other
fabrics and yarns for the textile
trade and for national defense.
Through the years production
has changed with the altered
needs of tire nanufacturing
and the demands of a world v/ar.
From April 2 to early June of
more on page 2
FIRST SHOWING of the display was at a
Hunter Huss High School science fair in March.
Here, students Mary Ann Allen (left) and Lana
Rogers got a lesson in its operation from Ray
Thomas of Firestone's development-refinement
department.
A Twister Exhibit
Took To The Road
ON LAKE JAMES
Camp Firestone Season
Opening Early May
Days of rest, play and renewal are upcoming
at the company’s family retreat in the Land of
the Sky. Camp Firestone’s 30th season, begin
ning May 3, offers variety recreation and relax
ation in a lake-and-forest setting of the Southern
Blue Ridge.
The company-operated facility, on a cove of
Lake James in McDowell and Burke counties.
Will be open for employees and family members
into October.
Throughout the camp months, Firestone people
Can enjoy the extended mountain-flower season,
and before closing time can see the peak of
autumn color in one of the most spectacular
sightseeing areas of Eastern America.
LAKE JAMES, its 6,500 acres of surface and
154-mile shoreline, is the major feature of Camp
f'irestone at Bridgewater. The lake is one of the
South’s fastest-developing centers for aquatic
sports.
Camp facilities offer boating, fishing, swim-
rning, water-skiing, horseshoe-pitching, table
tennis, picnicking, camping and nature study.
There are swings, see-saws and a protected
Wading area for children.
Housing and other facilities include six
cottages with sleeping quarters, each complete
With electric cookstove and refrigerator; two
other cottages with sleeping arrangements; and
the central kitchen-dining building.
Overnight accommodations will take care of
80 persons at one time, with camping space for
additional persons. This year there will be seven
I'owboats in service.
Camp Firestone is administered through the
plant industrial relations office and physical
Property is maintained by the mechanical
department. Plant engineer J. G. Tino Jr. said
that seasonal repairs and maintenance on build
ings and equipment are underway; also inspec
tion and bringing life-saving equipment to
standard, stocking firefighting materials and
first-aid supplies.
☆
A Firestone display for public
exhibit has been designed to
show the most modern twisting
operation at the Gastonia plant.
C.E. Moss, others of the develop
ment department and plant en
gineer J. G. Tino Jr., witii
workmen of the mechanical
department planned and built
the exhibit for schools, trade
and industrial fairs and other
showings.
The display in a polished
walnut case produces the effect
of actual twisting motion
through use of a drive motor and
strobe light.
Explanation on display case
reads: “Our latest-type twister
package. A 10-pound-gross-pack-
age is rotated at high speed and
specified twist is applied. Strobe
light at right is normally used
by our quality control to main
tain proper spindle revolutions
per minute. On spindles simiUu*
to this one Firestone Textiles
produces 350 million yards of
tough tire cord every day of
operation for your safety on the
highway. This amount of cord
would reach 8 times around
the earth.”
Company Bought, Operates
Seiberhng Tire Assets
A last-season scene at Camp Firestone boat
house pier on Lake James.
Applications for a stay at Camp Firestone
are made through the industrial relations office
here.
Recently-purchased assets
of the tire division of the
Seiberling Rubber Company
are being operated by Fire
stone as The Seiberling Tire
& Rubber Company.
The sale, effective in Febru
ary, encompasses the complete
tire business of Seiberling, with
plant and headquarters at Bar
berton, Ohio. Property includes
real estate, manufacturing plant,
equipment and warehouse fa
cilities in Barberton, and the
Seiberling tire brand names and
trademarks.
Marketing of Seiberling tires
and tread rubber will be con
tinued through the existing
Seiberling distribution system.
Harry P. Schrank, a veteran
in the rubber industry who has
been president of the Seiberling
Rubber Company, continues as
president of The Seiberling Tire
& Rubber Company.
William E. Slulz, who has
been trade sales manager for
The Dayton Tiro & Rubber
Company, another Firestone
division, has been named vice
president of marketing for
Seiberling.
Fire Danger
Match heads and lighted cig
arette butts are dangerous in
the hands of careless, thought
less people. Each year, says the
National Fire Protection Asso
ciation, thoughtless people are
responsible for more than 200,-
000 fires—in which about 1,200
people die.
With the ever-present danger
of fii'e at home, at work, and
in forests in the upcoming out
door season, caution could save
lives and property from this
destruction.