Nylon
Four-Ply
440 X 21
• • A roadworthy 1929
Ford Tudor Sedan, restored
to its original glory, sports
Firestone tires. Richard A.
Webber, Industrial Relations
manager at Firestone’s
Bowling Green, Ky., plant,
has owned the car for 12
years.
He drives it often enough
to wear out a set of tires now
and then. The Firestones are
440 X 21 size, four-ply nylon,
in original tread design of
the 1930s and 1940s. The
UNITED WAY
HONOR
Award Of Excellence
Firestone Textiles Company Gastonia employees have
been honored through another in a long series of awards
for outstanding participation in the United Appeal of Gas
ton County.
Firestone was one of 53 local
business firms and other organi
zations recognized at the annual
awards luncheon at Gaston Col
lege. Feb. 13. The plant was
one of 18 firms presented the
Award of Excellence, top United
Way honor.
Other firms cited were pre
sented the Outstanding Citizen
ship Award.
PEOPLE at Firestone in the
United Way support campaign
last fall pledged $43,048.65, to
become a major contribution in
the overall county goal of $631,-
Some Suggestion ‘Starters’
• Look around. Observe.
Compare. Think things out,
then suggest how. . .
Reduce costs by cutting
down on waste — both time
and materials.
Improve safety devices
and programs.
Eliminate unnecessary
steps in production.
Simplify handling o f
paperwork and routine re
ports.
Combine two or more op
erations for efficiency.
Improve quality and serv
iceability of our product.
Increase the value of our
goods and services.
Promote our company
name, our products and our
services.
I
n
Old & New
• • Closing out of cotton proc
essing was the end of a long
history of natural-fibers produc
tion at the Gastonia Firestone
plant. Roving (foreground) was
last of this cotton operation to
go—giving way to multifilament
synthetic weaving of tire fabric
on loom in background. Loom-
fixer in photo is Martin Messer.
More, page 3 •
Harvey S. Firestone
Men And Rubber 1926
business must earn money.
So, you have to watch it day and
night. It must earn money, else it
will fail. And failure means that
you have played the game and lost.
GASTONIA
NORTH CAROLINA
company still produces these
tires, along with some other
oldies, and makes them
available through special
outlets.
Webber had driven the ’29
Ford to work on the day
these photos were made in
front of the Bowling Green
plant.
MARCH
1973
BENNEHSVILLE
SOUTH CAROLINA
BOWLING GREEN
KENTUCKY
Tire$lon«
☆ ☆ ☆
000. A total $677,000 was raised.
The funds are undergirding 33
community services in Gaston
County during 1973.
In the 1972-1973 funds effort,
Firestone had the highest rate
of giving per employee of all
contributing organizations in
the county.
At the awards meeting the
new United Way campaign
chairman, Albert Davis, an
nounced plans to raise $700,000
in this fall’s fund-raising effort.
UNITED WAY is a volunteer
organization supporting 33
member agencies which provide
social, health or youth services
to the citizens of Gaston County.
Firestone Textiles Company
president James B. Call and di
vision general factories manager
F. B. Galligan are current mem
bers of the board of directors of
United Way. John V. Darwin,
administrative assistant to Mr.
Call, has completed a three-year
term on the board.
Fourth HM
Award
Mrs. Lucia Mercer, widow
of Harold Mercer, presented
the Harold Mercer Award to
outgoing United Community
Services president David Al
len Smith at the 20th United
Way annual meeting in early
1973.
The fourth to be presented,
the award is given to retiring
United Way presidents for their
outstanding community service.
It honors the memory of the late
Harold Mercer, who helped pio
neer the United Way in Gaston
County.
MR. MERCER was for more
37 years an official of the Fire
stone company. In Gastonia
from 1935 through 1968 when he
retired, he was plant general
manager and later division
president.
He was one of the founders
of the Gaston United Fund in
the early 1950s, and served one
term as president. For many
years he was a member of the
executive committee of Caro-
linas United, an association of
United Funds and Community
Chests in the two states.
• • Two heavy snows slowed life in Marlboro County early this
year, but some travel continued. This man and boy made it quite
easily with a horsedrawn sulky—modified with wide rubber-tired
wheels.
Within just 33 days. Nature \
pulled three big surprises on
people in Marlboro County, S.C.
Last of these three weather
phenomena came Feb. 9, when
the heaviest snowfall since 1916
visited the county.
The record snow, averaging
14 inches, began falling on a
Friday and continued through
the following day. It was the
first blizzard Marlboro residents
had seen.
Drifts built up several feet
high in many areas. Highways
were impassable, travelers were
marooned. Most business stop
ped off.
Winter Memory
On Jan. 7, the first snow of
the season fell. It became glazed
over with ice and stayed on the
ground 12 days. Then a record
6-inch rainfall came within 6
hours. It caused flooding and
drainage problems throughout
the county.
Through the two heavy snows
and a flood, people at the Ben-
nettsville Firestone plant went
uninterrupted, carrying on
normal operations in factory
and office.
BOWLING GREEN
Fabric-Treating Facility
September this year is the projected completion time
for the major expansion program at Firestone Textiles
Company’s Bowling Green, Ky., tire-fabric plant.
The new facility, begun in
September, 1972, will house a
unit which will more than
double the plant’s fabric-treat-
ing capacity, according to James
B. Call, division president.
Firestone Textiles Company
produces fabrics at Bowling
Green, Gastonia, N.C., and Ben-
nettsville, S.C., used in con
struction of tires and other in
dustrial applications.
WHEN the unit at Bowling
Green is in operation it will be
capable of processing up to 40
million pounds of nylon, poly
ester and Du Font’s new Fiber
B per year. It will be the first
large-capacity facility in the in
dustry for treating Fiber B.
Through dipping, heating and
stretching processes, fabric-
treating units “temper” tire fab
rics to minimize the amount of
stretching in use.