TEXTILES COMPAMY
Twisting—
getting fibers
into shape for
weaving. It's a
major opera
tion at Gas
tonia, Ben-
nettsville and
Bowling
Green plants
of Firestone
Textiles Com
pany. Twist
ing is the
process by
which fiber
(or ends) are
arranged to
bind yarn to
gether in a
spiral pattern.
Besides changing the physical composition,
twisting adds strength to the material. Single
yam twisted into plies and combined, produces
cord or cable.
On the machine, the twister, spidle and travell
er revolve the ends of ysirn to make TPI (turns
per inch), while the front roll holds the yarn
Nearly 50,000
Participated
Auto Clinics
and feeds it along at a determined rate, onto
the spool.
Plants of Firestone's textile division receive
their yarns from the company's fiber producers
and from outside sources. It is processed into
some single yarn and ply twist. But most produc
tion is in combined plies, making cable or cord
for weaving into tire fabric.
New Warehouse Coming Almanac...
Hardaway Construction Company of Nashville, Tenn.,
has the contract to remove the old warehouses and other
buildings and construct the new $3-million warehouse be
hind the Gastonia plant. Removal of some dwelling houses
on Third Avenue was scheduled for early August. The time
table for the new, single-floor, 200,000 square-foot facility
calls for completion by July, 1978.
In Our Towns
A FANFARE...
• To; Bowling Green, Ky.,
for sponsoring an annual
Free Enterprise Fair at
Western Kentucky Univer
sity. The Fair this year,
Sept. 22-23, will feature ex
hibits and sp>eeches on "the
free enterprise system smd
its place in business."
Among the speakers will be
Mario Di Federico, president
of The Firestone Tire &
Rubber Company. Keynote
speaker is Ronald Reagan,
former governor of Cali
fornia and author of a syn
dicated radio and newspaper
commentary on public af
fairs.
• To: Bennettsville, S.C.,
for plans to construct a new
Marlboro County Public Li
brary Building. The project
has first priority in expendi
ture of expected public
works funds. New library
site is at East Market and
John Corry Streets, Ben-
nellsville.
• To: Kings Mountain,
N.C., for saving the old
Southern Railway depot on
Piedmont Street, renovating
it and converting to a com
munity center, meeting
place for older citizens,
place for arts and crafts dis
plays and a farmers market.
Textile School
Summer Courses
North Carolina Vocational
Textile School at Belmont is
offering 16 standard courses and
6 special short courses in night
classes during the summer quar
ter, July 11-Sept. 22.
Besides conventional textile
courses like yarn manufacturing,
fiber identification, textile math,
weaving & designing, dyeing &
finishing, knitting & designing,
and apparel manufacturing,
there are studies in such sub
jects as management control,
safety, supervision, reading im
provement, human relations, and
blueprint reading.
^ Pattern-drafting and tailoring
men’s slacks and analyzing knit
fabrics are among the special
short courses.
“We knew that many women
knew little about how their car
functioned, so we developed the
car-care clinic to show them.”
said Jack B. Scarcliff, director of
consumer affairs for Firestone.
Now, almost 50,000 women
have participated in the free
clinics at Firestone Stores
throughout the country since
1974.
Each program consists of four
sessions, each lasting about two
hours. Part of each session is
spent in the store showroom for
a lecture and visual aids. A short
recess with coffee and pastries
and then the women go to the
service bays where they see
demonstrations of what had
been discussed in the lecture.
SOMETIMES, a volunteer lub
ricates an auto or changes the
oil, directed by a store mechanic.
The women ask questions,
many of them on problems they
have had with their cars. Store
managers usually are able to
explain what caused the particu
lar problem and what can be
done to prevent future similar
problems.
Included in the course are
booklets offering tips on car
care and normal maintenance
procedures. Schedules for clinics
are determined by local Fire
stone dealers and stores.
Award To ‘The Tree That Weeps’
August • “. . . Aunt Lizzie by
the garden gate, a-gatherin’ of
tomatoes.” —Shepherd M. Dug
ger.
In tradition, this month’s
flower is the poppy or gladiolus.
The gem is carnelian or peridot.
August being a good month
for vacations and travel, remem
ber this as you go: Make a
checklist so you can take along
emergency supplies — raincoat
and overshoes, flares and an ex
tra flashlight, wiping tissues,
bandages, suntan lotion, insect
repellent, aspirin.
Three With Five
Three at Bowling Green are
the most recent to complete 5-
year service records with the
company.
Harold Stewart, weaver in
Firestone’s film “The Tree
That Weeps”, tells the story of
natural rubber and shows how
trees are improved and how rub
ber is processed.
The 20-minute film, produced
as an educational service, recent
ly won the Gold Eagle Award
presented by the Council on In
ternational Non-Theatrical
Events (CINE) at its 1977 awards
program.
Service gastonia
Milestones
. O’Dell Human, twister
operator in TC Twisting,
hired on” at Firestone in
Gastonia, July 11, 1947. So,
now he’s into his 31st year of
employment. Marking 30-
year records with Human in
July were William L. McCar
ter, traveler changer in TC
Twisting; and Jesse L. Parks
Jr., lead vehicle mechanic in
the Shop.
Weaving; Geraldine F. Wood,
Terrell splicer operator in Weav
ing: and Larry B. Simmons, in
spector in Quality Control.
“The Tree That Weeps” shows
Liberia, Ghana, and Brazil—
where Firestone operates rubber
plantations—and the Far East
and the people in these lands
whose skill and contributions to
the rubber industry are invalu
able.
The film is distributed for
Firestone by Association Films
through its libraries across the
United States.
And in July there were S
others having work anniversa
ries:
Ten Years • Donald E. Adams,
loom creeler in TC Weaving.
Five Years • James E. Patter
son, twister operator in TC
Twisting; Larry E. Wilson, tape
bonder in TC Twisting; Anthony
J. Hooper, weaver in TC Weav
ing; Vivian P. Jordan, style
changer in TC Weaving; Mary
P. Kiser, filling supplier in TC
Weaving.
Also Sam Neely, unit operator
in Nylon Treating; Harley D.
Pickelsimer, carpenter 1st class
in Shop.
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Prescription Safety
Glasses After Sept. 1
Shirley Black is a Quality Control in
spector. She wears prescription safety eye
glasses wherever she works in TC Weaving.
Her husband Troy, a lathe operator in the
Shop, wears “piano” safety glasses and gog
gles on his job.
When the current eye-safety program at
Gastonia began in September 1975, all em
ployees wearing prescription glasses were
allowed two years to change over to approv
ed safety glasses.
This period ends September 1; so after
that, all prescription glasses worn in the
plant must be the approved type. The com
pany pays for “piano” safety and prescrip
tion safety glasses, with one exception. Em
ployees pay for wire frames.
A safety-glasses program is also in effect
at the Bennettsville and Bowling Green
plants of Firestone Textiles Company.
One of Shirley's quality checks in TC Weaving
is measuring fabric width to keep it on specifi
cation.
Voliune XXIII August, 1977
Number 8 Page 2
• GASTONIA
Claude C. Callaway, Editor
Plant
Offices REPORTERS
Warehouses
Induslrial Relations—Bobbie Baldwin
Main Office—Freida Price
Mechanical Depl.—Rotie Fletcher
Twisting Tire Cord—Elease Cole, Katie
Elkins
Warp Preparation—
Nell Bolick
Warehouse—Harold Robinson
Chafer Weaving—Ruth Veitch
BENNETTSVILLE PLANT
Frances Fletcher, Redona David, Mar*
garet McCaskill, Jimmy McCaskill
BOWLING GREEN
Clifton O. Logsdon
He plans “to catch up on
his fishin’.” Henry J. Odom
retired June 30 from Fire
stone Textiles’ Bennettsville
plant. With the company
since Oct. 17, 1946, Odom’s
last job was foreman of Ship
ping/Receiving.
Monthly publication of the Gastonia, N. C., plant of Firestone Textiles
Company, a division of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio.
Division Headquarters, Gastonia, N. C. 28052. James B. Call, president. Mem
ber Carolinas Association of Business Communicators.