Goal: Help
save gas
• Major product develop
ments by the tire industry into
the mid-1980s will aim at help
ing motorists and automobile
manufacturers meet goals of re
ducing gasoline consumption.
Firestone director of tire de
velopment, John D. Kelley, says
tire engineers are helping im
prove gasoline mileage by de
signing tires to roll more easily
on roads and highways. This
means a car can travel the same
distance on less fuel. He adds:
“We also are working on ways
to reduce weight of tires to
make the car lighter. Basically,
there are 4 areas in which to
concentrate to lessen roUing re
sistance: Type of tire construc
tion, inflation pressures, tread
compounds and internal com
ponents.”
GA manager
Charles T. Hagel is manager
of government affairs of the
Firestone company. He succeeds
J. Y. McCoUister who resigned
to devote himself to business in
terests in Nebraska.
Hagel is from North Platte,
Neb. He joined Firestone in 1977
as associate manager of the
Washington GA. office, after 6
years as a congressional aide.
Before going to Washington, he
was a radio/TV newsman in
Omaha. He is a graduate of the
University of Nebraska and
Brown Institute of Radio and
n
WAY
Letter
FROM
TEXAS
“. . . Hoping everyone at Fire
stone Textiles doing real good,”
Horace Hines wrote in a letter
to Firestone News last month. “I
trust all the Girls and Boys had
a real all-out good Christmas
and will have a good 1979,” he
continued, adding “hope some
day I can make it up that way
to visit. May I say ‘God bless
you all.’ ”
Hines, going on 84 years, lives
in Houston, Texas. When a
young man he worked at Old
Loray Mills (Firestone since
1935) in Gastonia. Back when
production was all-cotton, he
was a spinningroom sweeper.
Hines retired from Houston
(Texas) Cotton MiUs in 1960.
Television of Minneapolis.
Hagel has spoken to civic,
business and student groups in
Bennettsville, Bowling Green
and Gastonia.
PAULA
LENDA
WANDA
He and Mrs. Hines have 9 liv‘
ing offspring. In the recent let
ter he mentioned his brother
Houston as living in Union, S. C.
Also, they have relatives in the
Gastonia, Bessemer City, Kings
Mountain and Charlotte areas.
Horace and Houston some
times meet in Atlanta and go
from there to visit relatives.
Last October they visited a
sister in Buford, Ga.
Remembering his Loray em
ployment “ ‘way back,” Horace
used to swim on his time off—
in the open pond behind the
mill. It’s now site of No. 8 treat
ing unit and storage house.
Events & Places in N. C. •
Franklin County & Louisburg
College Folk Festival, March 21-
April 1, Louisburg College.
World Championship Old-Time
Fiddlers Convention, March 23-
25, Union Grove. Old-Time Fid-
dlers/Bluegrass, April 1,
MooresviUe. Annual Storytelling
Festival, April 2-8, Capitol
Square, Raleigh.
m RETURN’
Looking Around Gastonia •
This sign, intended for motoring
paople traveling east on Chester
Street, appears to refer to the
cemetery at Chester and Frank
lin Boulevard. Seeming to say
"way of no return," the sign
causes people to slop and look
again.
BY 1983
Check tire
pressure
FOR
THE MOST
Promotions at Bowling Green
• Three at Bowling Green Firestone Textiles were pro
moted recently: Paula A. Johnson to junior engineer,
Wanda Carby to supervisor-inspections in Quality Control,
and Lenda Moore to supervisor of the laboratory of Quality
Control.
Ms. Johnson has been with the company at Bowling Green
since August 1968. She has been supervisor of the Quality
Control laboratory. Paula and husband Leroy (he is an
engineering assistant at the Bowling Green plant) and their
two children reside on Detour Road (Rt. 14), Bowling Green.
Wanda Carby, as Bowling Green since January 1973, had
been a shift supervisor in Quality Control. She and her
family reside on Rt. 2, Bowling Green.
Lenda Moore has been employed at Bowling Green since
September, 1968. Before her recent appointment, she was
Quality Control supervisor-inspections. Lenda and hus
band Larry (employed as supervisor-Weaving) reside on
Rt. 6, Bowling Green.
12.5 sales increase expected
In Firestone’s chemicals and raw materials group, sales
to outside customers are expected to increase at a rate of
12.5 per cent each year from 1978 through 1983. That was
among the announcements to stockholders at the annual
meeting in late January.
One of the most critical fac
tors in getting the best tire and
fuel mileage of your vehicle:
Proper tire inflation. Check tire
pressure at least once a month.
Under-inflation brings less tread
mileage and too much pressure
results in fast center-rib wear
and maybe tire failure.
Save at least 1/3 loss of tread
mileage and up to 1/4 loss of
gas mileage and have a safer
ride as you go. How? By tire
rotation, correct air pressure
plus wheel-balancing and align
ment. Front-end alignment al
lows tires to roll straight (run
ning crooked makes for irregu
lar wear.)
Rotation adds considerably to
tire mileage. For radials, rotate
forward or backward on the
same side. This will keep belts
from reversing direction and
causing uneven patterns of
tread wear.
Too, needless tire wear and
fuel use result from such habits
as ‘jackrabbit’ starts, sharp
cornering, too much hard-break
ing and running beyond speed
limits.
The chemicals and raw ma
terials group includes textiles—
fabric for tires and industrial
applications.
Chairman Richard A. Riley
said that “the tires and related
products” segment of the busi
ness for 1979 will be getting the
major share of a projected $250
million in capital spending.
In the 2-year fiscal period
(1976-1978) Firestone’s world
wide capital spending for “tires
and related products” reached
$331 million.
Among the 1979 capital al
locations is part of the $145 mil
lion to be spent by 1982 at the
Firestone radial truck-tire plant
near Nashville, Tenn. This is the
biggest spending project at a
single plant ever undertaken in
the company’s 78-year history.
Firestone also is installing
latest equipment and technology
at its 7 U. S. plants that pro
duce radial passenger-car tires.
The company also will spend
more for tire capacity outside
the country. Expansion pro
grams are underway in Brazil,
Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay,
Kenya, Thailand and the Philip
pines.
Expansions and additional fa
cilities are planned for plastics
and foam operations, including a
new 200 million-pound-capacity
PVC plant to be ready later this
year near Baton Rouge, La, and
a new urethane plant to be
somewhere in the Southwest
U. S.
In the diversified products
group there is a predicted 9.5
percent sales gain annually. Ex
pansion is on at plants produc
ing wheels and rims, beverage
containers, automatic air bags,
bus bumpers and vehicle air
springs.
Firestone people who buy the
company’s store products and
services not ony get substantial
discounts and refunds—they
help the company by giving the
stores the business. In turn, job
security.
$2,000
TO
ACADEMY
Through its Bennettsville
plant, the Firestone company
recently gave $2,000 to Marl
boro Academy. Bennettsville
plant manager Ezra Perkins
(right) made the check presen
tation. Others (from left): Ed
Spence, Gordon Newton
(Academy Board member) and
Dr. Jesse Crisler (head-master).
Perkins commended them "for
the fine job Marlboro Academy
is doing in helping to meet the
educational needs of the area."
The gift is a part of an on
going program of the com
pany's assistance to private sec
ondary schools in areas where
there are Firestone plants.
Volume XXV March. 1979
Number 3 Page 2
• GASTONIA
Claude C. Callaway, Editor
Plant
Offices REPORTERS
Warehouses
InduslTial Relations—Bobbie Baldwin
Main Office—Frelda Price
Mechanical Dept—Carol Payne
Tire Cord Twisting—Elease Cole, Katie
Elkins
Warp Preparation—
Nell Bolick
Warehouse—Harold Robinson
BENNETTSVILLE PLANT
Frances Fletcher, Redona David, Mar
garet McCaskiU, Jimmy McCaskill
BOWLING GREEN
Larry E. Jones
• March rides in on a rush
ing wind. It usually departs
more quietly, leaving behind a
world renewed. Spring. "After
the snow, the emerald leaves,"
wrote George Cooper.
Monthly publication of the Gaitonla, N. C., plant of Firestone TextUei
Company, a division of The Firestone Tire b Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio.
Division Headquarters, Gastonia, N. C. 2S0S2. James B. Call, president. Mem
ber CaroUnas Association of Business Communicators.