Imperial Valley press., 1928-12-03
FIRESTONE PLANT
WILL BE HOST TO
GENERAL PUBLIC
Process of Tire Building
Will Be Explained to
All.

Firestonc holds the center of the
automotivc stage in Southern Cali
fornia this week. With the formal
opening of the new $7,000,000 west
crn factory of the Firestonc Tire
and Rubber Company of California
at Los Angeles starting Tuesday and
continuing through the week, the
| motoring public will have an oppor-
tunity for the first time of seeing
the actual manufacture of the Fire
stone gum dipped tire, one of Amer
lea 8 most famous products. Motor
lists will also be able to inspect what
is acclaimed the most modern tire
plant in the tire industry, and one
of the most efficient, factories in the
entire industrial world.
Few other developments in the
automotive industrial history of the
west have created such tremendous
public interest as the opening of
Firestone s great western factory,
and preparations have been made
unutE lllt ulICtlIOU VI y. ~. Ah u .,
director of engineering of the Fire
stone company, and r. j. Cope, gen
eral manager, to handle trcmend-
Gus crowd. There will be five days,
commencing Tuesday, when the pub
lie will be at liberty to inspect the
plant while in complete operation.
Competent guides will be on hand
and descriptive literature provided
to explain the purposes of the vari-
Gus machines and operations. Some
of these machines are almost human
in performance, and will explain in
part to the public. how Fircstone is
able to produce its famous quality
tires so economically.
The tour of the plant will start
right at the receiving department
where the vast quantities of raw ma
terials necessary to the operation of
the huge factory are unloaded, and
will continue through the power
house with its great machines and
motors that supply the entire fac
tory with air, steam and electric
energy, down through every depart
ment and every process of produc-
tion. One of the most interesting
: points will be the exclusive Fire
stone gum-dipping process, made
possible by Firestone controlled
patents. The gum-dipping process
insulates every cord of every strand
with rubber, adding greatly to the
strength and flexibility of the tire.
: First Process Shown
The first actual tire manufacture
. ing operation, as will be shown in
: the tour of the Firestonc factory, is
at the mixing mills. The rubber is
| first placed in the mills and after
:. being worked specified time pig
mcnts are added and the batch is
mixed until uniform. The miled
stock is conveyed to secondary or
feeder mill and from there to the
calcnders and tube machines.
Calendcring will be found very
interesting operation. Two calen-
dcrs, run in tandem, produce approx
imatelv y miles of fabric per hour.
, Incidentally, the fabric required by
the factory each month would form
a continuous strip, 60 inches wide,
, extending from Los Angeles to San
Diego.
After having been gum dipped the
, fabric is further imprcgnated and
5 laminated by rubber at the calcn-
ders. The thickness of the guage to
one thousandths of an inch, and the
weight per square yard to fraction
of an ounce, is controlled by an au-
/ u il. inuot,, ;al l
which is installed as part of the
! equipment.
The tread tubing machine; the
bead wire insulating machines which
insulate the wire used in the
straight side beads with coating
of rubber; the bias cutters which
cut the ply fabric which go to build
up the carcass of the cord tire; the
sidcwall assembly machine with its
amazing efficiency; the bead ma
chimes for assembling the bead wire
and bead reinforcing fabric; and the
tire building machines of which
will hc in full operation this week
offer world of interest to the on.
locker as he follows the various
processes of manufacturing Fire
stone tires.
Firestone to Be Present
The final phase Of tire manufac-
turing is in the curing room. 1t is
in this department that the green
tire is shaped and cured into fin
iShcd tire ready for inspection, fin
shing and shipment. A tire curing
control board, located in a special
compartment, is an exclusive Fire
stone development which enables
one operator to regulate with scicn-
tific precision the amount of time,
pressure and degree of heat. This
results in uniform curing or vulcan
izing in large tire production with
the maximum Of economy.
Russell Firestone, second eldest
son of the famous tire manufactures,
and j. w. Thomas, eXeuctive vice
president of the Firestone company,
will personally officiate as hosts
during the opening celebration, com
mcncing with the dedicatory lunch