Imperial Valley press., 1930-04-11
FIRESTONE COAST
FACTORY FORCED
TO BUILD AGAIN
Heavy Demand For Tires
Causes Plans For Ad-
ditiOn To Plant

Cenahd for f1reStone Gum- Dlppeu
Tires is strikingly indicated in the
vast expansion program that is now
nearing completion at the great
Western Firestone factory at Los
Angeles. That Firestone would be
forced in less than one years time
to make additions to its $7,000,000
factory equipment to an even larg-
er plant than originally built has
impressed the automobile world
more thoroughly with the remark
able expansion of the California
automobile market than any other
development in years, according to
h. I. Tucker, vice president and
general sales manager of the West
! ern F1restone Company, who is now
in Ell Centre for the opening of the
I. ). Grant Equipment Company,
Firestone dealers here.
Under the expansion program, the
productive capacity of the Firestone
factory will be increased to more
than 1850 tires and $4,000 tubes,
against the present production of
1000 tires and $500 tubes daily.
To contrast the first years produc-
tion of approximately million
tires with the scheduled production
of 100000 tires for next year, af-
ter the completion of the expansion
program, is to gain an appreciation
of the substantial progress achieved
by the Firestone company in the
western market. The increase in
production will amount to approx
imately $50 per cent in little
more than two years.
More than double the present
quantity of rubber now used will be
required by the factory next year.
| The rubber is brought to Singapore,
where Firestone operates the most
| modern plant in the Far East, for
washing, refining and packing crude
rubber for shipment to Los Angeles
and the other great Firestone fac
tories. The cotton fabric, also to
come next year in double portion. is
received via the Panama Canal
from Fall River and New Bedford,
Mass, where Firestone owns and
operates its own fabric mills.
A tour through the Los Angeles
Firestone factory reveals many op-
erations of absorbing interest.
The visitor is especially impressed
with the remarkable conveying sys-
tens which extend through virtual
" every step of tire making from
| the milling machines to the inspee-
tion department, where conveyerS
deliver tires and tubes direct from
the curing rooms. In the firestone
factory one can see at its best the
effect of continuous straight line
manufacturing methods with the
conveyer systems and machinery
units so we'll correlated and synchro-
rized that the process Of tire max
| ing is continuous and simplified to
surprising degree.
Many Operations
At the mixing mills is the first
actual tire manufacturing opera
ton. The rubber is first placed in
the mill and worked a specified
time, and pigments are then added,
according to specifications. The
batch is mixed until uniform. Sam
ples are taken from each batch and
must be approved by the laboratory
before the stock can be used. The
milled stock when completed in the
mill is conveyed to a secondary or
'oedpr mill and from there to the
calenders and tube machines.
Calendering is another interesting
operation. Two calenders, run in
tandem, operate regularly at a speed
that produces approximately one
and one-half miles of fabric per
hour. At this point the fabric
which has been gum-dipped by the
exclusive Firestone process, is fur
ther impregnated and laminated by
rubber which has come from the
mixing mills. The thickness Of the
gauge to one-thousandth of an inch,
and the weight per square yard to
fraction of an ounce, are con
trolled by an automatic continuous
weighing scale which is installed
and is part of this equipment.
At the bias cutters are seen-the
machines which cut the ply fabric
that goes to build up the carcass of
the cord tire. The plies are cut out
on an angle, so that when applied
on tire the individual cords will
cross each other at 45 degrees an
gle. This construction vastly IN
creases the strength of the tire.
The rotary cutter, invented by Fire
stone engineers, has a capacity of
700 yards per hour, being double
the capacity of the ordinary bias
cutter, and is essentially adapted to
volume production.
The sidewall assembly machines
offer another striking example of
F'irestone engineering ingenuity.
The sidewall assembly unit assem-
bles the chafer fabric, sidewall, and
necessary gum strips, as used in the
various types of tires. A few years
ago these materials were applied to
the tire separately by hand. The
present method marks a tremendous
advance in efficiency and in time
and labor saving.
The tread tubing machine turns
out 450 finished trcads per hour.
Stock is conveyed from mixing mill
TO feed mill and then to the machine
by belt eonvcycrs. The extracted
tread passes over continuous
weighing scale so arranged as to
weigh each foot of tread. Tread is
then assembled and cut by automa-
tie knife to exact length.
The bead wire insulating ma
chine insulates the wire used in the
straight side beads with coating