Masonry Magazine April 1964 Page. 5
GENERAL SHALE
BRICK
General Shale Products Corporation, Goodyear inflatable dunnage bags are used to cushion shipments of brick. The use of these dunnage bags has decreased the in-transit breakage markedly, according to officials of the company. General Shale uses more than 250 Goodyear dunnage bags for the Kingsport, Tennessee, operation alone. More than 700 dunnage bags are in use throughout the company's entire operation. Forklift driver is C. Shepherd. Farley Bishop, foreman, has inspected the inflated bag and is using a citizens band radio to advise that all is proceeding well with the loading.
Air Absorbs Shock in Shipping
By T. G. Jenior
Inflatable Dunnage Dept.
Industrial Products Division
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Akron, Ohio
Inflatable dunnage has made great strides in helping to deliver goods shipped by freight car. Goods arrive in tip-top condition, breakage and damage in transit are vastly reduced.
Conventional bracing methods in freight car shipments are being discarded by many industrial firms, which are replacing them with air contained in dunnage bags manufactured by The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.
In conventional loading, the load is tied down to make it as nearly as possible a part of the freight car. This means that all shock affecting the car is transmitted to the load. When the car starts or stops suddenly, all the kinetic energy change affecting the car also abruptly affects the load. Much breakage and damage can result when chains, steel strapping, cables and wooden blocks fail to withstand the pressure of heavy loads during "humping" and during regular starts and stops in rail shipment.
The New York Central Railroad, aware that approximately $132 million is paid yearly by the railroads to settle freight damage claims, now not only recommends freight loading with inflatable dunnage, but has adopted the system and given it a name: "Flite-Air."
Railroads are anxious to help test new methods designed to overcome damage in transit. In the early period of experimentation with dunnage, the Baltimore & Ohio provided locamotive, box car and impact car, complete with train crew, so that tests (three runs a week) could be made. The B & O, also paying out millions of dollars a year for freight losses, had set up a freight loss and damage prevention section to investigate and attempt to prevent losses. The tests with inflatable bags proved that here was an economical answer to the problem.
The advantages of shipping brick, tile and associated ceramics materials by this means are clear when case histories are reviewed. Many companies, representing a variety of products, have received goods undamaged when Super Cushion inflatable (Continued on next page)
MASONRY
April, 1964
5