Series 9: Films

The FILM SERIES is comprised of very short, eight-millimeter, black and white silent film loops originally produced as Bedaux system time or motion studies. They depict male and female Eau Claire factory employees performing various operations in the manufacture of automobile and bicycle tires from 1934 to 1939. The procedures filmed include mixing batches of rubber; cutting, splicing, and stitching rubber plys, treads and other parts of the tire; and building beads and tires on drums and by conveyor. Interior views of the factory, machinery and equipment are often discernable. For preservation, the 48 original film loops were placed in chronological order by date of filming, spliced together on larger reels, and transferred to ¾-inch and ½-inch videotape. The original films and ¾-inch master videotapes are housed in the Visual Material Archives of the State Historical Society.

Box 84 [Digitized]:

Tape 1 - EA 46, 1934:
Build wire edge tires, bike
Build bike tires, single tube
Stitch band ply
Stitch down band ply, inside
Stitch band ply, outside
Spade down band ply at bead, by hand
Stitch band ply, outside
Stitch band ply, inside

Tape 1 - EA 47, 1934:
Remove tire from drum, tire stuck to drum
Remove tire from drum, effect of too much moisture in tire
Build tires on drums
Build tire on drums, tread too long
Remove tire from drum, place beads, assemble drum
Apply and stitch down first pocket

Tape 2 - EA 48, 1934:
Apply second pocket to core, no stitching
Apply second pocket, stitch down
Apply fifth pocket, stitch down inside
Feed plasticator, #4 smoked sheets
Splice and roll up chafer
Rewind liners
Build bands
Stripe tires, two sides, Gillette paint

Tape 2 - EA 49, 1935:
Splice butt end treads, apply to tire
Butting and splicing treads, and place on tire
Chafer and flipper unit change rolls of flipper
Cut and splice flipper
Cut and splice breaker
Build wire edge
Ply up machine
Shape and cure tubes
Build wire edge white ebony
Build tire, put tread on tire at drum

Tape 3 - EA 50, 1935-1936
Cut for butt splicing, brusk ends, cement tread, 1935
Bag tires on new electric bagger, 1936
Trim and inspect Wards Supreme tires, 1936
606 G-14 tread stock, No. 9 Banbury, 1936
106 G-19 tread stock, No. 11 Banbury, 1936

Tape 3 - EA 51, 1937-1939
Apply tread, conveyor building unit, 1937
Apply breaker and chafer, conveyor unit, 1937
Apply gumbo, first ply, conveyor unit, 1937
Cut and splice 446 stock on spadone cutter, 1938
Flipping beads, 1939
Build bike tires on big machine, no belt, first ply, 1939
Office employees, 1939
Building wire edge tires on bike machine, 1939
Cut stock on banner cutter, 1939
Build tires on bike building machine, 1939
Build tires on wire edge machine, 1939