Today, on "how it's made"...

Thinner than a human hair, ultrathin glass flexes like plastic.

It can also have greater electrical sensitivity, making it useful for things like fingerprint scanning on smartphones.

Manufacturers have only just begun to explore the potential of this new class of glass.

When it comes to sheer flexibility, thin is in.

Ultrathin glass bends like a sheet of paper and a chemical process ensures that it's extremely robust.

To make ultrathin glass, manufacturers use standard materials, such as lime, sand, soda, and potash.

They store the ingredients in separate silos, until it's time for production.

Then, inside the factory, a long cable delivers electricity to power a weigh cart.

As the dry ingredients flow out of the silos and down chutes, the cart moves forward to collect them.

It weighs the ingredients until it has the correct amounts for the glass recipe and then closes the lid automatically.

A worker measures the secondary, smaller, ingredients manually and adds them to the batch.

These ingredients enhance qualities like optical clarity or electrical sensitivity.

The cart transfers the batch to a mixer.

As it blends everything together, they add bits of broken, or waste, glass to it for recycling purposes.

Once it's been thoroughly mixed, a lift raises a funnel-shaped container up to the base of the mixer and the mixer releases the batch into it.

A worker hauls the batch-laden funnel tank to the next station.

There, a crane takes over and lowers the tank onto a feeder system just above a gas-and-electric furnace.

A trapdoor opens at the funnel's base and the mixture flows into the feeder mechanism.

It's a kind of shovel that slowly pushes the mixture into the furnace, which has been fired to a blazing 2,732° fahrenheit.

The shovel continuously adds more ingredients to keep production flowing.

Glass production runs 24/7.

The melting glass reaches the consistency of honey.

The molten glass flows out through a narrow slit and this slit establishes the ultrathin dimensions of the glass.

Cooling the glass slowly relieves internal stresses as the glass solidifies.

Ultrathin glass can be just 25 microns thick.

That's finer than a hair.

And it's this thinness that makes it so flexible.

The glass bends to loop down and up across rollers as it journeys forward in a continuous, nearly 2-foot-wide sheet and, unlike ordinary glass, it doesn't crack.

It then travels past tiny cameras and laser sensors that look for defects, like bubbles.

A computer maps any flaws, so they can be avoided when the glass is cut into smaller pieces.

A revolving spool rolls up the glass, along with a plastic liner, which keeps the glass layers from sticking to one another.

Once 546 yards of thin glass has been wound onto the spool, an automated system cuts the glass and slides the spool partway off the core and onto a rack.

The operator gives it a push to complete the transfer and then rolls the rack to the next station.

A lab technician slices off a fragment of the glass and inserts it in a micrometer.

It gauges the thickness of the specimen and confirms that it's superthin.

Another lab worker places a bigger segment of the glass under a cutter.

He aligns it correctly and then activates the cutter.

It scribes the glass, so it can be broken on this line, creating small screens for smartphones and smartwatches.

A lab technician examines the glass for scratches under a bright light and confirms that it's undamaged.

With that out of the way, it's time to have a little fun with a strip of this ultrathin glass.

A worker bends it into a circle and ties it.

It's hard to believe this is glass.

Later, a chemical treatment will further strengthen the ultrathin glass, so that the chance of cracks or breaks will be very thin.

When wooden shipping pallets break and need repair, or outlive their usefulness, they can be taken apart by pallet-dismantling machines, which saw through the nails to separate the wood blocks and planks.

Salvageable pieces become new pallets, while broken pieces go into a wood chipper.

With its powerful band saw, this pallet-dismantling machine slices through the nails that fasten the pallet's wood blocks to its transversal planks.

The machine's shell, the equivalent of the body panels on a car, is made of steel sheets.

A computer-guided laser cutter cuts them to the required shape.

Then, workers bend the ends on a brake press to make edges with perfectly formed corners.

Once shaped, the shell parts go to a paint shop.

Workers build the structure of the machine out of heavy-duty steel tubes.

After sawing them to the length required, they smooth the rough-cut edge with a hand-grinder.

Workers mark where they have to make openings for various parts and drill the holes.

They weld the tubes together to assemble the structure.

They clean the surface with acid to remove traces of lubricant.

Then, they spray paint the structure.

The workers assemble the mechanical parts to the structure.

They bolt on a plate to support the machine's electric engine.

Then, on each side, they install a wheel.

Next, workers install the motor reducer.

To that, they bolt the machine's 2,800-rpm engine.

The motor reducer decreases the speed of the engine to the sawing speed required to dismantle the pallet.

Just above the tires on both sides, they bolt a blade guide to the structure.

They install the front of the machine's shell and lower the machine's heavy, steel worktable.

Now, the band-saw blade, which has a safety cover over its sharp teeth until the machine is operational.

On each side of the worktable, workers align the blade with a tire and insert it between the wheels of the blade guide.

The blade is steel, with carbide tips for added strength and resistance to wear.

They turn this bolt to adjust the tension.

They enclose the tire and blade guides in the side sections of the machine's shell.

Then, workers install two pneumatic cylinders for raising and lowering a safety cage that goes over the worktable to protect the machine operator.

Next, another pneumatic cylinder, this one, at the rear for the machine's guide arm.

The guide arm, installed next, helps move the pallet around while the machine's band-saw blade cuts it apart.

They install the safety cage over the worktable, then hook up the cables that feed compressed air to the pneumatic cylinders.

They install another safety cage over the back of the machine, then, a pressure regulator for pneumatic cylinders.

They mount the machine's control panel on the shell.

It's wired to the engine and pneumatic system, as well as a set of foot pedals that moves the table up and down and another pedal that moves the guide arm.

The operator places the pallet on the worktable and lowers the safety cage.

With the foot pedal, he moves the arm to the right to angle the pallet against the blade.

This lets it slice through multiple nails holding the wood planks and blocks together.

Often frosted and adorned with sprinkles, a cupcake is a sugary indulgence that you don't have to share.

We don't really know who invented them, but cupcakes have been around for a century or more, much to the satisfaction of those who want a little cake all to themselves.

These minicupcakes are the sweetest little things and there's plenty for everyone because they're mass-produced in a factory.

The dairy and nut-free recipe starts with canola oil.

A worker pours a measured amount into a huger mixer bowl.

A blend of baking power, sea salt, and other microingredients is next.

He then adds a big bag of sugar.

They'll be making 15,000 minicupcakes in this batch.

Pastry flour flows into the mixer from a silo nearby.

He adds cocoa, for chocolate flavoring, then, activates the mixer, to blend it all together.

Next are the eggs.

They'll act as a binding agent for the chocolate batter and will have a leavening effect during baking.

A quick mix folds the eggs into the chocolatey blend.

A pump now transfers the batter to the next station.

The bakery's temperature is critical during pumping.

Too warm, and the mixture will be too thin to pump.

Too cool, and it will be too thick.

The pump delivers the batter to a hopper.

Down the line a bit, a conveyor moves baking trays forward.

A machine uses suctioning devices to pick up paper liners, flip them right-side-up, and insert them in the baking trays.

Valves open and dispense the batter in the hopper into the cupcake liners in the pans.

The system controls the flow of batter, so it only fills the liners one-third of the way.

This leaves room for the cake to rise during baking.

The pans move through different levels, with a range of temperature zones over a period of 25 minutes, finally emerging from the other side.

During baking, the cupcakes have risen above the liners.

They now head into a cooling chamber.

They stay in here for 20 minutes, while fans blow air onto them to cool them down.

The cooling firms up the cakes.

A robot plunges pinlike tentacles into the cupcakes to lift them out of the pans with the paper liners attached.

It transfers them to the packaging conveyor line.

Workers pack them in clamshell plastic containers, a dozen to each one.

They leave the containers open because they still need to decorate these cupcakes.

Ahead, fluffy chocolate icing flows out of a hopper into applicators.

They deposit the icing in a swirl onto the cupcakes, adding nearly an inch of height and a lot more sweetness.

Down the line, workers load sugary sprinkles into another hopper.

A feeder dispenses a few more of the sprinkles onto each of the frosted cupcakes.

The containers then ride by a rail that folds the lids over.

A pusher device presses down on the lids to close them tightly.

The containers of minicupcakes then meet up with a roller that applies the adhesive-backed labeling.

Before the cupcakes can leave the factory, a technician tests a sample from the production line.

He crumbles some of the cake into pods and places them in a machine.

The machine probes the water content at a microscopic level to determine if the cupcake is moist enough.

Another test evaluates the cupcake's texture.

When the samples pass this technological scrutiny, the cupcakes are ready for human taste buds.

As a component of mechanical equipment, seamless tube is stronger, and therefore more resistant to pressure and tension, than tube with a welded seam.

That's because seamless tube is manufactured from a solid bar of stainless steel, rather than from a strip of stainless that's rolled and welded into a tube.

Seamless stainless-steel tube is used when reliability is critical; for example, in aerospace engines, nuclear equipment, and medical devices.

The manufacturer purchases stainless-steel tubes in a range of lengths, diameters, and thicknesses.

Workers select the right starting size for the specific tube the customer has ordered.

They check the length with a measuring tape, then use a large micrometer to measure the outside diameter.

They switch to a smaller micrometer to measure the wall thickness.

Then, they weigh the tubes.

If the raw material meets all the specs, production can begin.

They insert one end of each tube into this rotary swager.

It shapes the end to a point, to enable it to fit through a die with a smaller diameter.

Workers spread lubricant into a steel bar, insert it into the other end of the tube, then insert the pointed end through a draw die.

This carriage then grabs the protruding point and draws the full length of the tube through the die and over the steel bar.

The die reduces the tube to a smaller outside diameter, while the bar sets the desired inside diameter.

The tube walls thin out and the tube elongates in the process.

The next machine's two rollers apply pressure to the outside of the tube as it passes.

This expands the tube slightly, creating a slight gap between the tube walls and the bar inside.

This enables the next machine to extract the bar.

Finally, workers saw the point off the tube.

They place several tubes at a time in a degreasing unit, which uses a cleaning solution to remove all traces of lubricant the tubes picked up during the draw process.

Workers then transfer the tubes to drying tanks, positioning them at a slight downward angle.

As air blows through the tubes for about a half hour, all of the cleaning solution either drains or evaporates.

To further clean the inside of the tubes, workers insert a felt wad into each one, then squirt in some cleaning solvent.

They shoot in compressed air to force the wad down the tube.

As the wad travels the length of the tube, it wipes the inside wall with the cleaning solvent.

Next, workers strap the tubes to a belt that takes them on a 30-minute trip through a furnace.

The temperature inside is more than 1,800° fahrenheit.

This intense heat softens the steel, which had hardened as a result of having been pulled through the draw die earlier.

This process is called annealing and it slightly warps the tubes, so, next, they pass through a straightening machine.

Then, the entire cycle repeats, until it's reduced to precisely the diameter and wall thickness the customer ordered.

The finished tube can be up to 40 times its original starting length.

To ensure the structural integrity of each tube, workers run an electrical current around the circumference.

A break in the current indicates a defect, which workers then cut out with a saw before cutting the tube into the specific lengths the customer ordered.

The saw cuts leave burns, rough edges, so workers insert the cut ends in a deburring machine which grinds the edges smooth.

The last step is to submerge the tubes in an acid solution, to remove any iron particles picked up from the processing.

This prevents the tubes from rusting.

In addition to inspecting every tube that leaves the factory, quality-control testing of random samples ensures the product meets all technical specifications.


Baseball Gloves
Medical Electrodes
Stetson Hats

A baseball glove is an extraordinary thing.

Each and every one starts out brand spanking new and ends up fitting its owner like a second skin.

Before long, the player and his glove are inseparable.

The glove helps him live his dreams and fills his imagination with lifelong memories.

Baseball gloves have evolved from hard, leather mitts to the sophisticated design players depend on today.

It all starts with a hydraulic press that punches out the felt padding that will cushion the fingers and thumb.

The holes will be used to lace the glove.

Another press cuts out the palm section of the glove from a side of leather.

The palm section also has lacing holes cut into it.

The hydraulic press then cuts out the web, or pocket, of the glove, preparing it for lacing, as well.

Meanwhile, a machine heat embosses the palm section with the company logo.

Embossing also helps identify different leathers and glove styles.

Another worker hand-weaves the front and back pieces of the pocket.

This special basket-weave web gives the glove additional flexibility and control.

Pockets first appeared in gloves in the 1930s.

She stitches the pocket together.

Then, she applies glue to secure the tail ends, closes the flap, and stitches the web shut.

Another worker then sews the palm lining and the finger lining together.

By stitching the palm and finger linings together, she completes the interior piece of the glove that touches a player's hand.

She then sews the felt finger pads to the lining.

These pads give the glove extra comfort and control.

To build the outer shell of the glove, she sews welting leather between the fingers.

This makes the seam stronger.

Then, she sews the fingers and the palm piece together to complete the back part of the outer shell.

Some leather softener helps prevent tearing as she stitches the back and the front parts of the outer shell together.

She also uses welting leather to add strength and rigidity to the outer shell.

A worker mounts the finished outer shell on to a finger form, heated to about 248 degrees fahrenheit.

It takes heat and leather softener to allow the worker to manipulate the shell without damaging the leather.

The worker then transfers the softened outer shell on to a stationary turning stick in order to turn the outer shell inside out.

He works the outer shell one finger at a time so he doesn't spoil the leather or the stitching.

He makes sure all is perfect.

Another worker slips the interior lining on to a mounting support, then covers the lining with the outer shell.

He works the leather to make sure the lining and the shell fit together properly.

Then he applies a special paste that makes the palm more flexible.

He inserts a felt pad into the thumb...

Then another cushioning pad into the pinky finger, using a metal rod to fully insert both pads.

He then starts lacing the glove with a long strip of leather.

Lacing the glove is a labor-intensive skill that can take up to an hour.

No machine can do this.

He makes sure the lacing gets the right tension and the attractive side of the leather faces upwards.

Using special knots and loops, he laces the entire glove by hand.

A worker inserts wooden dowels and mounts the glove on more hot fingers to open up the fingers and thumb.

This helps the player's hand fit into the glove more easily.

Now this truly looks and fits like a glove.

Today's baseball gloves come in all different colors and styles.

They are so finely hand-crafted, they could be called works of art.

Medical electrodes can help your doctor find out what's going on with your health in a heartbeat.

These little sensors detect electrical currents in the heart, brain, and other parts of the body, and they're wired to monitoring equipment that records it.

They're inexpensive, disposable, and essential to healthcare.

When the nurse says this won't hurt a bit, you can trust her, if the test she's about to give you involves medical electrodes.

These electrodes stick to the skin and probe beneath the surface without actually piercing it.

They send information to monitoring equipment so specialists can assess it.

These electrodes start with a roll of foam.

The foam is coated with medical-grade adhesive and has a paper backing to keep the layers from sticking together.

Machinery pulls the foam over a punch cutter which make small holes in it.

But first, razors slit the paper, and equipment pulls it away from the thumb to expose the adhesive.

The process leaves strips of paper along the edge.

The thumb moves forward, sticky side up, as plastic elements and metal snaps cascade into a feeder system.

They're cueing up to be installed in the holes punched in the foam earlier.

Vacuum heads picked up the elements and insert them into those holes.

The elements are coated with silver chloride, which makes them electrically conductive so they'll help pick up electrical activity in the body.

Next, pneumatic equipment press-fits the metal snaps onto the elements.

These snaps are also electrically conductive.

Down the line, a blade slices through gel that's sandwiched between two thin plastic liners.

Machinery pulls those liners away from the gel.

This gel is water-based and contains salt, which will seep into the skin to help establish electrical contact.

Another blade cuts the gel into small rectangles, and they land on a thicker plastic liner.

The gel liner and foam with its elements and snaps come together, and the gels land directly on the elements.

Rollers press everything together in a tight sandwich.

Equipment pushes that sandwich forward into a cutting station.

That's protective padding you see around the cutters.

It protects the blades from the adhesive on the foam as they punch out electrode shapes.

Blades now lightly perforate the plastic liner around the electrodes, while below, equipment pulls away the scrap.

The perforations will allow the electrodes to be torn into individual units later, and it also makes it easier to fold up for packaging.

Remember that paper left along the edge of the foam early on?

It serves as pull tabs on some of the electrodes.

The tab makes it easier to apply the electrode to the patient and then remove it.

They package the electrodes in a special material made of plastic, aluminum, and paper.

Hot metal plates melt and seal the material to form an airtight pouch.

Finally, a long blade cuts the pouches into individual units.

It has taken less than a minute to make this package of medical electrodes.

They'll use many of them in just one test.

With the gel side of the electrode pressed against the skin, they wire it to the monitoring equipment.

And within minutes, these electrodes can signal problems, and that could save a life.

After the test, the electrodes will be discarded-- disposable and yet indispensable in the world of medicine.

The cowboy hat was made popular in 1865 by the stetson hat company and its founder, john b. stetson.

Part of its attractiveness in the american old west was the wide brim that protected the cowboy from the elements, a high crown that kept a pocket of warm air on his head, and the ability to carry water if he needed to.

All models of stetson hats are made from blends of pretreated fur, including beaver, rabbit, and wild hare.

First, a worker gathers the mixture of different fur and deposits it into a picker machine that begins blending the fur together.

The picker roller, which dates from the 1890s, sends the fur into a mixer.

Inside the mixer, compressed air blows the fur around.

This settles and removes any dust and dirt that may be trapped in the fur.

After about an hour, the blended fur settles into a collection box.

A worker puts it through a rotating loader machine that sends the fur into a multichambered blower.

A look inside the blower reveals a series of picker rollers.

These rollers, along with blowing air, allow the lighter fur to flow through the chambers while the heavier hair and the impurities fall to the bottom.

At the back of the blower, the worker gathers and weighs the amount of fur needed to make just one hat.

That amount varies depending on the size and style.

The proper amount of fur then moves by conveyor belt into a forming machine.

Here, a vacuum sucks the fur onto a cone form.

The fur builds up like a fragile blanket of dust that must be held down by wet cotton mesh.

For extra protection, a worker wraps burlap onto the cone and puts a metal cover over it.

He weighs it down and gives the fur cone a good soaking in a vat of hot, soapy water to make the fur fibers curl up and lock together.

Shortly after, the worker peels the newly formed felted fur blanket off the cone.

At this stage, the interlocked fur fibers are still very fragile, so a worker protects the cones from damage by wrapping them in cloth.

Then, she puts them through a hardening process which consists of a series of massaging rollers and hot-water baths.

The rollers in the hot-water baths increasingly shrink and tighten the fur fibers together.

The final and most aggressive massage makes the fibers felt together even tighter, and the cone is now strong enough to manipulate by hand.

But the cones must be even stronger than this, so she puts them through a final hardening stage that shrinks and tightens the fur fibers to the maximum.

At last, the fragile cone that came out of the forming machine becomes the desired hat size.

Tearing the felt by hand is now impossible.

After the cones are dyed, they're placed on a crown machine.

Here he works the top of the cone and makes the felt more flexible.

Another machine softens the brim.

Together, the machines form the cone into more of a hat shape.

After soaking the cone again, a worker puts it on a wet blocker machine.

Its brass fingers secure and stretch out the felt while it forces a crown shape into the hat body.

Then he puts the hat body into a hat sucker or vacuum that sucks out most of the water.

He then sets the hat bodies aside to dry for 24 hours.

Up next, we'll see how these hat bodies are transformed into classic stetson hats.

Making a stetson hat takes almost as much work now as it did since the early 1900s.

Every hat made is still handled from start to finish by hand.

Even some of the machines used are the same as in the past.

The stetson hat is an icon of the american cowboy lifestyle.

A worker steams a hat body to make it supple.

He puts it into a blocker machine with brass fingers that secure it in place.

He steams it again, then inserts a wooden block and presses it into the crown.

This gives the hat a specific head size.

He puts another hat into the blocker, this time making another hat size.

This is called blocking a hat.

Blocking transforms the brim diameter and the crown from an almost shapeless cut of felt into a more solid body and precise hat size.

A worker puts the blocked hat on a brim stiffener which applies shellack.

This shellack gives the brim extra firmness, making it easier to shape and style.

He completes the brim-stiffening operation and readies the correct number of hats to fill an order.

A worker hangs up the hats for a natural air dry.

Two days later, a worker inserts blocks into the hat, which are color-coded for size.

The blocks fit the hat on a pouncing machine that gently spins and sands the felt.

This unsanded felt gets buffed until the hat ends up with the smoothest finish possible.

Then a worker puts the hat onto a hydraulic crown press.

Inside it, he places a piece of ink transfer paper and a heated aluminum mold.

He lowers the press and applies the exact amount of pressure needed to mold a specific shape into the crown.

On this particular hat, the press imprints the logo inside.

Now the crown has a distinct shape.

A worker then puts the hat on a brim cutter and holds it down flat with a cutting guide.

She cuts the brim to the required dimension and removes the excess felt and the guide.

A worker then puts the hat into a brim flanger-- an aluminum mold that heats and shapes the brim.

He then puts the hat onto an identical wooden shape and covers it to keep its form while cooling.

Once cooled, this hat will keep its symmetrical curves that will make it so distinctively western.

A worker then marks the center of the hat.

She lines up a leather sweatband with the chalk mark and sews it in along the bottom edge of the crown.

She then folds the sweat band in and makes sure the hat is perfect.

She ties the classic ribbon band into a knot and secures it around the outside of the hat.

She trims the ribbon to the appropriate size, which completes the work on the exterior of the hat.

Then another worker puts it into a holder and peels up the sweatband.

She places a lining inside the hat, applying drops of glue all the way around to keep it in place.

She then puts the hat inside a box for shipping anywhere in the world.

Authentic stetson hats.

Looking good, partner!


Toothpicks
Acrylic Bathtubs
Helicopters
Beer

Today on "how it's made"...

Toothpicks...

Acrylic bathtubs...

Helicopters...

And beer.

Some people use them to hold hors d'oeuvres together.

Kids make scale models of famous buildings and bridges out of them.

And some people actually use them for their primary purpose-- to remove food caught between their teeth.

What are we talking about?

Why, the humble toothpick, of course.

Logs-- lots of birch logs are delivered to this factory.

They're the raw material from which toothpicks will be made.

The heavy logs are lifted by grippers and placed into a debarker.

Bark isn't part of the toothpick-fabrication process and is recovered by this machine.

But the bark isn't thrown away.

It's sold to a neighboring factory where it will be used as fuel.

The debarker works in two steps.

With two passes, it produces a log roll that's perfectly cylindrical and easier to mill.

This log is being transported to the next processing stage.

This unraveling machine unravels the log as if it were a roll of paper, cutting it with 12 fine blades each .

04 of an inch thick and 2 1/2 inches wide.

These same blades will be used later to cut toothpicks.

Then these 12 blades, positioned side by side on the unraveling machine, will form rolls of strips called "billets".

These tiny cutters are used to trim the ends of the toothpicks.

Knives placed here and there on the machine thin the ends of the toothpicks.

The roller rolls up the cut strips, forming a billet.

Completed strips, or billets, are taken out manually.

Each billet weighs 4 pounds.

The billets are carried to the puncher, the flat-toothpick puncher cuts the billet strips into small, equal-sized pieces.

The cut pieces come out at this end of the machine.

The punch works very rapidly.

Knives come down 2,000 times per minute to cut a total of 8,000 toothpicks in just 60 seconds.

Cut toothpicks fall into this chute, then into a container.

At this stage, they're soft.

They have to be hardened in a dryer for four hours at 250 degrees fahrenheit.

Then the toothpicks are transferred to the polisher.

Talcum powder and friction help make the toothpicks perfectly smooth.

This operation takes four hours.

Toothpicks exit the polisher and pass through this sifter, which filters out broken ones.

Those in good condition continue on to an air-blower system.

Damaged ones are rejected.

Perfect toothpicks are placed onto two conveyers by an air-blowing system.

Drums at the end of the conveyors assure quantity distribution, then they're carried to the automatic packagers.

This machine counts the toothpicks.

Boxes are made up, ready for filling.

The number of toothpicks included in each box matters.

The packager is calibrated to place 650 toothpicks in each container, and it produces about 1,150 boxes an hour.

It handles 747,500 toothpicks an hour.

Some toothpicks are individually wrapped for distribution to restaurants and airlines.

This machine wraps 1,200 toothpicks per minute.

It automatically wraps, glues, and cuts the paper.

This facility can manufacture more than 20 million toothpicks every day.

And it all started from several birch logs.

Bathing daily is a relatively new phenomenon, historically speaking.

People used to take baths only when necessary.

Today whiling away the afternoon in the tub is more than a way to wash our bodies.

With bubbles and bath oils, it can be an experience in luxury.

Modern bathtubs look nothing like tubs of the middle ages or those wooden tubs we see in western films.

To achieve supreme comfort, the designer explores new shapes via computer and design software, tools which make for a speedy review of various shapes.

Then a model is produced.

This one, produced on a 1/6 scale, is made of cardboard.

But other models can be made of clay, polystyrene, or by stereolithography.

Manufacturing begins with an acrylic sheet.

It is heated to about 390 degrees fahrenheit with ceramic elements.

The sheet becomes soft and malleable.

So that it takes the form of the mold, thousands of tiny holes in the shell suction the sheet by vacuum.

The mold must cool before it can be opened.

Powerful ventilators blow air directly onto the mold, lowering the temperature to 170 degrees in 4 to 6 minutes.

The ventilators are then withdrawn.

Then the shell is easily removed from the mold.

It weighs a mere 35 pounds.

To make a tub in another shape, they change the mold.

They put in another acrylic sheet.

The sheet is heated on the ceramic and fiberglass mold, the little holes vacuum out air, and the job is done.

The molded acrylic sheet is not sturdy enough to be filled with water, so it must be reinforced with fiberglass.

This is the fiberglass.

Mixed with resin, it is blown onto the mold by a robotic unit.

Stored in reservoirs, the resin is carried to the robot by pumps.

Here it produces a chemical reaction between the fiberglass and the resin, which produces a reinforced shell.

Laminating is one of the most important steps.

With brush and roller, they eliminate all air bubbles that could weaken the tub.

This makes the fiberglass resin adhere perfectly to the acrylic shell.

The process takes 75 minutes.

The shell is then transported to the milling department.

The shell is dry and hard.

They can extract it manually, but here they use digitally controlled machines.

The operation begins with the trimming of the edges of the bathtub.

During this process, the robot will pierce openings for the drains, the whirlpool jets, and the air jets for the overflow and for ambient light.

The bathtub, almost completed, is now sent to another workshop.

They can now install the pump, the piping, and the blower.

These last operations are done manually.

The pump is installed for the whirlpool system, as well as the pvc pipes, whose joints have been hermetically sealed to prevent any leaks.

Finally, to make sure that everything is functioning well, each bathtub undergoes a water test.

The tub is finally ready.

After 13 steps and anywhere from three to five hours of work, depending on the type of tub.

It almost invites you to climb in.

In the world of aeronautics, the helicopter is the ideal go-anywhere machine.

Unlike airplanes, choppers can move in almost any direction and take off and land straight up and down.

Now that we've "coptered" your attention, let's see what goes into building these whirlybirds.

Man has always wanted to fly.

And the versatility of the helicopter has allowed him to reach unexpected heights.

Plans for a helicopter are created with catia 3-d design-assisting computer software.

It takes 700 hours of work between the drawing stage and the assembly of the pattern.

The helicopter is made of carbon fiber, a composite material lighter and stronger than steel, protected by two layers of green plastic.

The fiber is cut with a blade controlled by ultrasound.

They lay on several thicknesses of fiber to make the rear fuselage.

The green light of a laser helps position the parts.

Then with a heat gun, they apply a beehive web which increases the solidity of the structure.

But the carbon fiber is still soft.

To harden, it must be baked under pressure for 10 hours in this autoclave oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit.

The pieces exit the oven and head for machining.

The door of the motor housing is kept in a cutting jig and is shaped with a manual shaper.

Before installing the parts, they strike the carbon fiber with a resonance hammer to detect any faults.

The electrical harness is mounted on a pattern before being installed in the aircraft.

This particular helicopter has 2,570 yards of wiring, but others can have almost 6 miles.

The wiring will be connected to the flight-instruments panel, the brain of the helicopter.

This aircraft has 9,964 rivets fastened with a gun and a ram.

They also apply a sealant to prevent corrosion-creating humidity.

They now assemble the helicopter's rear fuselage.

Piece by piece, the aircraft takes shape.

They will install mechanical components later.

The motor arrives.

This one weighs 260 pounds and has to be carefully handled.

Among the other parts to be installed is the circular plate on which the blades will be attached.

Safety is primary.

The screw-nut holes are perforated, allowing for the insertion of the brake cable.

This tightly braided metal wire prevents the nut from loosening, due to strong vibrations.

Now they bolt on the four blades, which makes the helicopter fly.

Weighing 90 pounds each, they're made of composite materials and an aluminum alloy.

They're attached to the main rotor.

The dashboard is installed in the cockpit, and all the wires are hooked up.

Contact is established, and all is functioning properly.

The last step-- finishing the interior of the craft.

They install seats, safety belts, the consoles, bulkheads, windows and doors, as well as the trimmings.

The helicopter is almost completed, but it still has to be painted.

When done, the helicopter is towed outside the assembly hangar.

Flight tests are performed to make sure that mechanical and electrical components are functioning properly.

It requires an average of 110 days to assemble the more than 3,000 parts of a helicopter like this one, and they turn out almost 185 units each year.

These 3-ton engines are capable of reaching speeds of 140 knots and flying at a maximum altitude of 20,000 feet.

Beer has been around for as long as civilization itself.

Historical records show that ancient peoples made beer with barley, hops, water, and yeast.

We still use the same ingredients, but as you'll see, today's production technology is far more complex.

Beer has been drunk since 4,000 b.c. in mesopotamia.

The sikaru made it as a sacred beverage from grains but without hops.

The gauls and the celts drank a beverage made with barley, wheat, and rye.

During the crusades, europeans discovered spices and flavored the beverage with cinnamon and laurel.

In the 15th century, nordic peoples used hops as a spice, giving rise to the beer we know today.

Beer is a fermented beverage made with cereals and water.

The company has its own water-filtration plant.

It will be refiltered before being used to eliminate chlorine.

This materials tanks can hold 21,000 gallons of water.

Between 11 and 16 tons of malt and another grain are added.

They use dark malt, which has been heat-treated to a high temperature.

The mixture will spend two hours here.

An agitator prevents malt husks from settling to the bottom of the tank.

Turbulence from the pumps during the transfer causes the formation of this protein foam.

The wort is in the process of being extracted and will be boiled.

About five hours have passed since the brewing process began.

Here they draw off a sample.

They will make other control tests at various stages of brewing.

This is the draff, a solid residue extracted from the wort.

It will be used as cattle feed.

Here is a close-up view of the draff.

Then the liquid is filtered.

Here's the filtration tank where the wort is separated from the malt husks.

A sample is withdrawn from the wort heater to verify the density of sugars and the quality of the wort.

Now another ingredient--  the hops-- is added into the wort heater.

The hops impart the bitterness and aroma particular to beer.

The hops looks like this.

They can now start the brewing.

In the control room, an operator handles the data-control system of the brewing process.

They add in the yeast, which starts off the fermentation.

This process lasts between 7 and 10 days.

This foam indicates that fermentation has begun, and sugars will now transform into alcohol.

Each fermentation tank is computer-controlled to maintain a specific temperature.

During fermentation, chemical reactions create the scum that we see.

Now aged for three weeks, the beer is almost finished.

We see here the bottling tanks.

The beer has to be filtered once more.

Exiting these filters, the wort is clarified, then rid of the components responsible for the cloudiness of the beer.

Here's the beer filtered a second time...

And finally finished, as a clear product.

Used bottles are now washed.

After their wash cycle, the bottles have become sterilized.

Empty bottles arrive on this plate, ready to be filled.

About 1,000 bottles a minute are filled while on the move.

Then they pass to the capper before being sent to the pasteurizer.

Only two steps remain.

Labels are glued onto the bottles, then they're sent by conveyor to be put in cases.

Made from water and cereal grains, the beer is now ready to be consumed and enjoyed.


Nail Nippers
Jade Putters
Ice Cider
Water Skis

And water skis.

Whether it's a hangnail that needs fixing or it's simply time for a trim, a nail nipper is a good thing to have at your fingertips.

A nipper is a precision tool, one that offers a bit more control than lever-style clippers.

The result is usually a more manicured look.

Heavy duty and made of stainless steel, the nipper nail cutter looks as if it belongs in a tool chest and it actually works like cutter pliers.

Squeezing the handles brings the curved blades at the end together for a well-rounded trim job.

The handles offer a bit moore maneuverability than the lever mechanism on a standard nail clipper.

Production begins with these forged-steel blanks.

They'll make two pairs of nail nippers from each one.

They load the blanks onto a carriage that transports them into a furnace.

Subjected to intense heat, the steel blanks become white-hot and malleable in minutes.

The foundry worker transfers a blank to a die.

He moves it across the die and flips it over as a hammer slams it into the shape of two nail-nipper shanks, each with a cutting head.

It takes several strikes to create the right impression on both sides of the blank.

The process transforms the narrow blank into a wider piece with two nail-nipper formations.

This is the blank before forging and now.

Once the two shanks have been separated and trimmed, a drill cuts a hole under the blade end.

This is the area where the nipper shanks are to be joined.

A milling tool shaves down the area for a neat and level joint.

This is the nail-nipper shank before the joint work and after.

They transfer the nipper shanks to a finishing machine.

They bounce around in a stream of abrasive ceramic pebbles for a few hours.

This rubs off the rough bits.

A magnetized conveyor pulls out the steel shanks, leaving the ceramics behind and carries the shanks forward.

An employee sands the entire surface of each shank until it looks completely smooth.

He brushes oil onto a shank joint to prevent rust and abrasion.

It's time to rivet the two nail-nipper shanks together.

The rivets funnel into tooling above and below the nail-nipper shanks.

The machinery drives the rivets into the holes in the shanks.

Once joined, they cannot be pulled apart without completely destroying the nail nippers.

At this point, the rivets protrude slightly and could snag on clothing or other things.

An employee sands each rivet until it's on the same plane as the rest of the nipper joint.

The vigorous sanding makes the rivet seem to almost disappear.

He polishes the inside of the nipper blades to completely smooth the surfaces.

An even surface can be more thoroughly cleaned and disinfected between manicures.

The blades are still blunt at this point.

The next member of the team files them on an angle to give them a cutting edge.

Filing too little could hamper the clearance between the blades.

Filing too much would ruin the nippers entirely.

He tests them on paper.

If the cutting edge slips, the blades may need more work.

If they slice right through, they're just right.

Next, he clamps the nail nippers onto a circular bench.

It revolves to meet up with a laser that etches the company logo and other information onto the shanks.

After that, they drill holes and attach a spring to make the nippers easier to open and close.

For the professional who will be opening and closing these nail nippers a few hundred times a day, this is a nifty feature.

They manufacture these nail nippers in batches of 300 or 400 over a period of about two weeks, so they're should always be plenty on hand.

This putter is made of jade, a precious stone traditionally used in jewelry and sculpture.

Long coveted for its beauty, jade is in demand on the putting green.

As tough as steel with a feel that's distinctly different, a putter made of jade is definitely up to par.

The jade putter is among a number of new clubs on the green...

Along with crystal quartz and fossilized vegetation, known as petrified wood.

To make a jade putter, they head for the hills-- specifically, a nephrite jade outcrop in wyoming.

Here, the putter maker finds a 20-foot wide vein of nephrite.

This stone has taken 2½ billion years to form and develop a very hard and fibrous crystalline structure.

The carver selects slabs that are thick enough to shape into four or five putter heads.

This one has weathered to a rusty color, but it should clean up nicely.

The color of wyoming jade ranges from white to green to black.

He strikes the slab with a sledgehammer a few times to break it down to a more manageable size.

He slices through one of the cut pieces with a rock saw while flushing it with coolant to save the diamond blade.

He makes 9 or 10 cuts to rough out the triangular mallet shape of the putter head.

He slices off the ends to complete the basic shape.

Next, he anchors the jade in a wooden jig and cuts on an angle to profile the sides of the putter head.

He slices off a back section to give the putter clearance from the ground when swung.

This putter has really taken shape.

He removes material from the corners to center the mass behind the golf ball for more striking energy.

He sands the edges to round and soften them.

He's careful not to remove too much in one place because that would affect the symmetry.

He then polishes the entire piece of jade against diamond-abrasive belts.

It's an intensive process that takes about two hours.

He aims a drill and cores into the putter head on a 20° angle to make a hole for inserting the putter shaft.

A perpetual flow of water keeps the diamond core bit cool and also flushes out the little bits of filings.

He gently taps the drilled core to jar it so it falls out of the putter head.

A laser emblazons the product name onto the jade, swiftly etching it into the surface.

The putters can be customized with a customer's name and logo.

He swabs gold-colored paint into the laser etching to make the letters really stand out.

The swabbing leaves a lot of residual paint around the letters, so he rubs it off.

He sprays the putter with a wax-based gloss to seal the stone.

He then buffs it against a felt belt to give the jade a satiny sheen.

He mixes epoxy ingredients to attach the shaft to the jade putter's head.

He deposits epoxy in the hole in the shaft.

He inserts the steel shaft into the 20°-angle hole.

The angle of the hole positions the putter shaft to match the golfer's upright stance.

Once the pistol-style grip has been slipped on, he applies a metallic-look decal just below it.

The decal displays company contact information in the event of a problem that doesn't have to do with the golfer's technique.

After cleaning and inspection, this jade putter is ready for action.

Putters carved from jade and other materials are crafty editions to the golf-club arsenal and could lead to some artful moves on the green.

Ice cider is an alcoholic drink made from fermented, frozen apples or apple juice.

It's also known as apple ice wine and is produced the same way as ice wine but with apples instead of grapes.

It's typically served with food such as foie gras, cheese, fruit, and dark chocolate.

There's a world of difference between ice cider and regular cider.

Regular cider is made from fresh apples, whereas ice cider is made from frozen apples or frozen apple juice.

And while cider can be a non-alcoholic beverage, ice cider is always alcoholic.

There are two methods to making ice cider.

One is to leave the apples on the tree to freeze over the winter, then pick them and press them.

The other method, which we're about to see, is to harvest the apples in the fall when they're ripe, press them, then freeze the juice.

The apples are always handpicked at perfect maturity and always right off the tree.

An ice-cider producer never uses fallen apples because they often get damaged when they hit the ground and then pick up bacteria from lying there.

This producer uses different varieties of apples to make several types of ice cider.

The one we're about to see is made from empire, spartan, cortland, mcintosh, and golden russet.

Straight from the orchard, the apples go onto a conveyor belt which feeds them into a multistage press.

The first part of the press crushes the apples into what's known as pumice.

A screw conveyor moves the pumice onto a mesh conveyor belt that transports it through five stainless-steel rollers.

Each roller applies 275 pounds of pressure, progressively extracting the apple juice.

The juice drains down through the mesh conveyor belt to a vat below.

From the vat, the juice is pumped into a large container made of food-safe plastic.

The container holds 264 gallons.

However, they leave 13 to 26 gallons of air space to leave room for expansion when the juice freezes.

At the end of december, they haul the containers outdoors.

The juice stays outside from 40 to 50 days, during which time the water in it freezes, leaving unfrozen, concentrated juice at the bottom of the container.

Workers measure the sugar content daily, and once it reaches a certain level, they pump the juice indoors into temperature-controlled, stainless-steel tanks.

Then they add yeast to kick-start fermentation-- the conversion of those natural sugars to alcohol.

Every day, they measure the sugar level to monitor the fermentation process.

When they hit their target, which typically takes between 40 and 50 days, the juice has transformed into ice cider with an alcohol content of 10.5% to 11%.

Ice cider is bottled just like wine.

The corking machine automatically pops in a cork as soon as its sensor detects the presence of a bottle.

The next machine slips a plastic seal over the mouth of the bottle, then heats the plastic to shrink the seal tightly around the cork.

Finally, an automated labeling machine simultaneously applies self-sticking labels to the front and back.

It isn't only the apple variety that determines the flavor.

It's also the production method.

The process we've just seen, called cryoconcentration, produces ice cider with a strong, fruity flavor.

The other method, called cryoextraction-- letting apples freeze on the tree, then pressing them-- produces ice cider which tastes like baked apples.

Water skiing was invented in 1922 by an american teenager named ralph samuelson.

With his brother pulling him by motorboat, he experimented first with skis made of barrel staves, then with snow skis, then with skis he had made out of pine boards 94" long.

This type of water skiing is known as slalom, winding through a course on a single water ski, one foot behind the other, in boots mounted to the ski.

The core of these top-of-the-line competition slalom skis is high-density pvc foam-- exceptionally strong, yet lightweight.

A computer-guided machine cuts the ski shape, then pockets to receive various components.

Workers flip the core upside down, and the machine shapes the bottom.

Workers then turn the core right-side up again and fill the pockets with glue.

They insert an alignment tab in the tail pocket to help correctly position the core in the mold.

They install fiberglassed, reinforced nylon blocks in the others.

These will anchor threaded inserts for mounting the boots and the ski's fin.

Now they begin building up the water ski with multiple layers of carbon fiber, an ultra-strong fabric.

They apply the first layer to the bottom, wrapping it around to the top.

This will prevent the ski from twisting.

After stapling down the carbon fiber and trimming off the excess, they saturate it with resin and apply carbon fiber to the top of the ski.

Depending on the model and its performance specifications, they wrap the core in up to seven layers of resin-saturated carbon fiber, controlling the flex in select areas along the way with additional patches.

Then they top the ski with a layer of woven, synthetic fabric to prime the surface for the decorative graphics.

On the bottom of the ski, they apply a sheet of super-lightweight polymer.

It creates a white background to highlight the printed polyester sheet of decorative graphics.

They coat it with a special resin that cures into a hard, hydrodynamic surface that increase the ski's speed.

The graphic design that decorates the top of the ski is printed on nylon.

They mount it to the top part of a ski-shaped mold, then lay the wrapped core into the bottom part.

A heated press closes the mold, compressing the contents under high pressure for nine minutes.

This bonds the layers, forms contours in the ski, and adheres the graphics.

The pressure squeezes out excess resin along the perimeter so once they remove the ski from the mold, they cut off the excess with a band saw.

Then with a custom-made router bit, they precision-trim to exact specifications.

Next, a three-phase filing of the ski's edge-- first with a large file, then a small file, then with either a razor blade or medium-grit sandpaper.

Then with the help of a template, they drill 18 holes into those fiberglass-reinforced nylon blocks in the core.

They screw a threaded insert into each hole, and it locks into the block.

There are more inserts that are actually required for mounting the fin and attaching the ski boots.

This gives the skier different positioning options.

Now the last edge-sanding with fine-grit paper.

After wiping down the entire ski with an alcohol-based cleaner, they install the final and most important component-- the fin.

It's made of aluminum that's chemically treated to be corrosion-resistant and ultra-durable.

The fin's position critically affects the ski's traction and stability, so they use a micrometer to measure to the millimeter, securing the fin precisely where the design engineer specified in the performance-maximization sweet spot.

Nonetheless, competitive water-skiers typically readjust the fin to their own preferences in hopes of leaving competitors in their wake.


Motorcycle Engines
Glass Enamel Sculptures
Hand

The v-twin motorcycle engine actually dates back more than a century.

Talk about staying power.

Central to the design are two cylinders that form a "v" around the crankshaft.

This configuration is more compact than a straight-line engine, and its appeal is timeless.

With its throttle cranked, the v-twin can take you on an exciting ride and leave sedans in its dust.

To make one, a robot loads a cylinder into a machine equipped with cutting tools.

The tools mill the cylinder's metal slats to highlight them.

The slats are called cooling fins.

They allow the engine's heat to dissipate.

This cutting tool bores into the center of the cylinder, carving it to precise dimensions to allow engine components a perfect fit.

Next, an operator assembles the crankshaft.

He aligns connecting rods and slides them over bearings.

He then assembles the rods and bearings to the crankshaft.

A machine press-fits everything together.

Next, a lift scoops up the crankshaft assembly and transfers it to the lower half of the crankcase.

At the next station, an automated dispenser precisely applies sealant to the inner edge of the crankcase.

They then arrange the upper half of the crankcase on the lower assembly and bolt the two together.

It's now time to link the crankcase and shaft assembly to the transmission.

This chrome-plated cover is the finishing touch.

Next, they fit the camshaft into the crankcase.

Its job is to maintain valve timing.

They position the pistons on the connecting rods now installed in the crankcase.

Remember those highlighted cylinders made earlier?

Workers now slide them over the pistons.

These are the cylinder-head castings.

Technicians paint them and then machine them to fit on the cylinders.

A robot bolts them together with just the right amount of torque.

The operator then installs tubing that will house pushrods.

He snaps them into the cylinder heads.

Then he clips on metal covers to secure them.

He now inserts the pushrods in the tubing.

Up next is the electronic fuel-injection system, which controls the flow of fuel to the engine.

They install it between the two cylinders.

A special bracket holds the injection system in place.

He bolts the rocker boxes to the cylinder heads, then tops off the assembly with more gleaming chrome covers.

The operator now screws the oil filter onto the engine case and secures it with a special wrench.

This is the electrical charging system.

It goes on the crankshaft.

Now it's time to pump oil into this v-twin engine and put it through its paces.

Computerized testing equipment moves in and mates to the engine.

The engine rotates, and they shift the transmission through all the gears.

This allows the testing equipment to analyze every aspect of its performance.

Next, they insert spark plugs into the cylinder heads.

And these 1584cc motorcycle engines are now revved and ready for their wheels.

Enameling is the process of fusing colored glass to metal with intense heat.

This decorative art developed more than 3,000 years ago.

The earliest enameled objects archeologists have found are pieces of jewelry made in ancient greece.

Today, artisans most often produce glass enamel on copper.

Artisans handcraft these magnificent sculptures by fusing vibrant colors of finely ground glass to solid copper.

First, the artist draws the design, then chooses the glass colors from a palette of hundreds of shades.

She takes one element at a time and makes multiple copies of it on a sheet of paper.

She has a lab produce a film negative, which she lays in an exposure machine.

On top, she lays a silk screen coated with a light-sensitive chemical.

Then it exposes them to halogen light for 90 seconds.

The film negative works like a stencil.

Its dark parts block the light from hitting the screen while its clear parts allow light through.

Where light penetrates, the light-sensitive chemical reacts and hardens.

The unhardened chemical rinses away, leaving just the image behind.

In the next department, they lay the screen in a silk-screen printer, apply chemical-resistant ink, then load a sheet of solid copper about half a millimeter thick.

The machine automatically prints the images onto the copper.

They cure the ink in an oven for 20 minutes, then repeat the entire exposure process for the back side of the sheet.

Next, they feed the sheet into a two-step milling machine.

It applies chemicals that eat away any copper that isn't coated with the chemical-resistant ink.

This cuts out the shapes.

Then it strips off the ink, which, by this point, has served its purpose.

Now they have a blank shape, but it's completely flat.

To give it dimension, they stamp it with a forming dye.

Now the enameling process can finally begin.

For each color grouping of the design, there's an aluminum stencil.

They lay down the first one and sprinkle glass powder in the first base-coat color, which looks white now, but comes out clear.

Then a second stencil for the second base-coat color-- white.

The shape then goes into a kiln for about a minute to liquefy the glass powder and fuse it to the copper.

Once the base coat cools, they create the detail work with additional stencils and colors.

This is where the true artistry comes in.

Each shake of powdered glass is like a painter's brushstroke.

Too much, and the color will come out too dark.

Too little, and it'll come out too light.

It takes an experienced enameler to get it just right.

They craft dimension by blending colors and by combining different types of glass in the design-- some transparent, some opaque, some opalescent.

After every few powder applications, they return the piece to the kiln, where the intense heat--  1,600 degrees fahrenheit-- liquefies and fuses the glass to the copper.

Slowly but surely, they turn what was a blank copper shape into a vibrant work of art.

Meanwhile, an artistic welder skillfully creates the sculpture's metal framework-- in this case, branches on which copper-enamel birds will perch.

He's using steel, but frameworks can also be made of copper, bronze, or brass.

Besides birds, this sculpture features copper-enameled leaves and flowers.

Their stems are bronze because bronze fuses easily to steel.

With the framework and background elements in place, it's just a matter of attaching the main design elements.

Some industrial-strength hot glue does the trick.

A modern twist on an ancient craft, these glass-enamel sculptures make a glistening impression.

Today, most commercially made paper is made from wood pulp treated with chemicals and mechanically processed.

Making paper by hand is a craft that involves techniques and materials that go back over 2,000 years in china.

These techniques have evolved over time, but the main ingredient remains the same-- imagination.

Handmade paper is a distinctive choice for a variety of uses, from fine stationery to limited-edition prints.

Natural fibers, like linen or these cotton remnants, are the raw materials for handmade paper.

Workers place the cotton rag and put it on a conveyer, which leads into a machine that chops it up into small pieces.

It collects in a bin, ready for the next step, called beating the rag.

Workers pour out the chopped-up rag into a tub called a hollander that is filling with water.

This machine beats the material into a pulp.

Its only moving part-- a large roll weighing several tons, equipped with metal blades.

Workers fill the hollander with up to 800 pounds of rag.

Once all the rag is in, the giant roll descends to begin the beating.

Water pours down to soak the fabric, as workers push it toward the roll.

They sometimes take paper from previous batches, known as broke, and add it to the mix.

They may also add a little dye to adjust the color, depending on the desired effect.

After eight hours of beating, workers feel the pulp's consistency.

They will then take samples from this batch to make sure it doesn't contain any unbeaten rag or knots.

Next, they add colorful scraps of paper to the pulp to create a decorative pattern.

To make a sheet of paper, the vat man plunges a wooden mold into the pulp.

As he lifts out the mold, he shakes it to even out the pulp.

Water pours out, leaving only fibers caught on the mold's surface.

He removes the mold's frame, known as the deckle, and lowers the corner of the mold to drain away more water.

He places the mold facedown on a wet felt, then carefully lifts it away.

A sheet of paper now lies on the felt, which he then covers with another wet felt.

When pulp pours through the mold's metal screen, it traps the fiber and lets the water through.

The vat man plunges the mold once again into the pulp and couches another sheet of this distinctive paper.

At this point, the paper is 99% water.

Workers bring a stack over to a hydraulic press to draw the water from the paper and link the fibers together.

They press the papers with care so they don't burst right out of the felts.

They brush any leftover pulp from the felts, leaving them clean and ready for the next batch of sheets.

Now workers can handle the paper without it falling apart.

They take the sheets from the felts and hang them to dry on plastic tubes.

Once dry, they collect the sheets according to type and stack them for a final finishing press before they go on for shipment to customers around the world.

The mold's frame leaves a feathery edge-- a distinctive feature of handmade paper.

These papers are available in more than 30 colors in various finishes, from smooth to rugged.

There's a paper for every project, whether it's etching...

Watercolor...

Drawing...

Or even folding.

Pole-vaulting began as a mode of transportation, not a sport.

In europe, men would use poles to propel themselves across bridgeless canals.

In the late 1800s, pole-vaulting caught on as a college sport.

The athletes used bamboo poles to vault themselves over a horizontal bar.

Today's poles are incredibly lightweight, yet strong enough to absorb the vaulter's energy, then throw it back to propel him over the bar.

Some poles are made of carbon fiber, others out of thismaterial--  resin-impregnated fiberglass.

The first step is to spread out the material and cut out the pole pattern.

Meanwhile, a slitter machine cuts the same material into strips of a specific width.

Then it winds each strip into its own roll.

This spiral-wrap machine automatically unravels the strip and wraps it around a hollow steel tube called a mandrel.

This first layer of fiberglass gives the pole its flexibility.

They wrap a second layer in the opposite direction, employing a crisscross pattern to increase durability.

The second layer fortifies the pole's circumference.

For the next layers, they remove the mandrel and lay it on the table.

Now it's time for those fiberglass patterns they cut earlier.

They heat the edge of the first one with an iron, melting the resin in the fiberglass until it's tacky.

They stick this edge to the mandrel, then slide the other end between heated rollers.

The rollers wrap the rest of the material around the mandrel, the heat activating the resin in the process.

The same procedure, now with the second pattern.

This piece is critical, because the way it's cut controls the way the pole bends.

The mandrel and its multilayer fiberglass coat now go into an oven.

The heat, generated by steam, starts at 175 degrees fahrenheit.

This liquefies the resin so that it re-saturates the fiberglass.

Then the temperature gradually rises to nearly 300 degrees, solidifying the resin again, curing it.

This entire process takes about 45 minutes from start to finish.

And when it finishes, a pole extractor slides the mandrel out of what's now a fiberglass pole.

The pole moves onto a flex machine.

In part, this is a stress test.

If there's any type of defect, the pole will crack or break.

But the flexor also permanently puts a specific degree of curve in the pole, which helps the athlete vault higher.

Now they make what's called the soft-side mark.

This helps the pole vaulter locate the bend, in order to know where to grip the pole.

Next, they apply a maximum-weight label, indicating how heavy the vaulter can be.

To finish the surface now, they mount the pole on a spindle, then run a polishing pad over it.

Then, using a solvent, they clean off the debris.

Now that the surface is pristine, they wrap it in thin, lightweight tape.

Different-colored tapes designate different pole styles.

They cap the top of the pole with plastic, then, at the bottom, mallet on a molded tip made of hard rubber.

The finishing touch is the manufacturer's decal.

Vaulting poles come in various lengths, between 10 and 16 feet.

A pole designed for a heavier vaulter has to be stiffer than one designed for a lighter vaulter because the pole has to propel more weight with the same degree of bending.


Gummies
Aluminum Cans
Fish Farming
Bronze Sculptures

Today on "how it's made," gummies, aluminum cans, fish farming, and bronze sculptures.

There's nothing kids love more than candies they can pull and stretch, which probably explains why gummy candies and licorice have always been stick-to-your-teeth favorites, except with parents who don't have a family dental plan.

Everyone calls this red licorice, but there's actually no licorice root in it.

The ingredients are wheat, sugar, and corn syrup, with red food dye and both artificial and natural strawberry flavoring.

They cook the mixture for 2 hours at 216 degrees.

This slowly forms a thick paste.

They cool it down, then put it through extruders.

The extruders work like icing nozzles, shaping the paste into a design such as the twirls we see here.

A water-lubricated knife slices the continuous strips into 7- and 8-inch lengths.

The water also rinses off any licorice buildup on the blade.

The cut licorice goes on aluminum trays.

The stacks of trays then go into an oven to dry for 8 hours at 140 degrees.

As the excess moisture evaporates, the licorice shrivels.

Workers weigh the correct amount of licorice for each package.

To make gummy candies, they use what are called printing boards-- large sheets with raised shapes.

To make gummy worms, for example, they mount the gummy-worm board on a stamping machine.

The machine then stamps the worm shapes onto trays of cornstarch.

This creates a series of cornstarch molds for the gummy worms.

While that's going on, another machine mixes gelatin, sugar, corn syrup, color, and flavoring and cooks the mixture at 240 degrees.

A machine called the depositor pours the mixture into the cornstarch worm molds.

The molds then go into a refrigerated room.

In 12 to 15 hours, the candies cool and solidify.

A machine then flips the candies out of the trays.

The cornstarch molds disintegrate.

As they fall downward, the machine sifts out the lumps, then recycles the used cornstarch into new cornstarch trays for the next batch.

The candies go through a cleaner.

As they spin, air nozzles blast off the cornstarch.

The next drum coats the candies with mineral oil to make them shiny.

Children love gummy worms because they're gooey and slippery and wiggly, but it's not just kids who are hooked on them.

Many fishermen actually use them for bait.

Before packaging the candies, the workers weed out any that are stretched out or stuck together.

Wonder if they get to eat the rejects?

A prion is what causes killer neurological diseases such as mad cow in animals and creutzfeldt-jakob in humans.

It's a protein normally found in the membranes of cells.

Scientists are trying to determine what changes that protein to an abnormal form to cause these fatal brain diseases.

The next time you buy a canned soft drink, consider this-- that aluminum can will always be recyclable.

Unlike plastic, aluminum never deteriorates, no matter how often it's melted down and used again.

Aluminum cans are so lightweight that it's hard to believe they're made from a huge roll of aluminum sheeting that weighs almost 10 tons.

The sheet is about 5 feet wide and as thin as construction paper.

A roll like this is long enough to make three-quarters of a million drink cans.

The sheet feeds into a press that punches out round pieces that will be formed into cans.

The punch press actually performs two operations.

It punches out a disc 5 1/2 inches in diameter, then bends it into a cup.

What's left of the sheet gets compacted and sent back to the aluminum factory, where it's recycled into new rolls.

The cup goes into a machine called the draw-and-iron body maker.

A tool draws out the aluminum, forming the body of the can.

The tool is lubricated so it won't tear the aluminum while stretching it.

The lubricant also acts as a coolant because the aluminum heats up as it's being worked.

Once the body is formed, a trimmer cleans and straightens the edge.

Now the cans move along upside down on the conveyer belt over to the washer.

The washer performs a 6-stage cleaning.

The first two washes are in hydrofluoric acid at 140 degrees.

The last four washes are in deionized water, neutral water with no ph, also at 140 degrees.

The cans come out of the washer and go under a hot-air dryer.

They're now shiny because the hydrofluoric-acid wash removed a thin surface layer of aluminum.

Next, a roller passes over the cans, coating the bottom rims with varnish.

This varnish coating allows the cans to slide easily on the conveyer belts and into vending machines.

It shows up as a blue ring under an ultraviolet light.

The cans are now ready to be printed.

This rotation printing system can apply up to five colors, one at a time.

The machine then applies a layer of varnish to protect the ink.

This is what the print and varnish process looks like in slow motion, and here's the actual speed--  1,800 cans per minute.

Next, the cans fly through an oven that instantly hardens the ink and dries the protective varnish.

The next machine sprays a water-based varnish on the inside of the cans.

This creates a barrier between the drink and the aluminum, so the drink won't end up tasting like metal.

It also prevents the aluminum from being eaten away from the inside by the acid in carbonated drinks.

Next, the cans go through a machine called the necker which forms a 2-inch neck on the can.

This is done gradually in 11 steps, so as not to puncture the paper-thin aluminum.

The next machine, called the flanger, forms a curved-over edge at the top of the can, which will later attach to the pull-tab cover.

The cans pass through a sophisticated vision system that photographs the inside of each can.

Any can that doesn't meet standards, that has a bump or ink inside, for example, is automatically removed from the production line.

They strap the finished cans onto a pallet.

From here, they're shipped to the drink company, which fills them and then attaches the pull-tab cover.

Fish farming generates about 20% of the world's fish production.

Some fish farms are very high tech, while others use more traditional methods.

Fish farming began in 2000 b.c. if these rainbow trout are going to have the energy to make baby trout, they'll have to be well fed.

On today's menu-- brown shrimp.

The fish farmer gives the mating process a hand.

He takes the female fish and presses on her belly to squeeze out her eggs.

A 1-pound fish has about 1,000 eggs.

It takes about a minute to get them out.

Next, he takes the male fish and squeezes out his sperm.

This also takes about a minute.

The fertilization process is pretty low tech-- no microscopes, no test tubes.

The farmer mixes the eggs and sperm by hand.

He then rinses the eggs with clean water.

He repeats this step seven or eight times until the water runs clear.

The eggs that stay at the surface are duds, so they're discarded.

The farmer transfers the good eggs to bottles, then fills the bottles to the top with water.

The eggs incubate for about a month.

By the 25-day mark, if an egg is alive, two little black dots appear--  fish eyes.

After the incubation period, the farmer empties the bottles and spreads the eggs on a surface with slats.

The eggs lie here underwater...

Until they hatch 10 to 15 days later.

The newly hatched trout swim down through the slats into the basin below.

The baby trout feed off their placenta for the first 18 days.

After that, they eat special trout food made of fish meal.

The trout grow to about 8 inches long by the age of 8 months.

At that point, the smaller trout swimming around them start looking pretty appetizing.

So the farmer has to classify the fish by size and move them into separate basins.

Trout reach adulthood at the age of a year and a half.

Now the farmer transfers them into his man-made lake.

From here, the fish will go to market.

But before they leave, the farmer mates them, starting the cycle all over again.

Bronze is the oldest metal alloy known to man.

It is ideal for casting works of art because, when molten, it flows into even the tiniest crevices of a mold.

This allows sculptors to achieve incredible detail in their work.

Man first discovered how to cast metal around 3500 b.c., during the period known as the bronze age.

Many civilizations honored their royalty and gods with bronze statues.

When it comes to art, the late 19th-century french sculptor auguste rodin was the master.

They say his bronzes were more lifelike than the subjects themselves.

Bronze is also a popular medium for modern art.

Sculptors first carve a replica of their sculpture from wood or shape it out of a plaster or clay.

They coat it with a lubricant...

Then with silicone rubber.

When the rubber hardens about six hours later, the lubricated replica slips out easily, leaving a detailed rubber mold.

Next, they pour hot wax into the mold.

The wax cools in about 15 minutes, leaving an exact wax replica of the sculpture.

Next, they attach what's called a sprew-- a wax channel that will funnel the molten bronze into the mold.

They dip the wax replica into a ceramic material.

Then coat it with powdered silicone, a common mineral, to strengthen the ceramic.

Next stop-- an autoclave.

In about 10 minutes, under the machine's hot steam pressure, the wax inside the ceramic shell melts away, leaving a hardened and hollow ceramic mold.

That mold goes into a kiln at 1,560 degrees.

After two hours, it's fired.

This is the finished mold into which the bronze will be cast.

At the foundry, they heat the bronze to 2,084 degrees...

Then carefully pour it into the mold.

The molten metal takes just a few minutes to solidify.

Then they chisel off the ceramic casing to reveal the bronze statue inside.

They sandblast the statue to remove the ceramic residue.

Then, they saw off the sprew.

They weld shut any holes or other imperfections...

Then polish the statue using various abrasive heads.

They heat the statue, then spray on an acid coating.

This coating, called patina, gives the bronze its shimmer and richness of color.

Finally, a coat of wax makes the statue shine.


Dragster Tires
Icing
Floating Docks
Spiral Pipes

A dragster's tires take quite a beating during the brief, but fast run down the racetrack.

The tires have to face full-on acceleration right out of the starting gate, then heavy-duty braking after the finish line, with the car deploying a rear parachute and slowing to an eventual stop.

A drag race is the ultimate automotive sprint, with rapid acceleration to speeds topping 310 miles per hour.

Optimal tire traction can give a car the winning edge.

Dragster tires, like most tires, are made from rubber, which hasn't been cured to a firm and permanent state.

For most parts of the tire, they reinforce the rubber with nylon fabric.

The machine heats and kneads rubber slabs until they melt, then coats both sides of the material with a molten rubber.

When the fabric-reinforced sheet of rubber cools, the machine slices it into pieces of a specific length, making the cuts at a diagonal, called a bias angle.

A skilled tire builder then joins the edges of the piece to form a band, sticks it to an identical band made of an opposite bias piece-- layering increases strength-- then stretches this two-ply band over a tire-building machine.

Next, he applies the belts, two opposing bias pieces of fabric-reinforced rubber, which he lays diagonally onto the tread area of the tire.

A laser guide marks the edges so that he can match the belts to each other.

These belts help give the tire stiffness, strength, and stability.

He uses a roller to press out any trapped air between the plies and belts.

This helps ensure a thorough bond.

After a stitcher wheel folds down the plies, he folds the ends of the material into the machine.

Then, he applies a contact cement-type material to enhance the natural adhesion of uncured rubber.

Meanwhile, an automated machine makes the tires' beads, the rigid hoops around both sides of the opening, which holds the tire firmly to the wheel.

Each bead is made from a thick, steel wire.

The machine first encapsulates it in rubber.

Then, it winds the bead around a mandrill up to 50 times, forming a hoop.

The machine forms four beads at a time.

The next machine wraps the hoop in a piece of fabric-reinforced rubber.

This additional layer will stiffen the sidewall, the non-treaded area of the tire.

The builder uses a tool called a bead server to mount the finished bead.

While the tire is spinning, he applies the contact cement-type material to help the rubber-to-rubber adhesion when he wraps the plies around the bead to secure it further.

The stitcher wheel smoothes the plies flat and pushes out trapped air.

Then, the tire builder applies a strip of fabric-reinforced rubber on top and rolls it flat.

This strip will make the bead area more durable when the tire is mounted on a wheel.

He applies a layer of non-reinforced rubber on the sidewall.

This covers the edges of the plies and will help the tire retain air once it's inflated.

This machine makes the tread by extruding molten rubber through a dye into a continuous strip, then applying it onto the spinning tire.

The fully constructed tire now goes into a press to cure.

Inside, a hot mold closes around the perimeter, while a bag inflates in the middle, pushing the tire outward against the walls of the mold.

When the tire comes out, about half an hour later, the rubber is no longer soft and pliable, and its chemical structure is stabilized, locking in the final dimensions.

Workers seal the wheel opening and inflate the tire to hold the shape until the rubber cools.

Once the rubber has cooled to room temperature, which takes about an hour, the tire undergoes a series of quality-control checks.

Here, a worker performs a visual inspection while trimming off excess rubber from the bead area.

Before the decals go on, they also x-ray the tire, looking for any internal flaws.

Life in the fast lane, while exciting, is short.

Dragster tires need to be replaced every four to six trips down the drag strip.

Icing dates back to 17th-century england.

Early versions were poured directly onto cake.

The cake was then put back in the oven until the topping cooked into an icelike glaze, hence the term icing.

Hundreds of years later, success never tasted sweeter.

Today, icing comes ready-made in cans and tubes.

No need to make a sticky mess in the kitchen.

Just press the nozzle to transform a plain cupcake into an elaborate dessert.

It takes a dozen different ingredients to make icing, beginning with vegetable-oil shortening.

They encapsulate food coloring in the block of shortening.

This keeps the food coloring from becoming airborne, as a mixture creams the shortening with sugar, which they pipe directly into the mixer basin.

Sugar is the main ingredient in icing.

Corn syrup is the next ingredient.

It adds more sweetness and liquidity to the mix.

The mixer arm spirals around the basin for a few minutes to blend everything.

Then, they add cornstarch, which will act as a thickening agent.

They pour warm water into the mixture and beat until smooth.

If the icing consistency is too thin, they thicken it with more sugar.

This 1,000-pound batch of icing is done, and there's enough to fill 2,000 aluminum cans.

A conveyor delivers the cans to fillers that inject half a pound of icing into each can.

The system fills 3,600 cans an hour, and no one has to get their fingers sticky.

Plastic nozzles now funnel toward the containers, and with perfect timing, a press seals one to each of the icing-filled cans.

At the same time, a pump shoots air into a small hole in the bottom of the can.

This pressurizes the icing so it can be pumped out when needed.

The burst of air carries a tiny, rubber cap with it, and it plugs the hole to maintain the pressure.

The cans move forward and meet up with the applicator tips.

There are four tips per can, held together by little, plastic connectors.

The four applicator clusters fall out of the feeder and land on the can nozzles.

Clear caps then fall into place on the cans.

A blade cuts a labeled plastic sleeve to the correct length.

The sleeve drops onto the cans, draping them loosely for the moment.

They ride by a spinning plastic disk that tucks the sleeves all the way down.

Then, it's into a drier, where the heat shrinks the wrap to the cans, sealing the icing.

It's a perfect fit.

Next, they make icing for packaging in squeeze tubes.

They blend together the same ingredients, but in different amounts and in a different order.

This achieves a thicker consistency.

Thicker icing can be more easily squeezed out of tubes.

For ready-made icing, it really is all in the packaging.

A mechanized arm picks up the squeeze tube and delivers it to the filling machine.

A vacuum pump sucks out air and any contaminants.

Another mechanism orients the tube for filling.

Nozzles now inject thick, yellow icing into the tubes, but stop short at a complete fill-up, leaving space for the open ends to be closed and sealed by hot jaws.

Once closed, the machine ejects the tubes.

Each one contains four ounces of icing.

It's about half as much as the can.

To decorate with icing from a tube, the consumer squeezes it out of the bottom tip.

To apply icing from a can, you pump it out of the top.

No matter how you ice it, the result will be sweet.

The egyptians built the earliest known docks on the shores of the red sea around 2500 bc.

More than 4,000 years later, our lakes and rivers are dotted with floating structures where boaters can dock their crafts, go for a dip, or just lounge in the sun.

Floating docks can be much more than just walkways where you tie up your boat.

They can be waterborne buildings with slips, jet-ski ports, and even a rooftop deck.

This facility has created its own computer-aided design software.

With it, they can quickly design each component of a dock in 3-d.

The program will even calculate how many floats are needed and where they should be placed to keep the dock level in the water.

Thanks to its lightweight, rustproof strength, aluminum is the ideal material for building docks.

All the aluminum here has been extruded in unique shapes according to the design requirements.

The plans are printed, and workers consult them closely as they cut and form the material.

The blades they use are specially designed for cutting aluminum.

They use a variety of methods to form the shapes, including drill presses equipped with components called hole saws.

Workers lay the material out on the factory floor in preparation for assembling the structure.

The final assembly of the floating docks will happen on the water at the site.

They tack-weld the parts to each other, then make sure everything is perfectly square before doing the final weld.

Unlike steel, aluminum loses strength when it's welded.

For this reason, the designers of these docks have created special aluminum sleeves for every major joint.

That means there's extra metal supporting the weld and strengthening the structure.

To make sure everything fits properly, the workers join the sections to each other with stainless-steel bolts and lock nuts.

There is minimal reaction between the different metals, because there is so little stainless steel relative to the quantity of aluminum being used.

Once the bottom section of the dock is assembled, workers build up from there.

For this test phase, they use shortened, temporary roof poles to make the process easier.

The blue material on the poles is polyethylene bushing, which prevents creaking when the dock is stressed in turbulent water.

Because aluminum is so lightweight, there's no need for cranes in an aluminum dock facility.

Manpower is enough.

Workers attach a series of narrow, aluminum tubes, called purlins, to the roof and deck.

Workers install the roofing by screwing it into the purlins.

In most cases, the roof won't be installed until the dock is assembled on-site.

Satisfied that everything assembles correctly, the workers take it all apart.

They flip the lower sections over and attach the floats.

These floats consist of roto-molded polyethylene shells.

Styrofoam has been expanded in place to fit inside the shell perfectly.

Even if the outer shell breaks, the dock will still float.

This facility offers a range of decking options from aluminum to concrete to plastic composite to specialty woods like this one, which is called ipe.

Like teak, ipe is incredibly durable and extremely stable.

In other words, it won't rot, swell, or contract, despite extended exposure to a high-humidity environment.

If the dock has an upper deck, it needs a railing.

It's important to have something to lean against when you're sipping cocktails and watching the sunset after a long boat ride.

Of course, it's also a crucial safety feature.

There are 12 different components to assemble for just this one section, and there might be as many as 15 different sections of varying lengths for an entire dock.

Customers can choose to add a range of accessories to floating docks made at this facility.

To make things like safety railings and ladders, workers use a hydraulic bending machine to shape aluminum tubing to the required contours.

All the aluminum these manufacturers use in their floating docks is a marine-grade alloy especially resistant to degradation when exposed to water.

Finally, it's time to build the docks in place.

Thanks to careful planning on the part of the manufacturers, assembly is a breeze.

The crew doesn't need much more than a ratchet set to pull it all together.

It's smooth sailing from here on out.

In the modern world, steel pipes form an underground network to deliver necessities like drinking water or fuel.

These pipes are often spirally welded and can be made in any size.

In fact, longer pipe means fewer joints and less work to install them underground.

Spirally welded pipes can be short, or they can go on and on.

The potential length is limitless, because, unlike other kinds of pipes, spiral pipes don't have to conform to the size of a forming roll or the dimensions of a steel plate.

They can spiral-weld these coils of steel sheets endlessly.

But first they have to take the kink out of the coiled steel.

A machine unwinds it and pushes it between rollers to completely flatten it.

A fixed arm then presses the steel against rollers to round it to a precise diameter, and an automated system welds the formed pipe from the inside.

A barely visible mantel of powdered flux protects the welding process.

Copper-coated steel wire acts as both an electrode for the welding process and as filler material.

With the inside weld complete, a second welder device works on the outside of the pipe to give it a double-welded seam.

A plasma torch cuts the pipe to length cleanly by melting it.

In this case, they're making a water pipe that's 6 feet in diameter and 50 feet in length.

The pipe then rolls over to the next station.

Here, a worker grinds both ends of the pipe to improve the profile.

Then it's over to a die.

It stretches one end of the pipe to create a slight flare, or bell.

This will allow it to be connected to the narrower end of another pipe, forming what's known as a lap joint.

Next, they cap the ends of the pipe and pump in water to a highly pressurized state.

They look for leaks in the weld and confirm that it's watertight.

Another worker installs rubber dams at both ends of the pipe.

A cement fixture then flows into a long applicator with a nozzle.

The nozzle applies the cement to the pipe's inner wall as the pipe spins and generates a centrifugal effect that's 70 times the force of gravity.

This causes the cement to be distributed uniformly.

The rubber dams contain the cement during this process.

The spinning displaces water in the cement, and a blower forces that water out of the pipe.

Next, a worker drapes plastic onto both ends of the pipe.

He tacks it with magnets and then secures it tightly with an elastic cord.

He pumps hot steam into the pipe.

Over a period of 18 hours, the steam cures the cement.

It's a slow cure for better structural integrity.

For our camera, they open one end of the pipe for an inside look at the steaming action.

18 hours later, they remove the rubber dams.

The spiral-welded pipe now has a tough, protective inner liner.

Next, the pipe moves into a blast chamber, where fine, steel shot bombards the outside of the pipe to clean it thoroughly.

This prepares it for the next step.

A sprayer applies a liquid adhesive.

Over the adhesive, they wrap a polyethylene-backed tape.

They apply a total of three layers of tape.

The first one provides corrosion protection to the spirally welded steel.

The other two layers protect the first.

They give the spirally welded pipe a tough outer skin.

The three tapes are color-coded.

This will allow the depth of any damage to be quickly assessed on-site.

They produce approximately 15 spirally welded water pipes per eight-hour shift at this factory.

They should last for a century underground.