Hockey Gloves
Snack Cakes
Remolded Tires
Wastewater Treatment

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

Hockey gloves...

Snack cakes...

Remolded tires...

And wastewater treatment.

Ice hockey can get pretty rough, so wearing the proper equipment is a must.

Hockey gloves protect the forearm, wrist, and hand.

A good glove has padding in all the right places, but is still lightweight and comfortable.

It also has to be flexible, so the player can hold and maneuver the hockey stick.

The covering material of a hockey glove is called the outer shell.

It can be made of genuine leather or synthetic leather.

There's even a new synthetic material called carbon that's tearproof, even if a sharp skate blade slashes it.

What it's made of is a closely guarded trade secret.

One hockey glove is made up of about 30 different parts, depending on the model.

Workers lay a die in the shape of each part on the outer-shell material.

A hydraulic press forces it down like a cookie cutter.

Workers then cut foam pieces to line the glove.

This low-density foam is stiff enough to provide protection, but flexible enough to enable the player to grip the stick properly.

A seamstress now lockstitches the outer-shell and foam-lining parts together, assembling each section of the glove separately.

After finishing the back of the hand, called the back roll, she pieces together the thumb.

She sews three sides closed.

One end stays open so they'll be able to insert more protective foam afterward.

These are the finger pieces.

The seamstress uses a tacking machine to sew up the sides and tack the corners for added strength, again leaving one end, the top, open.

Now they assemble the fingers to the base of the glove.

They use what's called a cylinder arm machine.

It has a narrow sewing surface that protrudes, making it easy to access the fingertips.

Next come the parts that make up the palm and the gusset, the piece that goes between the fingers and the palm.

Like before, workers cut the parts using a die.

The palm and gusset can be made of high-end synthetic suede or leather or even genuine leather.

The advantage of real leather is that it can be treated with an antibacterial product that combats odor caused by the hand sweating inside the glove.

Again, the seamstress uses the cylinder arm machine to sew the palm to the glove base, which already has the fingers attached.

Next, the glove goes onto a machine that's custom-made for the hockey-glove industry.

Using air pressure to power a piston, it injects pieces of high-density foam padding into the open end of the fingers.

High-density foam is rock-hard, so it provides maximum protection.

But high-density foam is too stiff to go into the thumb, which needs some flexibility.

So instead, they make what's called an armored thumb plate, which is essentially a plastic thumb shield.

A hot forge presses a flat piece of hard plastic onto an aluminum mold in the shape of the plate.

Then they wrap the plate in low-density foam and, with another machine custom-made for this purpose, inject it into the glove thumb.

The lower part of the glove is now complete.

A seamstress finishes off the edge with cotton tape.

All that's left is to do is assemble and attach the cuff.

The standard cuff is a little over 2 inches wide.

You can buy the gloves this company produces for retail stores, or order customized gloves with your name embroidered on the cuffs.

Professional hockey players have the factory build gloves to their own specifications with extra protection in key areas or certain adjustments that they feel give them an advantage on the ice.

The most important part of the glove is the palm.

That's the area that endures the most wear and tear.

The sturdier the palm material, the longer the glove will last.

But at the same time, the palm padding can't be too thick.

That would make the glove uncomfortable to wear and take away the player's feel for the hockey stick.

When marie antoinette said, "let them eat cake," she probably didn't mean those mini jelly logs.

Still, in the realm of treats for the sweet tooth, snack cakes have been revolutionary.

They're just the right size for a quick snack and individually wrapped to stay fresh.

Veteran snackers will recognize this as a jelly log, a sponge cake rolled up with jam and a creamy filling.

First the factory bakes the sponge cake.

It comes out of the oven in continuous strips.

Those moving arms align the strips to receive the fillings.

One machine then does it all.

First it deposits an even layer of cream filling...

Then blobs of strawberry jam.

Now the rolling begins.

One side of the cake strip runs against a metal guide.

This lifts and folds over the edge.

Then the cake strips run against a second guide which rolls it over some more.

Now the machine cuts the continuous strip into separate cakes.

Then an automated roller completes the logs.

The jelly logs go onto a conveyor belt that positions them closer together, aligning them for the next phases of production.

They travel through a waterfall of strawberry-flavored syrup.

This sticky coating acts as a tasty glue to adhere the shredded coconut that showers them next.

The conveyor belt shakes off the excess which, like the excess strawberry syrup before, gets fed through the machine again.

Now, if all this doesn't have your sweet tooth tingling yet, the next snack cake will.

It's a chocolate cream cake covered in a chocolate coating.

Production begins in the mixer, where they combine eggs, a vegetable-oil mixture...

Flour...

Sugar...

Water...

Glucose, a liquid sweetener...

And cocoa powder.

The mixer blends the ingredients at high speed for one minute.

Then it pumps the batter into a machine called the automated depositor, which squirts the batter into cake molds.

The conveyor belt transports the mold pans to the oven.

The batter bakes for 7 minutes.

To achieve just the right texture, there's a very specific heating pattern.

Once the pans exit the oven, a robot flips the cakes upside down onto a conveyor belt.

It stacks the empty mold pans onto another conveyor that sends them back for more batter.

Now the cakes flip right side up onto a wire conveyor belt.

Air circulating between the wires cools the cakes.

The next machine aligns the cakes in position for the next phases of production.

First thin blades saw the cakes in half.

Then suction tubes remove the tops and place them next to the bottoms.

Next the machine drops a portion of cream filling on each bottom.

The cream is about the consistency of margarine.

As the feeder tube above each cake delivers it, a wire cutter slices off a piece about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Then the suction tubes put the tops back on.

Now the cakes pass through a shower of hot, chocolate-flavored liquid.

This coats the top and sides.

At the same time, the cakes travel through a bath of the liquid.

This coats the underside.

Air jets blow off the excess.

The cakes pass through a cooling tunnel.

This hardens the chocolate-flavored coating.

Then it's off to the packaging department.

The cakes file into a sheet of polypropylene film.

The machine seals, then cuts the film between each cake.

This keeps each one fresh until snack time.

If you need new tires for your car or truck and are looking to save money, you might consider buying retreaded or remolded tires.

Retreads are worn-out tires onto which the factory glues new rubber treads.

Remolds, on the other hand, are actually rebuilt.

This company specializes in remolding commercial truck tires.

The worn-out tire is called a casing.

This is a cross section.

That steel reinforcement rod, called the bead, won't be replaced.

But most of the rubber around it will be, along with most of the tread area.

The steel belts underneath the treads-- those dots-- will remain.

They begin the remolding process by thoroughly inspecting the casing to determine whether it's indeed salvageable.

They consider its age, whether it's had repairs.

They examine the steel components to make sure they haven't rusted.

If the casing passes inspection, it moves on to the buffing machine.

There, sharp blades spinning at high speed shear off most of the worn-out rubber tread.

Buffing prepares the surface so that the new rubber will adhere well and stand up to road friction.

Buffing takes about 6 minutes per tire.

It leaves just over 1/16 of an inch of tread on the casing.

Now they use a tool called a skiver to shave off any imperfections.

A rubber tire is like a car windshield-- even the smallest crack can spread outward, so it has to be stemmed.

After excising problem spots, they smooth them with a grinding stone.

Then they repeat the buffing-skiving-grinding procedure on the sides of the casing, but they use a less abrasive grinding stone because the sides don't need such aggressive treatment.

Unlike the tread area, they won't be subjected to road abrasion.

Now, using a drill, workers remove dirt and rust from each spot.

Then they work the area some more with a grinding wheel, so that the rubber they'll use to patch it will adhere properly.

Now they glue the patch from the inside with rubber cement, pressing out any air bubbles with a roller to ensure full contact.

Workers can now start rebuilding the tire.

They feed a rubber strip into a machine called an extruder.

First it heats up the strip, making it malleable.

Then it wraps it onto the casing, building up anywhere from two to four layers depending on how thick the customer wants the tire to be.

That depends on several factors-- for instance, how much traction the tire needs to have and whether the truck will be doing mostly local or long-distance driving.

Now they apply a wider rubber strip to the sides, building up one to three layers, the choice again depending on the customer's thickness needs.

Using a perforating roller, they release the trapped air.

This enables the layers to adhere well.

Now they sprinkle the tire with rubber powder, residue from the buffing.

This will prevent the tire from sticking to the mold.

The mold consists of sections which allows it to open wide enough to receive the tire.

The backward lettering inside will imprint the remolding company's brand name on the tire.

The mold applies about 220 pounds of pressure as well as heat--  320 degrees fahrenheit.

This fuses the molecules in the old and the new rubber-- a chemical reaction called polymerization.

Once the mold closes to begin this process, a tube inflates with air and fills the void.

This provides counterpressure, so that the tire doesn't get crushed.

Molding time is anywhere from an hour to an hour and 15 minutes per tire, depending on the thickness.

After extracting the tire, workers remove the seams of excess rubber with a special comb.

This remolded tire is now ready to hit the road at considerable cost savings.

Depending on the size and type, a remold is 30% to 60% cheaper than a new tire.

Have you ever wondered where all the rainwater goes, or the snow once it melts, or the water in your sink, tub, and toilet after you've used it?

This wastewater flows through the underground sewer system to a treatment plant.

The plant removes most of the pollutants, then releases the water into a lake or river.

The underground sewer network feeds into a regional interceptor, which is a kind of sewer highway that runs to the treatment plant.

The action begins at the plant's pumping station.

It doesn't look like much from above, but the building extends some 15 stories belowground, right through solid rock.

The wastewater collects in huge underground wells.

It's not a pretty sight.

It's full of dirt, garbage, and fecal matter.

It also contains high levels of phosphorus, a poisonous element in the nitrogen family harmful to waterways because it promotes the overgrowth of algae.

The water flows from the wells to giant pumps that force it to the surface.

The plant has backup generators to keep the pumps working in case of a blackout and devices to prevent water from backing up should a pump have to be shut down for servicing.

Once the wastewater reaches the surface, it flows through the pumping station down discharge channels leading to the treatment building.

Along the way, it's sprayed with either aluminum sulfate or ferric chloride, two chemical coagulants.

They gradually transform phosphorus in the water from liquid to solid so it can be removed later on.

Once the water reaches the treatment building, it flows through screens.

This preliminary filtration removes any solids larger than one inch in diameter-- such things as stones, paper, and plastic.

Giant presses compact this garbage, squeezing out the excess water.

Trucks then haul the stuff to a landfill, where it's buried.

The wastewater, meanwhile, flows into large tanks called grit chambers.

Grit refers to particles in the water such as gravel that are inorganic, meaning they don't decompose or burn.

These particles, some as tiny as a grain of sand, gradually settle to the bottom.

Then they're pumped out and trucked to the landfill.

To remove organic particles, mainly phosphorus, they add a polymer, a type of chemical compound.

This demonstration shows what happens.

Remember, as the wastewater left the pumping station, it was sprayed with coagulant.

That transformed the phosphorus in the water into solid particles.

The polymer solution completes the process.

It binds those particles, forming what are called "flocs," masses of phosphorus that look like snowflakes.

They're heavier than water, so they sink to the bottom.

And that's exactly what occurs in the plant's clarifier tanks.

It takes about two hours for the flocs to settle at the bottom, forming a layer of sediment called "sludge".

A system of rakes and pumps collects the sludge and transfers it to the sludge treatment building.

Unless testing shows a need for additional treatment, the clarified, fully treated wastewater now flows to what's called the outfall, a series of channels that discharge into the river.

In the sludge-treatment building, they spray the wet sludge with another type of polymer.

This further solidifies it, so that filter presses can more easily squeeze out the water.

Most of the sludge goes into giant incinerators to be burned.

The ashes go to a landfill.

The gas that the incinerators emit powers several machines that dry and transform the remaining sludge into pellets.

These pellets are sold as organic fertilizer.

When it arrived at the plant, the wastewater was full of contaminants that harm aquatic life.

Now, after treatment, it contains 80% fewer suspended solids such as fecal matter and 75% less phosphorus.


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

High-precision cutting tools...

Stained glass...

Semi-trailers...

And recorders.

Industrial cutting tools are the metalworking components of factory machinery.

They're designed to form metal into product parts or into devices for making product parts.

High-tech industries use high-precision cutting tools.

These are the end mills-- tools specifically designed for cutting and shaping metal.

They're made from a very durable grade of steel or from tungsten carbide-- a metal even stronger than steel.

Steel bars in their raw state are actually soft enough to be cut and shaped.

But it takes loads of lubrication to cool the intense heat that metal-on-metal friction generates.

Using a giant band saw, they cut the bars into end-mill-size pieces, called blanks.

Workers turn each blank individually on a computer-guided metal lathe.

First, they form a point on one end.

Then they flatten the opposite end and drill a center hole.

Then they trim the diameter to the required size.

Next stop-- a computer-guided milling machine.

It works on three blanks at a time, carving helix-shaped ridges called flutes.

The flutes run almost the full length of the blank.

Once again, lubrication is essential to prevent overheating.

This milling process transforms each blank into a tool.

From this point on, the shorter, smooth portion is called the shank, the longer, fluted portion, the cutting end.

Here's the same milling process again but for a different model.

Here are both models before and after.

Now they cure the steel using a two-step heat-treatment process.

The first stage hardens the metal, using molten salt-- salt that's been heated until it liquefies.

They soak the tools in five progressively hotter salt baths, whose temperatures range from 1,200 to 2,200 degrees fahrenheit.

The second phase of heat treatment is a process called induction.

They set each tool into a large metal coil.

The coil's internal magnetic field generates intense heat, which softens the shank, making it more flexible.

Now the finishing process.

They run the shank against a grinding wheel, whose grit is made of diamond particles.

This gives it the strength to erode steel with a high degree of precision.

They verify the final diameter using a digital micrometer.

Then a robotic arm runs the tools-- one at a time-- through a high-precision automated grinding machine, this time to finish the cutting end.

The machine uses diamond grinding wheels to grind the precise cutting angles and finalize the diameter.

More complex tools go into this even more sophisticated grinding machine.

It, too, uses diamond wheels and runs robotically.

The end mills are now completed.

This factory makes high-precision cutting tools, primarily for the aerospace and automotive industries, where precision is everything.

So at each stage of the production process, the factory verifies measurements using various optical and digital instruments.

This sensing probe conducts the final quality-control test.

It scans each and every finished end mill to ensure that the surface is as smooth as silk.

These high-precision cutting tools are now ready to be put to work machining aluminum, titanium, and different types of steel.

Around 1,000 a.d., craftsmen began making intricate window designs using lead--  rather than wood or plaster-- between pieces of colored glass.

Before long, the church began commissioning stained-glass windows depicting religious scenes to adorn the great cathedrals of europe.

You can make stained glass two ways-- using copper foil, a technique developed about 100 years ago by the american artist louis comfort tiffany, or you can use the centuries-old european lead technique, which we're about to see.

First, the artist lays a plate of glass over a pattern and traces the parts of the design that she'll cut from that plate.

Then she scores her trace line using a glass cutter.

A quick snap, and the glass separates neatly.

She follows the same procedure with different colors and textures of glass, making all the pieces of the design.

By running the cutter slightly inside the trace line, she leaves room for the strip of lead that will later hold the pieces of glass together.

Once she finishes cutting all the pieces, she checks them against the pattern, making sure they'll fit together properly.

Now it's time to assemble the pieces, using the pattern as a guide.

This zinc molding will frame the panel, its inner groove fitting over the edge of the glass.

The artist positions this molding along the perimeter of the pattern.

Then she drills an l-shaped wood frame into the worktable to hold everything in place during assembly.

A few nails keep the molding in place.

She'll join the pieces of glass using strips of lead, called came.

Lead is used because it's soft enough to bend to the shape of the pieces.

After straightening out a long strip of came, she cuts the various lengths she needs to border each piece of glass.

The came is shaped in such a way that the glass on each side just slides right under.

The cutting pliers, called nippers, are specially designed to slice through the came without deforming it.

Once the artist finishes assembling the glass pieces, she pushes everything gently against the wood frame.

This squares the panel and ensures the pieces fit together snugly.

Now she brushes on flux, a type of acid.

This cleans the lead came so that the solder will adhere well.

Using a soldering iron, she applies a bead of lead-and-tin solder wherever two strips of lead meet.

Then she uses a short-bristled brush to coat the lead in black putty.

This makes the seams watertight and gives the lead a darker, aged look.

Finally, she sprinkles on calcium chloride powder, called whiting.

This sets the putty and polishes the glass and lead to a shine.

After four painstaking hours, the panel is finished.

More elaborate stained-glass works feature hand-painted detailing.

The artist first prepares the design on paper, then cuts the pieces of glass accordingly.

He paints the design outline on the pieces in black, then fires them in a kiln to set the paint.

To create shading, he applies a coat of brown paint called grisaille.

Using a dry brush, he removes it from the parts he wants to highlight.

Then he fires the glass again.

Now he paints in the fine details and fires the glass for one last time.

The paint contains powdered glass, so the intense heat of the kiln bonds it to the glass pieces.

The result is nothing short of spectacular.

For those of you who flunked truck anatomy 101, here's a quick review.

The front of the truck, where the driver sits, is called the cab.

The back that carries the cargo is the trailer.

A semi-trailer is a type of trailer whose front end goes on the same wheels as the rear end of the cab.

This type of semi-trailer is called a van.

It has a closed-in compartment for transporting cargo that needs protection from the elements.

To make the coupler plate-- the part that attaches the van to the truck cab-- they submerge steel plates in water to quell the smoke that metal-cutting generates.

They use a computer-guided plasma cutter.

This powerful torch ejects hot gas at high pressure, slicing through the metal with detailed precision.

Elsewhere in the factory, they take prepainted aluminum panels and rivet them onto aluminum or steel support posts...

The same way drywall goes onto 2x4s in house construction.

These thin, lightweight panels will be the van's exterior walls.

Plywood on the reverse side makes up the interior walls.

A computerized sensor guides the robotic drills to drive screws through the plywood, into the support posts underneath.

For heated or refrigerated vans, there's a layer of insulation in the walls.

The floor is made of either laminated hardwood or aluminum screwed onto narrow steel beams.

After assembling the walls, the steel door frame, and doors, workers install a steel floor plate at the doorway.

This protects the floor from damage when truckers load and unload their cargo by forklift.

Workers fold aluminum flashing over the roof's perimeter to prevent water infiltration.

Fiberglass roofing like this allows daylight into the van.

Aluminum roofing doesn't, so those vans sometimes have electric lighting.

Another type of semi-trailer is the flatbed-- an open trailer used mostly for hauling raw materials, such as logs and pipes.

Heavier flatbed models are made of thick, higher-grade steel.

Workers cut the bulkier parts using what's called an automatic oxy cutter.

It combines two gases to create a flame intense enough to slice right through metal.

Once cut, the parts have to be formed to the required shape.

To do that, workers use what's called a press brake-- a machine that applies up to 330 tons of pressure-- to bend the steel.

They measure the result to ensure it meets design specifications.

The chassis will have two main beams running the length of the flatbed.

A semiautomatic robot welds together the various sections that make up each beam.

A worker follows behind, inspecting the joints and removing welding residue.

Now they position two main beams side by side, inserting steel cross members through them to support the floor.

They install the coupler plate and other components, then weld everything together.

Flatbeds come in extendable versions designed to accommodate loads of various lengths.

They extend and retract on steel rollers operated by controls located inside the truck cab.

With the chassis complete, they can now work on the axle assembly.

Semi-trailers have an air-brake system.

When the driver applies the brakes, there's a release of air pressure into the brake chambers, triggering the brake shoes to bear down on the brake drums and stop the vehicle.

Once the wheels and suspension system are in place, workers install the axle assembly under the trailer.

The average semi-trailer weighs between five and seven tons and can haul up to five times its weight.

The recorder is a type of flute that's played vertically.

It consists of a mouthpiece that works like a whistle, connected to a tube with finger holes.

Mass-produced plastic recorders are a staple of elementary school music programs.

Real musicians, though, play finer wooden recorders.

The recorder dates back to medieval europe, though it was likely modeled after flutes from asia.

Back then, recorders were called flutes.

And, by 1500, they were among the most popular musical instruments.

Around 1750, though, the new transverse flute banished the recorder to musical oblivion.

It took a 20th-century revival of music from the renaissance and baroque periods to bring the long-forgotten recorder some noteworthy attention.

A recorder is composed of three hollow sections made of a lightweight hardwood, such as boxwood.

Crafting one section at a time, they find a portion free of cracks, knots, and other faults, then cut away the surrounding wood using a band saw.

They measure the block's diameter to ensure it's large enough.

Then they carefully mark and drill through the midpoint in order to mount the block on a lathe.

Precision is critical.

The block must be perfectly centered as they round it into a cylinder.

Next, they use a large drill to widen the inside hole, known as the bore.

They enlarge it enough to insert a tool called a reamer.

Then they ream the bore to the final diameter, which varies according to the size of the recorder.

The bore tapers slightly toward the bottom of the instrument.

The cylinder, now a tube, goes back on a lathe.

The smooth pencil line means the bore is straight and the tube is centered.

They trim the outside to reduce it to the right diameter, checking the measurement with the help of calipers.

Then it's back onto a lathe for the final profiling.

This is where the maker gets to flaunt his artistry, embellishing the tube with ornamentation typical of the baroque period.

It takes about an hour and a half to cut and shape the recorder's three sections-- the head joint, the middle joint, and the foot joint.

Now they smooth the surface of each joint with fine sandpaper.

Then it's back to the technical tasks.

Locking the middle and foot joints in a vise, they drill the finger holes-- seven holes down the front and one in the back for the thumb.

For the recorder to play in tune, they must follow the precise measurements specified in the technical drawing.

In the head joint, they cut a flat canal called the windway.

It directs the air that's blown into the instrument.

Next, they carve out a rectangular window with a sloped opening, called the labium.

The labium is what regulates the recorder's tone-- the sound quality-- so its size and angle are critical.

The air the musician blows into the mouthpiece travels down the windway and hits the sharp edge of the labium.

This creates a whistle effect, thanks to a block of wood closing off the top of the instrument.

They use cedar because it never rots, despite years of hot air and saliva blowing on it.

They complete the head joint by beveling the top.

This forms the mouthpiece.

Now they glue a thin layer of cork around all the joint ends.

This creates a snug fit when the instrument's assembled.

They test the recorder's tone and tuning, making adjustments to the workings if necessary.

Next, they stain the wood, then wax and buff it to a shine.

Recorders have a 2-octave--  or 16-note-- range, and they come in about 15 different sizes.

The longer and wider the instrument is, the lower its register.

The shorter and thinner it is, the higher the sound it produces.


Gingerbread Houses
Livestock Trailers
Bottom Rolling Hangar Doors
Toy Figurines

Gingerbread houses are a holiday tradition.

It used to take a fair amount of time and baking expertise to make one.

But today, there are kits and even pre-assembled gingerbread houses that make the process a breeze.

There's something about this edible edifice that makes the holidays seem more special.

With a kit, you can let the factory handle the tricky part and just have fun with the trimmings.

To make a gingerbread house kit, the factory starts with baking soda.

Then a worker adds a scoop of salt, measuring the ingredients by weight.

He transfers the baking soda and salt to a mixer.

He measures the spices-- cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice.

There's actually a lot more cinnamon than ginger in gingerbread.

But the flavor of the ginger is more pronounced.

He closes the mixer, and the system adds water, molasses, and sugar.

At the top of the mixer, he tosses in a block of vegetable shortening.

The mixer combines all the ingredients and blends in the flour.

The result is a putty-like dough.

A spiraling machine helps move the dough onto a conveyor.

A roller flattens the chunks so they won't fall off during the steep climb.

The conveyor delivers the chunks of dough to a machine called a sheeter.

It gets this name because it rolls the pieces into a seemingly endless sheet.

A large cookie cutter comes down.

It punches out the various shapes needed to form the gingerbread house.

The cookie cutouts land on moving rubber-coated wires.

Separators between the wires trim the excess gingerbread dough, which is captured and mixed into the next batch.

Then the cookies transfer to a mesh conveyor, which takes them up to a baking sheet belt.

The cookies travel slowly through a long convection oven that's heated to just over 160 degrees.

Here's an inside look.

At any time, there are parts for 150 gingerbread kits in this oven.

The baked gingerbread exits the oven and transfers to a spiral conveyor.

After a 30-minute ride, the dough is cool and firm.

Workers stack the pieces for one gingerbread house onto a piece of cardboard.

They're ready to be packaged with the rest of the kit.

Factory workers assemble the houses for certain retailers.

They glue the gingerbread structure together with royal icing made of confectioner's sugar and egg whites.

It dries fast, giving this gingerbread house instant structural integrity.

For the customer, all that's left is the decorating.

Elsewhere in the factory, they make the icing for the kits.

Plastic packaging moves toward hot jaws that seal the bottom.

Then a robot grabs a package and opens the top.

A fill nozzle pumps icing into it.

Another robot applies an applicator tip and heat-seals the plastic around it.

The tubes of sugary icing fall on to a conveyor.

A worker places them in a box for transfer to the kit-assembly station.

These gingerbread houses are ready for retail.

Decorated with icing and candy, they look good enough to eat.

Livestock should be transported in a vehicle that keeps them comfortable and protects them from injury and stress.

The best way to haul cattle and horses humanely is in a livestock trailer.

They're designed to be easy to load, unload, and clean out.

A proper livestock trailer keeps its passengers as comfortable as possible.

It's built to reduce rattling and other stress-inducing noises.

It lets in natural light, which has a calming effect, and it has openings along the sides to circulate air.

A designer builds a 3-d model on a computer then breaks it down into units for assembly.

The factory orders long pieces of extruded aluminum designed for the trailer model then cuts them to specific lengths.

To construct the floor, workers slide planks into end rails.

They pull the planks tightly together using ratchet straps then weld them to the rails.

They weld two flat aluminum bars across the planks as floor supports.

The floor is upside down during this part of the assembly.

Once they flip it over, these supporters will be under the floor planks.

Next, they install the axles, two or three depending on the size and style of the trailer.

These steel axles are mounted to a steel frame that provides structural support for the trailer.

To attach the frame, they drill holes for lock bolts and lock collars.

They use a special tool to squeeze the collar down into the bolt.

This ensures the bolt won't loosen with vibration.

Now they flip the floor over.

They weld the reverse side of the rails to the floor planks using a track welder.

To construct the trailer walls, they weld together horizontal slants, uprights, and a top rail.

They connect the wall to the floor then weld it in place.

This trailer is designed for a warm climate, so the side walls have openings at the top to improve air flow.

Several parts of the trailer are cut from sheets of textured aluminum called tread plate.

After welding on a large piece of tread plate for the trailer's front wall, they attach the gooseneck nose.

This nose connects the trailer to the back of a pickup truck.

It can also transport tools, feed, and baby animals.

Trailers that don't have a gooseneck are called bumper hitches.

They connect to the back of a tow vehicle.

Workers attach the gooseneck using welds and lock bolts.

They build the trailer's access gates the same way as the walls-- cutting aluminum extrusions to specific lengths, assembling them, then welding the parts together.

They mount the gates by welding the hinge plates to the wall structure.

The roof can either be a sheet of aluminum or a sheet of translucent woven glass fiber.

They pull the sheet taut then rivet it to the top rail of the walls.

They add an aluminum strip to secure the roof in high winds.

Workers install reflective tape and l.e.d. lights where transport regulations require them.

A rubber grommet around each light reduces vibration and prevents water infiltration.

Workers complete the assembly by mounting the wheels and tires onto the axles.

They add a spare tire under the gooseneck and a vinyl graphic decal on the side wall.

After a thorough inspection, they give the trailer a mild acid wash to remove any grease and handprints.

The factory can customize any trailer design.

This includes higher windows for horses or installing troughs so the driver can give the animals food and water.

Every trailer is designed for easy cleaning, which includes unloading the livestock, removing the bedding material and manure, as well as pressure-washing the floor.

A hangar is a closed building structure designed for storing aircraft or spacecraft.

They provide protection from direct sun exposure and bad weather.

As aircrafts grew bigger, so did their hangars.

Many hangars today use giant bottom-rolling doors.

The bottom-rolling hangar door moves along rails embedded in the floor and top guide beams built into the ceiling.

They use several smaller panels to construct the 184-foot-wide hangar door.

An oxy fuel cutter carves door parts out of a carbon-steel plate.

The torches heat up the metal, then blast it with oxygen.

This creates iron oxide, which melts and flows out of the cut.

The operator uses an iron rod to lift the machined parts off of the burn table.

He cleans up the edges with an electric grinder and removes any iron oxide left over from the cutting process.

The machined parts go to a cnc mill, which turns each round blank into a wheel.

A carbide insert carves the rail's tread profile into the steel.

The machine sprays coolant to prevent overheating, which would warp the finished wheel.

Next, a machinist uses a smaller blank to make an upper-guide roller.

The mill runs at a speed of approximately 200 rotations per minute.

It quickly turns the round blank into a finished roller ready for assembly.

A worker starts fitting rollers inside the upper guide head.

He inserts them into machined holes in the steel housing and tack-welds them in place.

He positions the larger rollers outside the upper guide head housing.

These rollers will bear the load of the door.

Using a metal sheet as a gauge, he sets the clearance between the roller and the housing then welds the parts together.

A cnc drilling machine prepares to make the outside frame of the door panels.

A pressure sensor on the drill moves its carbide insert back automatically as soon as it pierces the surface.

Meanwhile, two welders assemble the bottom door truck on a welding jig.

They weld a spacer to the main beam using an electric mig welder.

They tack-weld the tube in place then bring in the side channel of the door truck assembly.

They clamp the side channel tightly against the spacer tube.

Then weld the spacers to the beam, making a clean, continuous weld.

A worker sand-blasts the door truck assembly.

He blows compressed air and sand to prepare the metal surface for painting.

Using a spray gun, a worker applies corrosion-resistant metal primer on the door truck and leaves it to dry.

Workers assemble the panels before the door leaves the shop.

They use high-strength structural bolts to assemble the parts.

Workers install the unitized operator assembly.

It contains the engine powering the bottom roller wheels.

A worker bolts the electrical control panel to the operator assembly frame.

He puts the cabinet door in place and secures the hinge.

Tightened brace cables keep the door square and prevent racking.

They mount the upper guide on a telescoping assembly.

They add the door's corrugated exterior panels, and it's ready to ship.

At the push of a button, the assembled door slowly opens.

Each panel rolls on the bottom rail and hangs from the top guide rail.

The door opens wide enough to let the aircraft through.

Playing make-believe is a common pastime for children.

Research shows that playing with dolls and toy figurines can improve a child's creativity, communication, and social skills.

This includes problem solving and empathizing.

Whether it's an animal, person, or fictional creature, a toy figurine can be a passport to a fantasy world where imagination rules and the story plays out in the child's hands.

The toy company designers study photographs or drawings of the creature they plan to create.

Then they prepare a sketch of the figurine showing the physical characteristics, such as size, colors, and textures.

Once the sketch is finalized, they use specialized software to transform it into a 3-dimensional model.

Then a 3-d printer creates a plastic model.

The company also employs traditional wax modelers.

It may look like a slow process, but an experienced wax modeler can often sculpt a model faster than a computer.

The company's engineers determine whether the toy should be produced in one piece or multiple parts.

Then the modeler makes a wax or plastic model accordingly.

This particular dino is divided into four parts-- head, body, jaw, and tongue.

For each part, workers create a silicone mold, which will be used to make several copies in hard plastic.

Workers place the model of the dino's head in a box then fill the box with silicone.

It takes about 12 hours for the silicone to cure.

Then they cut it open and extract the model.

They use the vacated cavity to cast several hard-plastic copies of the part.

The art department uses most of them to sample paint colors.

One copy, however, goes to the company's tool makers, who use it to make the production mold.

They bury the copy in putty up to the midpoint.

They leave the top half of the copy exposed.

Next, they set the half-buried copy in a metal form and fill it with plaster.

Once the plaster hardens, they cure it in an oven for about an hour then they extract the copy.

What's left in the plaster is a cavity in the shape of half the dinosaur.

They fill the cavity with molten zinc, alloyed with copper, aluminum, and magnesium.

Once the metal cools and solidifies, they break the plaster, revealing one half of the two-part metal production mold.

They repeat the entire process to make the other half.

Workers mount the two-part dino mold in an injection molding machine.

The machine shoots hot, molten plastic into the metal mold cavity.

The machine immediately cools the plastic then releases the figurine.

The plastic is solid but still soft, so they dip it in cold water.

This hardens it further.

Next, artists hand-paint the figurines using both traditional and airbrushes.

The paint is nontoxic and very durable.

It's designed to flex with the plastic to prevent cracking.

It also withstands abrasion because children often drag these toys along the ground.

Once the paint dries, they assemble the toy.

A worker glues the dino's tongue into the hinged jaw, snaps the jaw into the head, then glues the head to the body.

The company performs safety testing on every new figurine designed.

This tensile test makes sure a child can't pull or bite off a piece of the toy.

Chemical analysis confirmed both the plastic and the paint are completely nontoxic.

So this dino may look dangerous, but in reality, he's perfectly harmless.

This ferocious beast is ready to hit the playground.


Foosball Tables
Marseille Soap
Laguiole Pocket Knives

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

Table football was first patented by a british inventor in 1923.

It became popular throughout europe with leagues forming by the 1950s.

A decade later, an american working in west germany brought the game to the u.s., trademarking the german word for it, foosball.

In france, the game of foosball is known as baby foot.

This company produces ready-made, as well as custom-made tables like this one featuring biker players.

Production begins at a foundry, where workers melt down bars of aluminum.

An injection-molding machine shoots the molten aluminum into molds in the shape of players.

A robot removes the casting from the injection machine.

The mold yields four players, each one sporting the manufacturer's name on the front of his jersey.

A worker places each casting on a press then, with one strike, separates the four players and cuts off excess metal.

A computer-guided machine drills a hole in the center of each player, through which the rod will pass.

Then the machine threads a hole through the player's back for the screw that secures the player to the rod.

Another machine saws a 2-millimeter gap in the back to allow clearance for a screwdriver to tighten the player onto the rod.

Once ready, the players move to the foosball table factory, where a worker sprays on a base coat of white paint.

Once that dries, workers continue painting the players but, now, using an airbrush.

They mask the player's body to paint only his head.

The company offers a selection of skin tones.

Then they mask the player with another stencil, covering the skin and exposing the shirt and socks.

Next, they mask everything except the player's head and feet.

A player can be brunette, blonde or redhead.

They paint the shoes black then the player's eyes and mouth.

Manufacturers construct the table out of solid beech.

A computer-guided milling machine profiles the wood components, drills the required holes, and engraves the company name.

Workers then assemble the parts, starting with the four sides, which connect with bolted steel rods and glue.

After closing up the ends with wood panels, workers install wood support bars which will reinforce the table and, after a goal, direct the ball to the ball return tray.

The table now goes to the paint shop where workers either stain the wood or leave it natural.

For this model, they also spray red stain into the recessed stripes and logo.

All tables receive a finishing coat of transparent varnish to protect the wood.

They install the sloped ball-return panel.

When a player scores, the ball rolls down the panel to an aluminum ball-return tray.

After sliding the plywood table bottom into place, workers turn the table right-side up, mount the aluminum goal nets, and the scoring units right behind them.

Then they lay the playing surface, made of green vinyl on pressed wood, on top of the wooden support bars.

Wood trim around the perimeter holds the surface in place.

A worker mounts the players for each line onto a hollow stainless-steel rod.

Using a template to space them correctly, he bolts each player to the rod then attaches a rubber bumper to the players at each end to prevent them from slamming against the side walls.

He inserts a narrower stainless-steel rod into the hollow bar to make it telescopic.

After preparing eight rods of players, a worker installs them in the table.

The telescoping handle end of the rod has spring-loaded bearing that fits in a hole in the table.

He secures it from the outside.

After bolting the opposite end, workers protect the top edge of the table with a plastic trim.

After threading plastic handles to the telescopic end of the rods and mounting the tables on four sturdy, solid-wood legs, this foosball table is ready for kickoff.

Marseille soap is a vegetable oil-based soap first handcrafted in the port city of marseille, france, in the middle ages.

This gentle hypoallergenic all-purpose block soap became prized across europe for washing clothes, dishes, floors, and cleansing oneself.

Marseille soap is crafted from just four traditional ingredients with no animal fats, colorants, perfumes or preservatives.

It's still produced today as it has been for more than 600 years.

The four ingredients are sea salt, water, on the right, caustic soda and either coconut oil, palm oil or, most often, olive pomace oil, the second oil extracted from olives after they've been pressed to extract virgin olive oil for consumption.

A worker releases the required quantities of oil and caustic soda into a cooking cauldron, then brings the mixture to a boil while stirring for 1 to 2 days.

The fatty acids in the oil react to the alkaline caustic soda, producing a thick soap paste containing glycerin, a natural compound.

This transformation is known as saponification.

Workers add more caustic soda and cook to 248 degrees fahrenheit for another day.

They wash the paste with saltwater two or three times, each washing lasting half a day.

This removes impurities and glycerin.

Without glycerin, the soap has better detergent power to remove grease stains on fabric.

Next, over the course of a day, the workers repeatedly rinse the boiling soap paste with freshwater.

Then they let it set for 2 days.

They reheat the paste for about 10 minutes at 158 degrees fahrenheit, just to resoften it enough to be pumped to a series of super heaters.

The super heaters heat the paste to 230 degrees fahrenheit, liquefying it.

As the liquid soap leaves the last super heater, it passes through a nozzle, which sprays it onto the walls of an atomizer.

The atomizer cools the soap under a vacuum, solidifying it into a dry moldable consistency.

Motorized blades then scrape the dried soap from the atomizer walls.

The soap falls directly into an extrusion machine, which works much like a pasta maker.

The machine forces the soap through small round dies as revolving blades chop it into noodles.

As the soap noodles fall into the conveyer belt, the soap workshop chief inspects the quality by assessing the color, the aroma, and the texture.

At the company's in-house lab, a technician conducts quality-control tests on samples drawn from each production run.

In this test, he measures the percentage of pure soap.

He weighs the sample, then heats it in a microwave oven for 10 minutes to evaporate all the moisture.

This leaves only pure soap without water.

He reweighs the sample to calculate the percentage of pure soap as well as the oil content, which must be 72%.

The factory sells a portion of its marseille soap noodles to companies who mold their own soap bars.

It also molds a house brand right here, compressing the noodles into a homogeneous paste that extruding the long continuous bar.

An automated guillotine slices the bar into the selected shape.

The conveyer belt ferries the cubes to the stamping machine, which stamps all six sides.

Each cube bears the company's name and logo, the soap's oil content, and the savon de marseille designation, attesting that this is indeed authentic, traditionally made marseille soap.

For centuries, people have migrated back and forth across the french-spanish border.

The traditional laguiole pocketknife is a result of the mixing of these cultures.

It's a blend of an arab-hispanic knife, called the navaja, with a southern french knife, known as the capuchadou.

These are not pocketknives for camping trips.

They're high end cutlery, perfect for slicing through delicious french cheeses.

They feature the unmistakable wavy pattern of damascus steel.

To recreate the legendary metal known as damascus steel, a cutler, who is an artisan who specializes in knifemaking, stacks alternating layers of nickel and carbon steel.

He then uses a grinder to even the edges for the next step.

He welds the nine layers of carbon steel and eight layers of nickel steel together.

He begins the forging process by placing the layers in a coal-fired forge where they heat up to 1,472 degrees fahrenheit.

Step-by-step, the layers will be forged into a single piece of damascus steel.

An automated hammer pounds the layers, forcing them to bind to each other at the molecular level.

As the powerful hammering process forces the layers together into a unified piece of steel, it also flattens out and lengthens the metal.

The cutler can then break the piece in three places and layer them all together.

This triples the number of layers from 17 to 51.

The cutler will repeat this process again and again until the steel has around 300 layers.

Here, a cutler prepares a specialized model of laguiole pocketknife, which will have a distinctive shape.

He continues the forging process of heating and hammering.

The carbon steel will give the knife its sharp edge, while the nickel will provide flexibility.

This manufacturer uses the forged steel to create several different types of blades for its pocketknives.

A cutler places the formed blades in an oven where the intense heat will help flatten them.

Once a blade has cooled, a cutler cuts it to size, drills a hinge hole, and uses a belt sander to reduce its width to about a tenth of an inch.

Next, a worker will heat and rapidly cool the blades to temper them before sharpening them.

He then dips then into a solution of ferric chloride to reveal the unique wave patterns in the damascus steel.

There's more to a pocketknife than just the blade.

This manufacturer hand crafts each component of its knives.

To create the bolster component, a cutler starts by heating a third-of-an-inch stainless-steel rod.

Once the steel reaches 1,562 degrees fahrenheit, he then stamps it into a mold.

The production process can stamp out 20 bolsters in just 12 seconds.

Once they've cooled, a cutler spot-welds them to a blade.

To shape the spring plate, which forms part of the folding mechanism, a cutler heats one end up to 1,562 degrees fahrenheit.

He uses a specialized tool to stamp the top portion flat.

This flat surface will be the starting point for cutlers to create the bee figure, an emblematic feature of laguiole knives.

Workers start by reducing the surface to a triangular shape.

Using a series of different files, the cutler carefully sculpts the bee's eyes, body, and wings.

It seems that pierre-jean calmels, the inventor of the laguiole knife, used a bee symbol in 1829, and the cutlers have been using ever since to set the knife apart from other types.

Cutlers shape the entire spring plate, and it takes more than skilled work with a few files to complete.

Stay tuned to see how high-tech instruments refine the images before workers assemble the rest of the knife.

Even the simplest one-piece knife requires 109 production steps to complete.

In the 1820s, cutlers began crafting laguiole pocketknives in aubrac, france.

The tradition came to an end after world war i but was revived in the late 1980s.

Today, the artisans of aubrac blend time-honored craftsmanship with advanced technology.

To carve each unique spring plate, a cutler starts by placing one in a vice.

With the metal stabilized, the cutler can focus on carving with the aid of powerful magnifiers.

The tungsten carbide drill bits he uses are no larger than four-tenths of a millimeter.

No wonder the details on each spring are so precise.

To temper the steel, the cutler heats it to 1,886 degrees fahrenheit for several minutes.

Next, he cools it suddenly in a bath of oil.

He will then heat it to 446 degrees fahrenheit for 1 hour to complete the process.

This manufacturer makes the knife-handles from different materials, including antlers, wood and bone.

When making a handle from bone, a cutler starts by slicing it into sections with a specialized blade.

He then cuts the slices into smaller sections that approximate the sides of a knife-handle.

Cutlers can use the bone with its natural color or immerse it in a stain for several hours.

All of the components for this laguiole pocketknife are complete.

The cutler uses a belt sander to give the spring a light sanding.

Next, using the same tool, he begins working the bone handle components.

With the framework of the knife as a template, he carefully reduces both of the components to their required dimensions, achieving a perfect fit.

With the metal as a guide, he uses a drill press to pierce holes in the bone.

With the practiced hand of a skilled artisan, the cutler drills the famed shepherd's cross pattern by eye.

The shepherd's cross is another signature of laguiole knives.

The cutler connects the spring to the components known as scales, which form the internal structure of the knife.

To join the parts, he inserts stainless-steel pins and hammers them flat on either side to hold them firmly in place.

He inserts short lengths of thin steel wire into the holes drilled to form the shepard's cross.

He now begins adding the bone side covers, which will form the knife-handle.

He carefully screws the bone covers securely to the scales from the inside with three stainless-steel screws per side.

He then snips off the ends of the screws that protrude.

Now, he can install the damascus steel blade.

He does this by inserting a stainless-steel pin through the hinge hole.

Teflon washers will keep the opening and folding operation smooth and functional.

The cutler uses a specialized clamp to grip the knife as he installs the pin at the back of the spring.

This pin, together with the one that holds the blade, are the two essential elements of the laguiole knife mechanism.

With the belt sander, the cutler now refines the handle, smoothing the pins, and rounding the edges of the bone covers.

A final polish gives the bone a shiny finish that highlights the iconic shepherd's cross, an innovation introduced to allow shepherds to celebrate mass, even when far from a church.

A cutler puts an extra fine edge on the finished knife with the help of a belt sander that has a fine-grit sandpaper.

The cutler makes several passes on a piece of leather with a practiced hand to give the knife its final edge.

This knife is now ready to join the legendary company of other laguiole pocketknives and peel a ripe apple or slice some aged cheese.

Bon appétit.


Speed Skates
Synthetic Rubber
Cocoa Beans
Bulk Chocolate

The first ice skates were invented in northern europe about a thousand years ago when people began lacing animal bones to the soles of their boots to cross frozen water.

In 1592, a scotsman invented an iron skate blade, and before long, the sport of speed skating took off.

These elite-level racing skates are produced by a small company cofounded by a canadian speed skater, a three-time olympic medalist in short track.

Every single pair is custom-made.

After measuring a skater's feet, a technician applies layers of wet plaster bandages, the same way one makes a cast for a broken limb, only here, each foot cast is comprised of two parts.

Each cast serves as the first-stage mold for a skate boot.

The plaster bandages take 5 to 10 minutes to harden and dry, at which point the technician carefully removes the mold one part at a time, then reassembles it with elastic bands.

He surrounds the mold, called a negative, with sand.

He then pours liquid plaster into the negative to produce a positive mold.

The sand provides counterpressure so that the plaster can't push the walls outward and distort their shape.

The plaster fully cures in an hour or two, at which point the negative mold can come off.

Then the technician mixes up some thicker plaster pigmented to make it easily visible against the dried, white plaster.

He applies it in select areas, touching up imperfections and tweaking the shape of the mold.

He files the toes and the rest of the contours smooth, producing the final shape of the boot.

He labels the finished mold with the skater's name and puts it in the storeroom until it's time to begin constructing the skate boots.

Construction begins with boot lining.

They staple a piece of genuine leather to the mold, pulling taut because any wrinkles in the lining would irritate the skater's foot.

Next, they glue on the various structural pieces, such as this ankle padding.

It's made of memory foam so it gradually forms to the skater's ankle and holds the shape.

The next step is the most technically critical because it determines the angle of the skate blade.

They apply a epoxy-resin putty to the front and back of the sole and adhere two aluminum blade holders...

Then prop up the boot as the putty dries over the next four hours or so.

Once the putty's hard, they sand off the excess to lighten the skate and round out the remainder.

Then they begin constructing the outside of the boot.

First, they layer pieces of carbon fiber, a strong fabric commonly used in high-performance sports products.

They tie the bottom piece around the blade holders with strong thread and bind the layers with spray adhesive.

Next, they slip a plastic bag over the boot...

Tie off the ends...

And vacuum out the air.

This tightly compresses the layers of carbon fiber.

Now they inject resin, a type of liquid plastic, and distribute it evenly throughout the bag.

The resin impregnates the carbon fiber.

After a couple of hours, the resin dries and hardens, leaving the carbon-fiber boot stiff and durable.

Next, they glue on the outside of the boot, made of vinyl.

Once the glue dries, they remove the plaster mold and stitch the vinyl in place.

They also take a vinyl lace cover, sew one side of it to the boot, and attach the other side with a hook and loop fastener.

That way it hinges open and closed for lacing and unlacing the skate.

The final step is to attach the inline wheels, or steel blades, to the blade holders.

Synthetic rubber was invented in 1909, but the technology languished for a couple of decades.

A shortage of natural rubber during world war ii spurred its development.

A kind of elastic plastic, it was actually more resistant to temperature extremes than natural rubber.

Synthetic rubber reinvented the wheel.

We're talking about the rubber tire.

Tires for all kinds of vehicles are now made from it.

This manmade material is also used to make everything from garden hoses to golf balls.

Manufacturing synthetic rubber is now a computerized process, one that takes place under the watchful eye of a control-room operator.

He monitors numerous computer screens and live camera images.

The plant itself is 437 yards long.

There are a dozen or more enormous storage tanks for the raw materials, as well as several reactor units.

The raw materials include a petroleum-based liquid called butadiene and solvent called hexane.

They pipe these ingredients through columns to boil off any residual water, essentially purifying them.

This is a laboratory demonstration of what happens next.

They combine the purified butadiene and hexane and add a catalyst.

The catalyst triggers a reaction that changes the chemistry.

The mix becomes polybutadiene, a kind of synthetic rubber used to make tires.

Adding another catalyst stops the reaction at just the right moment.

The white, milky liquid that exits the tank is synthetic rubber.

They now pump in chemicals to tailor the rubber for a specific use, in this case tires.

The additives will increase traction and improve wear.

A mechanized whisk stirs the additives into the liquid rubber.

They pipe the synthetic concoction into insulated storage tanks.

Inside, pumps mix it constantly so the additives don't settle on the bottom.

Here's a close-up look at the liquid synthetic rubber in a laboratory beaker.

It looks like a big vanilla milkshake, and it's about to be coagulated into crumbs.

Here's where it all happens.

This coagulation unit is like a big kettle.

They pipe in the liquid rubber, a solvent mixture, and water.

As they boil off the solvent, the rubber coagulates into crumbs the size of beans.

The water remains because it has a higher boiling point.

The mix of water and rubber crumbs bounces about in what's known as the crumb tank until it's time for more processing.

They then pump the mix into a rotary sieve.

As it spins, it drains off the water.

They add more water to cool the rubber crumbs.

The rubber and water mix gushes onto a conveyor which is a vibrating sieve.

As the crumbs bounce along, the water drains off through the perforations in the conveyor.

The synthetic rubber is now a lot like wet snow.

Next, it's into the lab, where they aim a beam of infrared light through a sample to analyze the microstructure.

If it's acceptable, production continues.

A screw-like mechanism presses the wet rubber crumbs against a metal plate to squeeze out more moisture.

Another trip on the next vibrating conveyor drains off droplets.

Then it's into a quivering, spiral conveyor.

As the synthetic rubber travels upwards on the spiral, hot air is piped in from the side to dry it.

Now mostly devoid of moisture, but still sticky, the synthetic rubber crumbs head down a chute and into a baler machine.

This machine uses pressure to compress the crumbs into big bales.

The bales of synthetic rubber head down a conveyor towards a quality-control inspector.

This inspector examines them for imperfections.

Once he gives them the okay, they head to the packaging station.

As they travel through a curtain of plastic film, machinery heat-seals it around them.

These bales of synthetic rubber have taken about six hours to manufacture.

And this purely chemical creation isn't much different from the real thing.

Like natural rubber, it can be melted and shaped into many different things.

Soon, this batch will be turned into tires, and that's when the synthetic rubber will really hit the road.

Cocoa beans are the primary raw material for making chocolate.

They come from the fruit of the cocoa tree, native to central and south america.

The ancient mayans would grind them up to make a special beverage for marriage ceremonies and other rituals.

Today, cocoa is cultivated in the rainforest areas of many countries in the tropics.

These cocoa beans from costa rica were cultivated without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or fungicides.

Farming cocoa organically requires meticulous care and maintenance of the crop, along with grafting techniques to help establish disease-tolerant tree varieties.

The farmer cuts a budwood, a young branch about to bud, from a healthy, productive tree and grafts it onto a sucker growing from the base of a tree which is either diseased or old and unproductive.

She cuts a slot at the top of the sucker, then wraps a plastic strip around the budwood to hold in moisture until the graft takes.

Next, she cuts a pointed end on the budwood and inserts it into the slot she made in the sucker.

Then she binds the union and covers it with a plastic bag.

Bagging protects the graft against two potential extremes, dehydration and excessive rain, which causes rot or fungus.

If the graft takes, the union seals itself in a month or even sooner.

Strategic pruning strengthens the tree and keeps it growing low and in a shape that's easy to maintain and harvest.

Before long, flowers begin to bud and bloom.

Tiny beetles pollinate the flowers, after which tiny pods--  the tree's fruit-- begin to emerge.

The pods grow and grow...

And gradually change color.

When the color transformation is complete, they're ripe for harvest.

There are many varieties of cocoa trees, with pods of different colors.

It generally takes about five months from first blooms to pod maturity.

Come harvest time, they collect only the pods which are undoubtedly ready.

If a pod isn't fully ripened, the cocoa beans inside will be acidic and bitter.

They carefully cut the pod stem off the branch without damaging the tree in the process.

The pod's rind is a little over an inch thick.

It's rough and bumpy.

They hack it open with a machete to remove the fruit inside.

The fruit is made of a sweet, edible pulp encasing 30 to 50 large, white seeds.

These are the cocoa beans.

The beans and pulp go to the fermentation area, where workers lay them in boxes, or heaps, and cover them for four to six days.

As heat under the cover builds up, fermentation kicks in.

The natural sugars interact with oxygen, the pulp slowly breaks down, liquefies, and drains away.

The color and chemical composition of the beans change, and they become less acidic and develop a chocolaty taste.

The next step is to dry the beans.

Workers spread them out on big trays and lay them out in the sun for about a week.

Here's what a cocoa bean is like wet...

Versus dried.

The dried beans now go through a selection process.

Workers examine them, removing pod remnants and any beans with mold or other imperfections.

Beans which fail inspection are sold locally at a lower price or go to the compost heap.

Beans that pass are weighed, bagged for export, and sold to chocolate makers.

Depending on the size of the beans, which varies according to the cocoa-tree variety, it takes about 300 to 600 cocoa beans to produce one kilogram of chocolate.

Chocolate owes its existence to the cocoa bean.

The ancient civilizations of mexico and central and south america cultivated this seed to make a drink.

The spanish conquest brought this chocolate drink to europe, but it wasn't until 1847 that a british company invented solid chocolate.

This factory makes chocolate in various forms and sells it to companies which manufacture chocolate products for retail sale.

It also supplies chocolate components, such as cocoa powder and cocoa butter.

Most of the cocoa beans arriving here come from west africa, which grows 70% of the world's crop.

A conveyor belt moves them through a cleaning system, a series of sieves that screen out twigs, stones, and other debris.

Next stop is a micronizer, a revolving drum that heats the cocoa beans to loosen their shells.

Then they enter a shell-removing machine called a winnower.

Inside, successive rakes drag the beans across screens, pulling off large pieces of shell.

Then a vacuum sucks away the remaining smaller pieces.

Removing the shell exposes the inside of the cocoa bean, which is called the nib.

The factory will roast the nibs to develop their flavor.

50%-plus of the nib is fat, which is cocoa butter.

To make chocolate, they'll combine processed nibs, cocoa butter, and sugar, along with milk powder if they're making milk chocolate.

First, the factory processes the nibs by grinding them.

The heat and friction activate the cocoa butter, producing pure liquid chocolate called chocolate liquor.

The factory extracts some of the cocoa butter to sell it separately as chocolate-making ingredient and to use for in-house chocolate production along with other ingredients in various proportions.

The dark-chocolate recipe, for example, calls for more chocolate liquor, sugar, and cocoa butter, but no milk powder.

The recipe for unsweetened chocolate contains no sugar.

The mixer blends the ingredients to the consistency of a very thick cake batter.

The flavor is fine by this point, but the coarse texture needs to be smoothed out, so the chocolate moves to a refining machine, passing between a set of five rollers that reduce the particle size, so much so that within just minutes, the chocolate leaves the refiner as a fine, dry powder.

But now it needs to be reliquefied, so the next stop is a machine called a conch.

The friction and heat once again activate the cocoa butter, returning the powder to a liquid state.

At this point, they add more cocoa butter, enough to reduce the viscosity to the exact thickness they need--  just a bit, for example, if they're making chocolate chips or much more if they're making a thin chocolate coating.

For chocolate chips, the conch feeds a machine called a drop depositor.

As the name implies, it deposits drops of chocolate onto a conveyor belt.

The nozzle trays are interchangeable, so the machine can be set up to produce various sizes of chips, disks, or other shapes.

The chocolate chips, still warm and soft, enter a cooling tunnel...

Traveling for about five minutes through several temperature zones, which vary between 30 and 50 degrees fahrenheit.

By the time the chips exit the tunnel, they're hard.

A conveyor belt then takes them through a metal detector, a standard food-safety precaution.

The factory also produces 10-pound, bulk-format chocolate bars.

A depositor fills bar-shaped plastic molds.

The conveyor transfers them to an elevator system, which moves through a cold room for about two hours.

This constant motion ensures optimal air circulation, helping the cooling process.

Chocolate shrinks slightly as it cools, so the bars pop out of the molds easily.

To make the chocolate look as good as it tastes, the factory cools, then reheats the liquid chocolate before depositing it.

This process, called tempering, promotes the growth of the most stable cocoa-butter crystals, making the surface of the chocolate smooth and shiny.


Nuno Felt
Drum Crushers
Kimchi
Traditional Parquet Floors

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

Nuno felt is an artisan-crafted non-woven fabric.

Nuno is the japanese word for cloth.

The technique bonds layers of wool and other types of loose fibers into a lightweight gauzy felt with contrasting textures.

Each piece is a unique creation.

Nuno felt is often made into striking featherlight pieces of clothing.

Unlike fabrics which are made by weaving thread or yarn, nuno felt is made by interlocking and compressing fibers.

The greater the contrast in the texture and luster of those different types of fibers, the more interesting the design.

For this project, this artisan constructs the base of the felt out of merino wool roving, which is wool that's been cleaned, processed and dyed.

She tears off short lengths of fibers and lays them down side-by-side, forming a layer.

She lays another layer on top perpendicular to it.

She builds up three to five layers this way, a technique called cross-hatching.

This process interlaces the fibers, strengthening the base of the felt.

Next, she takes pattern silk chiffon fabric that color coordinates with all the fibers she's using, cuts out squares and rectangles and lays them onto the wool base.

It's critical to create the right balance of wool and non-wool fibers so that the wool will be able to grab and hold the layers together to form the nuno felt.

She adds some mica.

Mica is a shiny natural mineral which, in thin flakes like this, is practically weightless.

Sprinkling a bit of mica onto the surface produces a sequin-like effect.

The artisan adds some wisps of angelina, a shiny, hair-like polyester fiber which wool roving easily grabs and holds.

Then she includes some variegated wool yarn, which is the term for yarn with a variation of color.

It adheres to wool roving, silk and angelina.

And for subtle texture, she lays in wool bouclé.

Bouclé is yarn with continuous tiny loops.

Once the layout is finished, the artisan sprays the materials with soapy water.

Absorbing water makes the fibers more flexible.

It also changes the ph level of the wool, making it more alkaline, which triggers the wool fibers to grab the adjacent fibers.

Next, she wraps her design in bubble wrap and begins the process of felting the fibers with a combination of pressure, agitation and heat.

First, she presses out trapped air with a palm washboard.

The bubble wrap acts as a cushion, preventing the design from distorting.

The artisan takes a foam cylinder and gently rolls up the piece, working out any wrinkles as she goes.

She ties the roll with nylon laces, then rocks it back and forth from her elbows to her wrists.

She does this a total of 1,000 times.

At each stop, she unwinds the roll to smooth out the wrinkles.

Once this process is finished, the artisan unwinds the roll to add what's called open work or lacework.

She cuts small slits in the piece and gently pulls them to form oval openings.

The wool is wet, so it stretches easily.

Next, she amps up the agitation by rolling on a series of textured surfaces.

Each change of texture hits the piece at different points, pushing out the air between the fibers.

While the wet fibers continue to interlock and compress with rolling, the wool and silk elements of the design shrink at different rates, producing contrast in the surface texture.

By the end, the piece, which started out being almost a 1/3 inch think, is now just 1/10 inch thick.

After reshaping some openings, she applies the palm washboard one last time.

Then, through the bubble wrap, the artisan agitates the fibers with an orbital sander.

This friction generates heat, which further bonds the fibers.

After a final touch-up of the openings, she gathers up the felt and gently rinses it in water with a bit of vinegar.

This removes the soap which would damage the wool over time.

The wash also returns the ph to normal, which closes the fibers and stabilizes the felt.

After removing as much moisture as possible by rolling up the felt in a towel, she lays it on a counter to air-dry.

Now, this handcrafted nuno felt shawl is poised to make a one-of-a-kind fashion statement.

Drum crushers are machines that flatten bulky steel drums, the world's most popular shipping container.

At a certain point, they can no longer be reused and need to be recycled.

Drum crushers compress them into disks so that they can be economically transported to recycling facilities.

This drum crusher wields 26 times more force than the average household trash compactor and can flatten steel drums in seconds.

To make the drum crusher, a computerized plasma cutter carves out many of the parts from thick steel.

The machine both cuts out the profile and makes holes for components.

This particular part is a locator plate for the drums.

At another station, a worker traces around a template, transferring the outline to partially machined parts below.

These parts are the crusher's top and bottom panels.

He grinds off flaky areas of the surface to prep the steel for welding.

This process is time-consuming, so he works only within the outline.

Next, workers saw steel tubes to specific lengths.

The tubes will serve as forklift pockets for loading the crusher onto a truck or simply moving it around in a recycling plant.

Another worker now sets up a fixturing system to hold the crusher housing panels in position for welding.

He clamps the parts to the fixturing table.

This first part is the bottom of the crusher chamber.

He assembles the side supports and the top of the unit within the fixturing device.

He clamps the supports at the corners.

And with the structure now held together with clamps, he tack welds it and follows up with permanent welds.

Next up is the back of the crusher chamber.

It's been rounded to accommodate the cylindrical steel containers.

Again, the worker tack welds it to the crusher structure.

He then does full thick welds both from the inside and the outside.

And after that, he'll add the locator plate to the base.

He then welds structural supports to the crusher door.

Turning the door to the other side, he installs horizontal reinforcements.

This braces the door to withstand the substantial crushing force.

After hinging the door to the chamber, the worker inserts the large latch into a support bracket and tack welds it.

A powder coat paint job completes the housing.

Workers now assemble the crusher's hydraulic power unit.

After bolting a pump motor to the lid, the team flips it over.

They insert a hydraulic pump into its housing on the lid's underside.

They plumb the pump and attach a suction strainer to filter contaminants from the hydraulic oil.

They flip the lid back to the top side.

One of the workers screws a pressure relief valve to a fitting that connects to the pump on the other side of the lid.

This valve will regulate the flow of hydraulic oil to ensure there's adequate pressure for the crusher's operation.

If there's too much pressure, the valve will shut the crusher down.

To attach the hydraulic power unit, a crane does the heavy lifting as a worker guides it into place at the back of the crusher chamber.

Moving to the top, a member of the team installs the crusher cylinder.

He bolts the retaining plate to the chamber.

The substantial and hefty crusher head is next.

Using a forklift, workers maneuver it into position on the shaft and then secure it with a thick steel pin.

The head isn't complete without this pierce point.

Fixed to the end of the crusher head, it will puncture the drum to drain residual fluids and release air for better compaction.

Now complete, it's time to put this crusher to the test.

And it easily flattens the steel drum.

This flattened drum will be recycled into new steel that can be used to make many things, including more drum crushers.

Kimchi is korean comfort food.

This zesty blend of fermented vegetables has been part of the korean diet for at least 2,000 years.

It's so valued by koreans that some even have special refrigerators for it in their homes.

Like fine wine, kimchi must be kept at a specific temperature to be at its best.

Full of stomach-friendly probiotics, kimchi is believed to be good for one's health, which is why demand is on the rise beyond korean borders.

Making kimchi starts with a preparation of organically grown vegetables.

There are many different recipes for kimchi.

This one is vegan and less spicy than some other versions.

The kitchen staff trims unwanted bits from carrots and scallions.

They then peel wilted leaves off of napa cabbage, which is the main ingredient in kimchi.

Its taste is sweeter and softer than regular cabbage.

Over at the scrub station, a worker cleans the trimmed vegetables under cold running water.

If he misses even a speck of dirt, it could interfere with chemical reactions during the fermentation process.

This could sour the flavor of the kimchi and spoil the batch.

Each vegetable must be pristine.

The next member of the team shreds the carrots using an industrial food processor.

Shredded bits of carrot will ferment quicker than big chunks.

Scallions can't easily be shredded, so he dices them by hand.

The kitchen staff carves the cabbage into fairly large strips.

Because cabbage is thin, bigger strips will ferment at the same pace as the shredded carrots and diced scallions.

The next ingredient is ginger, a spice that will add flavor and soothe the digestive system.

Another worker transfers the shredded ginger to a porous cotton bag.

She folds the bag a few times to create a packet and then places the packet under a press.

The press squeezes juice from the ginger and extracts the ginger essence while leaving the stringy pulp behind.

The worker weighs the ingredients, beginning with the shredded carrot.

This is the largest ingredient after napa cabbage.

She then measures the portion of scallions that the recipe calls for.

She adds a scoop of celtic sea salt and checks the scale.

Other ingredients include crushed garlic, chili flakes, and the ginger juice.

She stirs the seasonings into the vegetables, and the ginger juice begins to saturate the scallion and carrot pieces.

All the ingredients now come together in this mixer with a big dough hook.

The worker adds the carrot and scallion blend to the napa cabbage in the base of the mixing bowl.

She activates the mixer, and the dough hook folds all the elements together.

Fermentation begins, triggered by the evenly distributed salt.

Workers then transfer the mixture to special fermentation crocks and pack it down.

Two half-circle ceramic weights add pressure to the salted ingredients.

Juices flow and immerse the kimchi vegetables, creating an oxygen-free environment.

The salt suppresses the growth of bad bacteria, allowing the good bacteria to flourish.

Another worker pours water into a moat around the lid, creating a ring of water that acts as a kind of seal, one that will keep air out of the crock but will allow fermentation gases to escape.

One week later, the kimchi is sufficiently fermented.

It is now a living food full of good bacteria.

A worker packs the kimchi into jars and weighs each container to confirm that the amount is correct.

The jars must be completely full with no air space between the kimchi and the lids that could compromise its shelf life.

She labels the jars and shrinkwraps a plastic collar around the lids.

Once refrigerated, kimchi can last for up to 14 months.

Well-preserved, it's practically always ready to be served.

Parquet floors are a mosaic of geometric-shaped pieces of wood that form a repetitive block pattern.

They date back to the palaces and grand homes of 17th century france, where they were welcomed as an easier to maintain yet still decorative alternative to the marble floors of the day.

Traditional parquet floor patterns range from a simple paving-stone style to parquet de versailles, the complex pattern of large diagonal squares that debuted at france's versailles palace in 1864.

To produce it, manufacturers begin with long planks of oak just over an inch thick.

This particular company produces only custom orders and sizes the motif in proportion to the room.

A worker first measures and marks the dimensions of the pattern pieces that will be cut from each plank.

Then, with a circular saw, another worker cuts the required length and width.

This yields several pieces which, together, will form the pattern's crisscrossing rectangles.

A worker now runs each piece through a machine called a molder.

Just one pass does four things.

It thins the piece to just under an inch, squares all the sides, smooths all the surfaces, and it makes a groove on each side.

This next machine removes an equal amount of wood from the top and bottom of one end of the piece to form a centered 1/4-inch thick projection called a tenon.

When assembling the pattern, the workers will ultimately insert tenons into slots in adjoining pieces.

These slots are called mortises.

This machine cuts the mortises.

The floor is an assembly of square panels, each one containing a set number of crisscrossing rectangles and diagonal squares within the frame.

The frame pieces also have tenons and mortises.

The squares, however, are different.

Workers use a router to form a tongue on all four sides.

The tongue fits into the groove on the rectangular pieces.

Once the tongues are in the grooves and the mortises are in the tenons, not a single nail or drop of glue will secure those joints.

They'll be held together the traditional way, with oak pegs.

Each panel assembles like a puzzle.

The 43 components fit together with a few taps of the hammer.

A pencil mark indicates the nicer side of each piece of wood so that it can be placed face up.

The tongues of the squares slide into the grooves of the crisscrossing rectangles, which join by mortise and tenon.

The frame pieces attach to each other and to the perimeter of the interior assembly, also by mortise and tenon.

A worker now transfers the assembled panel to a press which clamps it tightly together.

Next, he drills two holes through each tenon...

And then hammers a wooden peg through each hole to lock the tenon in the mortise.

No one wants their antique-style parquet floor to look brand-new.

So the next step is to lightly sandblast the panel's surface to make the wood look worn with time.

Another worker goes over the panel with an electric sander to soften the surface for the next step, which is to randomly scatter some sand and work it in with the wood block attachment on the sander.

This process creates and antique appearance and worn-in look.

After brushing off the sand, the worker scratches up the surface with a rotating wire brush.

The panel now looks like it could be from a centuries-old french chateau.

The last step is to finish the wood.

First, a coat of stain for color.

Then a coat of oil to protect the wood from moisture.

And finally, a coat of hot wax which gives the surface a rich luster.

These steps also highlight the contrasting grains of the wood due to certain pieces having been cut from the tree horizontally and others vertically.

This intricacy enhances the timeless beautiful of classic parquet flooring.