Fishing Line
Industrial Mixers
Natural Baking Soda
Tow Trucks

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

Early fishing lines were made of vines and braided horsehair.

But today, fishermen rely on braided synthetics to reel in their catch.

With a higher tensile strength than steel, these lines are unlikely to snap when they hook the big one.

This fishing line may be thin, but that doesn't mean it's not strong.

It's made of a synthetic called ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene.

This same synthetic is used in milk jugs, water pipes, and even bulletproof vests.

To make these fishing lines, numerous microfibers are braided into a single, tight cord.

An employee starts by threading fibers through needles.

She pulls the needles through spring-loaded devices.

The devices keep the fibers at an even tension as they unwind onto small bobbins.

These bobbins are designed to fit in the braiding machines.

The machines are called maypole braiders because the spools spin like dancers around a maypole.

As they spin, they weave the strands into a tight braid.

There are 4,500 braiding machines in operation at this factory.

Producing a tight braid is slow work.

It takes about 10 days to braid a 7,500-foot section of fishing line.

Big spools overhead slowly revolve to take up the braided polyethylene line.

At the same time, a worker fills a metal tank with hot water...

And adds yellow dye to it.

A pump at the bottom of the tank keeps the water moving to evenly distribute the dye.

He stirs it a bit while he inspects the mixing job.

They heat and pressurize the dye in a tank filled with fishing line.

The dye penetrates all of the strands for an even dye job.

These fishing lines go through a different process.

They unwind through metal eyelets into a tray of yellow silicone resin.

This proprietary resin makes the line abrasion-resistant.

It will be less likely to break if dragged across a surface like a rock.

Next, the line travels through an oven to cure the resin.

It travels over a series of tensioning rollers as it exits.

Then, the line goes through an abrasive eyelet, which removes external contaminants.

Finally, it's rolled up by a spool.

Now it's over to a test station.

A technician clamps a piece of fishing line in a testing apparatus.

It pulls the fishing line from both ends until it breaks.

A gauge measures the line's breaking point.

It snaps at 118 pounds of pressure, exceeding requirements.

With the test piece of fishing line approved, an automated system now transfers the line to retail-sized spools.

It loads about 450 feet of line onto each one.

A worker applies a label with product details and packages it in a cardboard box.

It takes about 17 days to braid, color, and process a single spool of synthetic fishing line.

Strong but very thin, it can be cast and reeled in with ease.

If the fish take the bait, they may not be able to get away.

The applications for industrial-grade mixers are limitless.

From construction and recycling to food processing and medical supplies, mixers chop, crush, and blend any combination of dry and wet materials into a variety of products or compounds.

This mixer consists of a bin called a u-trough and an agitator.

It's controlled by an interface module with simple start and stop buttons.

The agitator shaft is the main component.

Its arms and paddles turn at a speed of 10 to 50 rotations per minute.

A discharge valve underneath the u-trough controls the unloading of the mixture.

First, a hydraulic 40-ton press roll-forms a carbon steel sheet.

The sheet rolls back and forth under the press until it takes a "u" shape.

An overhead crane brings the sheet over to the end plate for welding.

A worker spot-welds the sheet to the end plate.

Then, he makes a continuous weld on the end plate along the inside and outside of the sheet.

A high-definition plasma cutter burns paddle shapes into a stainless-steel plate.

The extreme heat of the plasma cuts right through the steel, making very precise lines and angles.

Then, the paddles go to a forming press.

The 150-ton press pushes the plate down on a die.

Steel is a formable metal, so it can bend without cracking or breaking.

A slight curvature in the paddles will maximize the lifting and scooping effect of the agitator.

A machinist turns the agitator main shaft.

It takes a very hard and resistant material to machine such a massive steel shaft.

This tungsten carbide insert can resist high temperatures and maintain a sharp cutting edge.

The machinist measures the diameter.

He cuts a groove into the end of the shaft using a stagger-tooth side-mill cutter.

This groove, called a keyseat, is designed to lock the agitator to the mixer's drive gearbox.

Machining of the agitator requires extreme precision.

The shaft must fit into the drive gearbox and match its drive key slot.

A worker assembles arms and paddles to an agitator shaft mounted inside a u-trough.

He bolts the arms onto the shaft.

He tightens the nuts with a pneumatic torque driver and assembles paddles to the arms.

Both the paddles and arms are angled.

Machine slots in the paddles allow clearance adjustment.

Next, a worker rotates the assembled shaft and arms to check the clearance between the paddles and u-trough walls.

A welder creates a solid stainless-steel agitator shaft for a larger mixer.

He welds the base of the arms to the shaft and grinds down the welding profile to obtain a uniform shape.

Welded agitators are often used in food processing because they make cleaning easier.

Now, workers attach an electric motor to the mixer.

They mount the drive assembly on the agitator shaft.

A taper bushing centers the drive gearbox on the shaft.

Fasteners secure the bushing in place, locking the agitator shaft into the drive.

A worker installs a safety grate on top of the mixer and closes the covers.

Then, he installs air-pressure regulators.

These supply air to the main shaft seals.

Air purge seals prevent product loss or contamination.

Air lines connect the pressure regulators to both ends of the main shaft agitator.

The mixer fits on a support frame for easy access to the discharge valve.

It's equipped with clamps, safety latches, and a control panel, which includes an emergency stop button.

Baking soda is a white crystalline powder.

When added to dough, it reacts with the acidic ingredients to form bubbles, giving cakes and cookies a light and fluffy structure.

It's also used in livestock feed, fire extinguishers, and detergents.

Baking soda is also known as sodium bicarbonate.

It can be produced through a chemical process, or it can be mined from the ground.

Large mineral deposits exist in northwest colorado, left behind as lakes evaporated millions of years ago.

Mine operators dissolve the sodium bicarbonate underground using hot brine.

The brine is a mix of the minerals and water left over from prior processing.

They pipe the higher-concentration brine to a processing facility about a mile away.

The brine collects in a holding tank outside and flows through pipes into the facility as needed.

Inside, a technician tests the liquid and confirms that the level of sodium bicarbonate is adequate.

Then, the brine flows through several tanks, where heat exchangers gradually cool it.

This causes the sodium-bicarbonate brine to crystallize, making the granules larger and heavier.

The crystals sink to the bottom of the last tank.

This forms a mixture of brine and crystals.

They pump this mixture into a device called a hydroclone.

The hydroclone spins out the brine through the center.

The crystals gravitate to the sides and sink to the bottom.

This creates a sodium-bicarbonate slurry.

It has a meringue-like consistency.

The slurry is about 40% sodium bicarbonate at this point.

A lot of water has been removed, but there's still work to be done.

As the dewatering continues, the system recaptures spent liquid and pipes it back into the mine to dissolve more minerals.

The slurry goes for another spin, this time in a centrifuge.

It wrings out more water, transforming the slurry into something called wet cake.

Wet cake is 95% sodium bicarbonate.

Next, the wet cake travels to a mixer that blends dry sodium bicarbonate powder into it.

The dry powder brings the moisture content down to 3%.

Next, the wet cake makes a quick trip through this dryer to remove the remaining moisture, leaving pure baking soda.

The baking soda now shakes through three tiers of vibrating screens.

The crystals are sorted by size, producing several different grades.

From brine to powder, it's been quite a journey.

It's time to determine how this naturally mined baking soda measures up.

A technician dissolves some of the baking soda in water.

He adds an acid to neutralize the sodium bicarbonate.

This allows him to measure its purity.

He also places the different grades of baking soda in a screening device.

It vibrates to shake the granules through perforations, verifying that the crystals have been correctly graded by size.

With the lab's approval, this baking soda is ready for the marketplace.

A robotic arm picks up the bag and transfers it to a fill station with a scale below.

The scale signals when there's 55 pounds of baking soda in a bag, prompting the fill nozzle to shut off.

These 55-pound bags will be sold to commercial bakeries and companies that use large amounts of baking soda daily.

It will no doubt rise to the occasion.

When an 18-wheeler has an accident or construction equipment breaks down, you need to call in the big guns to haul it away for repair.

Large tow trucks are equipped with specialized tools to recover and transport massive vehicles.

This tow truck can haul a vehicle as large as a semitruck.

The towing apparatus is called the underlift.

This is one of four outriggers.

These legs stabilize the tow truck when the using the recovery boom.

This extendible boom is equipped with dual-wire ropes and hooks to retrieve a vehicle that's gone off the road.

These hydraulically powered towing and recovery machines are made up of 2,500 parts cut from steel sheets.

The parts are cut by one of two types of computer-guided machines-- a high-pressure water-jet cutter, as we're seeing here, or a laser cutter.

Workers position the parts in an assembly fixture...

Then tack-weld them together.

Tack welding is an initial welding in select spots, just to hold the parts together until a robot does the final welding.

Next, workers sandblast the welded component.

This preps the surface for painting.

They apply one coat of epoxy primer...

Then one coat of polyurethane automotive paint.

The paint dries in about two hours and fully cures in about two days.

Workers hook up all of the hydraulically powered components to this testing machine.

If everything functions properly, workers connect permanent hydraulic lines.

To assemble the recovery boom, they install hydraulic cylinders that will move it up and down, a winch that winds and unwinds the thick wire ropes, and an enormous ring gear that enables the boom to rotate 360 degrees.

Then, they attach the extendible boom.

It's secured with massive steel pins.

Workers also attach he underlift at the back and the four stabilizing outriggers underneath.

This completes the towing and recovery unit.

Now they attach it to a prebuilt truck.

Steel mounting plates are bolted to the truck's frame.

The towing-and-recovery unit is then welded to those plates.

Workers bolt aluminum tool cabinets to the side of the truck's frame.

Inside the cabinet, they make the wiring connections for the emergency lights and other electrical components.

They install the electronic control panel that the driver uses to operate everything.

The control panel monitors oil temperature, hydraulic pressure, and other important indicators.

They also install a set of control handles to give the driver the option of manual operation.

Once everything is hooked up, they perform a quality control inspection.

This factory makes several models, ranging from a light-duty tow truck...

To one like this, designed to haul the heaviest trucks and machinery.


Pharmaceutical Blister Packs
Deli Slicers
Oysters
Weathervanes

While the pill bottle isn't yet passé, we're seeing many medications being sold in blister packs-- those cards on which each pill is lined up in a row and encased in a packaging bubble.

To take your medication, you simply press the blister and push out the pill through the breakable backing.

Blister packaging prevents moisture and air from coming into contact with the medicine.

The package is comprised of two layers-- typically, an aluminum foil sheet called the lidding and a pvc plastic sheet with rows of blisters.

Once the manufacturer designs the packaging format, the engineering department tailor-makes the tools to produce it.

This computer-guided mill creates the die that will form the blisters in the pvc sheet.

They mount the die on a machine called a thermoformer.

As the pvc sheet enters the machine, an oven heats it up, making it soft and malleable.

The die then strikes it, imprinting the pattern of circles.

A split second after the forming station closes, a blast of air forms the circles into raised blisters.

Refrigerated plates then sandwich the sheet, setting the new shape.

The pills arrive at the packaging facility in bulk containers.

Workers sift off any pill dust that may have formed, give the pills a preliminary inspection, then load them into a large hopper.

If they were shipped with any moisture-absorption packets, an employee now removes and discards them.

The hopper feeds the packaging machine.

The blister sheets move through open side up so that the pills fall right in.

Rotating brushes and paddles dispense the pills into the passing cavities, which are designed to fit no more than one pill per blister.

An inspector fills any empty blisters while a sophisticated vision system detects any broken or chipped pills, flagging them to be rejected later.

The blisters enter a seal station, where they're mated with the foil lidding.

One side of the lidding is printed beforehand with product information.

To make the printing plate, technicians mount a blank rubber mat on a cylinder.

As the cylinder revolves, a powerful laser cuts away at the rubber until the information to be printed appears in raised lettering, just like a traditional rubber stamp.

They transfer this rubber plate to the packaging line's printing station, where the rubber plate picks up ink and rolls it onto the lidding.

The ink dries by the time the lidding reaches the sealing station, where lidding and blister sheet meet.

The next station simultaneously applies pressure and heat.

This activates an adhesive on the lidding, heat-sealing the sheets together.

Then, refrigerated plates cool the surfaces to set the adhesive.

Here a die punches the hole through which the blister pack will lock into a childproof case.

Then another die punches the individual blister packs apart.

Vacuum arms transfer the packs to a single-file conveyer belt, dropping any packs which the vision system identified for rejection.

This automated arm sets childproof cases on a track moving in parallel to the conveyer that holds the blister packs.

Then a loading arm slides a blister pack into each plastic case, mating the hole in the pack to the case's internal lock.

Finally, an applicator places an adhesive label, bearing all the required identification and safety information onto each passing case.

Random samples undergo a series of quality-control checks.

In this test for water- and air-tightness, technicians submerge the blister pack in blue dye and apply a vacuum.

Any dye penetrating the pack would indicate a hole in a blister or a flaw in the seal between the plastic and lidding.

Should a particular medication require extra protection, the blister pack can, for example, be made of light-resistant materials or contain an extra moisture barrier.

Invented in holland in 1898, the deli slicer launched a revolution behind the meat counter.

No longer was it necessary to carve meats and cheeses entirely by hand.

With a turn of a crank, the deli slicer produced precise cuts in a jiffy.

The modern deli slicer is powered by electricity, with a manual override for the carriage that delivers food to a spinning blade.

Production begins with a cast aluminum base.

A worker installs a cam mechanism that is part of a system for adjusting the thickness of the slice.

He threads wiring, connected to an on/off indicator light, through holes in the base.

Then he screws an index knob onto the shaft protruding from the cam mechanism installed earlier.

An important warning label comes next.

Then he seals the gap around the blade shaft with silicone and removes the excess with soapy water.

Next up is the wiring for the slicer motor.

She clamps the wires together and bolts the clamps to the inside of the aluminum base.

She inserts the on/off switch and the plastic trim, then attaches a device that will slide to adjust the gap between the gauge plate and the blade, thereby controlling the thickness of the cut.

The deli slicer is ready for the slide rod and carriage sub assembly that will deliver food to the spinning blade.

The carriage will move across a track that she now attaches to the lip of the base.

She tests the carriage assembly to confirm that it's on track.

The next worker secures the blade motor to the wiring with bolts.

He connects the motor to the blade shaft with a drive belt.

Operating the motor allows him to observe the drive belt and pulleys in action, confirming that they operate smoothly.

Once the gauge plate is installed, they move on to making the blade.

Computer-guided cutters slope the steel surface and carve a precise bevel onto the rim.

It goes from a rough blank to a precisely shaped blade in just minutes.

The next worker etches the company logo and production date into the blade metal.

Another lathe pre-sharpens the blade to the point where it could cut through something as fine as several thousandths of an inch.

A worker slides the blade onto the drive shaft and secures it in place with a nut.

He now checks the alignment of the gauge plate in relation to the blade.

He turns the thickness mechanism to close the gap and checks it again.

With a dial indicator, he measures the position of the blade even more precisely.

This tool confirms that the blade is in the exact position for cutting and that it won't lose that position once activated.

This deli slicer comes with its own sharpening system, a grinding wheel in protective casing.

He mounts the grinder and activates it to hone the edge to razor-sharpness.

When the blade cuts through tissue paper cleanly, it's ready for real slicing action.

A worker screws the arm for the sliding tray to the carriage.

He uses a spacer disc to establish the correct distance between the food tray and the blade.

He sets the food tray on the arm and checks the gap between it and the blade.

Once the two are correctly aligned, he removes the spacer and latches the safety guard to the blade.

And now for a test, verifying that the tray doesn't drag or scrape against the blade guard.

Below, they've installed rods to move the carriage on the track.

The system can be manually operated or driven by a second motor.

Finally, a worker cleans the slicing machine until it gleams.

At 135 pounds, this deli slicer is no lightweight, so they use a crane to lower it into the packing box.

Hefty and heavy duty, this deli slicer should have what it takes to cut it at the meat market.

Oysters are a versatile shellfish.

You can bake them, boil them, smoke them, or eat them raw right from the shell.

Over the years, wild oyster stocks have declined due to overfishing and pollution.

So today, 95% of the oysters we consume come from oyster farms.

Oysters are filter feeders, meaning they draw seawater over their gills to trap and eat the phytoplankton-- microscopic aquatic organisms.

An adult oyster can filter more than five quarts of seawater per hour.

Oyster farms are located in or by the sea because the oysters need to feed off seawater to survive.

The hatchery keeps the oysters in upwellers-- mesh-bottom buckets sitting in seawater.

Oysters can reproduce once they're six months old.

However, the ideal breeding age is between two and 10 years.

At breeding time, workers put the oysters into breeding trays, oscillating the temperature between 68° and 86° to stimulate spawning.

The females squirt out eggs, the males squirt out semen, and 16 hours later, the fertilized eggs hatch larvae.

Right from birth, the oysters feed on a blend of the phytoplankton they'd eat in the wild.

The hatchery dilutes this plankton mix in seawater and pumps it to the oyster containers.

Marine biologists manage the ponds in which the hatchery grows its phytoplankton supply.

The larvae are so tiny, you can't see them in the water.

They're visible only under a microscope.

Right from the time they hatch, they already have a shell and can swim.

By about the two-week mark, they've grown to the size of a speck, about 1/64 of an inch long.

However, now they act like miniature adults and stay put.

The hatchery keeps them in suspension in circulating water so they have an ample supply of food and oxygen.

As they grow, they're transferred to progressively larger bottles.

By the time they're four to six weeks old, they're ready to leave the hatchery and move to the oyster farm.

The farm floats in a harbor.

The baby oysters arriving are a tiny fraction of an inch long.

They go into upwellers.

Pipes circulate seawater, and the babies filter-feed on the natural phytoplankton.

Over the next six weeks or so, they quadruple in size to about 2/10 of an inch in length.

Workers then pack them in plastic mesh bags, stack the bags on metal racks, and suspend the racks in the sea.

The oysters live like that for three months, getting transferred into progressively larger mesh bags as they grow.

Halfway into it, the oysters are this big-- about 8/10 of an inch long.

By the end of three months, they're double this size, grown up enough to leave home and venture out into the real world.

Workers lay them on the sea floor and leave them for six months to reach harvest size, which is determined not by length anymore, but by weight--  just under three ounces.

To finally harvest the oysters, they lower a custom-built machine that's part dredger, part conveyer.

It generates jets of water that blow the oysters off the sea bed onto the conveyer.

They travel up out of the water into the boat.

That conveyer dumps the oysters onto another conveyer that leads to the picking station.

There, workers select the correct size oysters and put them into baskets.

Whatever they leave on the conveyer-- smaller oysters, rocks, and such-- continues to the end and drops back into the water.

Of course, the harvesting machine misses some three-ounce oysters.

Those remain on the seabed sometimes for years, growing larger like this guy, weighing about 2.2 pounds.

Prior to sale, the harvested oysters go through a cleaning process called depuration.

For 42 hours, they sit in tanks filled with seawater sterilized by ultraviolet light.

The oysters draw this clean water through their gills.

This flushes out all the bacteria.

Thanks to this depuration process, it's safe to eat raw oysters.

It's taken a good 18 months to grow from microscopic organism to dining delicacy, which has a refrigerated shelf life of about a week.

Long before satellites and doppler radar, people relied on weathervanes for storm tracking-- a folk-art figure balanced on an axis turns with the wind to indicate both its direction and speed.

Though more ornamental than practical, it's still a great way to find out what's in the wind, weather-wise.

As it swings with prevailing winds, a weathervane offers important clues.

Northeast winds, for example, could mean a storm is brewing.

Learn to read the signs, and the weathervane offers up-to-the-minute weather information.

To make a weathervane the old fashioned way, a craftsman starts with a sheet of soft copper.

It can be easily cut, bent, and shaped.

Using electric shears, he slices the copper to the appropriate size.

Then he clamps it to a steel mold of a rooster body and head.

With a rubber mallet, he now carefully pounds the copper into the crevasses of the mold.

This is a critical first shaping of the copper, and he has to hit it with just the right amount of force.

If he's too heavy-handed, he could break or tear the copper.

Too little force, and the shape won't properly transfer to the metal.

With a basic rooster shape now established, he reaches for an air hammer that's equipped with a plastic tip.

It beats the copper into the mold thousands of times per minute.

This transfers finer details, like feathers.

And with its smooth plastic tip, the air hammer inflicts no damage.

It takes less than 20 minutes, and the rooster comes to life in copper.

He unlocks the clamps and removes the molded copper rooster.

He'll make another one just like it for the other side of the weathervane.

This will distribute its weight correctly and make it look good from all angles.

He then pounds copper into the shape of the rooster's tail.

It has generous plumage for just the right balance.

With a band saw, he slices around the molded shapes to remove the excess copper.

This liberates the molded rooster from the matrix.

He now trims the rooster with a set of clippers to give it a cleaner edge.

Using long clippers, he snips copper from inside the beak.

This opens it up.

Once the ragged bits have been trimmed, he's ready to match the two sides of this weathervane rooster.

He secures it in a vise and cleans the seam with a solution called flux.

He tacks it with solder and then checks the evenness of the seam.

When the two molds match perfectly, he solders the entire seam.

This weather rooster is now ready for its tail.

It will give the weathervane a larger surface on one side, offering greater resistance to the wind.

This will cause the front of the weathervane to point into the wind.

He inserts the weathervane axis through the rooster's foot, into the cavity, and it emerges from the back of the neck.

He pounds the top of the shaft flush to the surface and then solders it in place for a permanent installation.

For some extra pizzazz, he slides a decorative copper ball up the turning rod, resting it just below the rooster foot.

He secures it with solder.

He now cuts out the feathered end for an arrow.

It's known as the fletching, and it will help balance the weathervane.

He turns the crank of a press to roll numerous creases into the fletching.

The creases mimic feather lines.

He solders the feathered end to the pointed shaft.

It has a hole for installing it onto the weathervane's turning rod.

As the weathervane spins with the prevailing wind, the arrow will point in its direction.

A waddle below the beak and a comb atop his head, and this rooster is ready to rule the roof.

Exposure to the elements will weather the copper and give it a blue-green patina.

For customers who don't want to wait a few years for this to happen, instant results can be achieved by applying a special acid.

Depending on its complexity, a copper weathervane can take up to two days to build.

With luck, it could last a century or more.

Like the weather, predicting a weathervane's long-term viability is not an exact science.


Amphibious Vehicles
Putters
Model Ships
Drumheads

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

Amphibious vehicles...

Putters...

Model ships...

And drumheads.

A vehicle is amphibious when it travels on land and water.

This one's used mainly by hunters and fishermen, but also by utility companies and the military.

Wide, rugged tires easily trek through mud, snow, and bushes.

When the vehicle's in the water, the tires' deep treads also function as paddles.

This eight-wheel model can carry six people on land and four in the water.

Buoyancy requires a lighter load.

They begin production by welding 8 steel sections together to make the driver's seat, then 12 other parts for the vehicle's main frame.

This frame will later house the seat, a gas tank, the battery, and a storage box.

Next, a worker assembles what's called the axle hub.

A robotic press punches five bolts through the components to fuse them.

This design keeps the hub lightweight and strengthens the axle for driving on rough terrain.

Next, a worker inserts what's called the axle shaft through the hub.

A robotic welding machine then fuses the shaft to one side of the hub.

After he flips it, the machine welds the shaft to the hub's other side.

This company uses a robot for this important step because it's faster and more precise.

Here, a worker reveals some of the vehicle's secrets to functioning in water.

Each axle's bearing has rubber and steel collars called flanges.

They form a waterproof seal over the axle.

The worker greases these flanges to lubricate them and to keep dust and water from infiltrating.

He inserts one of 16 gaskets between the flanges.

They're made of cork to keep moisture out and grease from escaping.

After adding another flange and a gasket, he applies a liquid compound to rustproof the steel shaft.

Here, a computer-guided cutting tool carves teeth on a steel ring to create one of the vehicle's 17 gears.

Lubricant cools the heat this generates so that the machine doesn't overheat and break down.

When the cutting's complete, robotic arms remove the gear and replace it with a new, unshaped ring.

The gears range from about the size of a coin to the size of a dinner plate.

Here's how the shift lever changes the gears from neutral to low to high and into reverse.

And here's how the clutch will transfer power, via a component called the input shaft, into the transmission.

A worker hooks up the transmission to the engine, then he slides two clutches onto the input shaft.

He attaches each one with a bolt and two washers, then connects the engine to the transmission with a rubber drive belt, encircling the clutches.

Two brake calipers connect the brake system to the transmission.

Now he tests the drive belt, clutch system, engine rotations, brakes, and steering.

The wheels don't turn.

The driver steers the vehicle by slowing or braking either set of wheels and skidding to one side.

To make the vehicle's lower body, they take a sheet of polyethylene, a heavy-duty plastic, and heat it in an oven.

After 4 1/2 minutes at 450 degrees fahrenheit, the sheet emerges, softened by the heat.

An aluminum mold drops down, and a vacuum-forming machine stretches the plastic around it, sucking out the air from between the two.

After the plastic cools for 4 1/2 minutes, the machine lifts the mold, leaving a cavity about the size of a large bathtub.

Two workers then move the lower body to an assembly line.

They insert the vehicle's main frame, now painted black.

Then, on the outside, they mount four extensions that will carry the vehicle's two front and two rear axles.

These will enable the axles to withstand greater punishment.

They install eight drive chains onto sprockets on the axle shafts, then two more linking the transmission to the components that propel the vehicle-- what's called the drive system.

A worker then attached an end plate to complete the link.

Workers lower the 26-horsepower engine into the carriage and attach it with three bolts.

Next, the polyethylene upper body, and then the wheels.

They test the drive chains for tension and sprockets for vibrations.

The wheels are twice as wide as most car wheels but 10 times softer, to cushion the ride.

On land, this $16,000 vehicle travels up to 21 miles per hour.

Top speed in the water is only 3 miles an hour.

But, hey, it's easier than swimming.

Golf players in 17th-century scotland were the first to hone their game by using differently shaped clubs for specific tasks.

Today, you use what's called a putter to gently roll the ball into the hole using the fewest number of strokes.

The club's high-tech, streamlined design is crucial to any golfer's putting strategy.

This company uses a robotic tester to spot-check its putters for quality.

The club passes if the balls roll along a straight line into the hole.

That means the putter's striking with just the right impact.

Production begins with bars of aluminum, a metal that's lightweight and easy to sculpt.

A band saw slices them into 4 1/2-inch-long pieces.

Each piece will become a putter head, the part of the club that hits the ball.

A computer-guided cutting tool sculpts the heads by shaving away up to a third of the aluminum.

The machine first mills one side of the head into tiny steps.

Another cutting tool then shapes this area into a smooth curve.

The process takes 10 minutes.

Then the four-sided platform revolves, and the cutter begins working on the next putter head.

Another milling machine carves blocks of copper-nickel alloy into what's called the insert.

This part will fit into a cavity in the putter head, making the area that strikes the ball firm yet resonant.

It's why the golfer feels the impact reverberate through the putter-- what's known as feedback.

This device performs random quality checks of the insert cavities in the putter heads.

A vise holds the head as the probe gauges the cavity's width and depth.

Next, these chunks of copper go into a chemical bath with putter-head models made of different metals.

The material from which a putter head's made determines the weight and feel of the club.

This 10-minute bath removes any contaminants from the surface of the metals and coats the heads in copper.

This ensures that the plating they're going to get will stick.

After that, the heads are plated in a different metal.

This determines how the club looks.

For this, chunks of mat-finished nickel go into a second chemical bath.

They'll provide one of this company's four finishes, ranging from mat to shiny.

During this 15-minute step, a mechanical arm occasionally shifts the rack to disperse the chemicals and thoroughly plate the heads.

To fit the insert, a worker first positions the head in a vise.

He applies four drops of epoxy glue inside the rim of the insert cavity.

This provides additional bonding once they force the inset all the way in.

After placing the insert in the cavity by hand, a worker uses a press to force it inside.

They cover the press with paper so it won't scratch the insert, which must be flush with the surface of the head.

Any air under the insert escapes through a hole underneath, where they'll insert the club shaft.

A worker first applies glue inside the hole, then he inserts the shaft and secures it to a template with rubber bands.

The shaft is made of stainless steel.

They usually come in standard lengths of 33, 34, and 35 inches.

They're set at the angle most players prefer-- 18 degrees.

The next step is to mount a handgrip at the top of the shaft.

First, a worker wraps the top in double-sided tape.

Then he pours water over the tape to dilute the glue on its surface.

This will enable the grip to slide on more easily.

He pours water inside the grip, as well.

The grip is a rubber sleeve that's just under 10 inches long.

Once lubricated, it shimmies over the shaft for a snug fit that lasts up to three years.

He lines up the flat part of the grip at a 90-degree angle with the flat part of the putter head.

This helps the player strike the ball properly.

Next, a worker colors the club's engraved logo.

Using a tiny nozzle, she applies minute amounts of epoxy paint inside the groves of the design.

She controls the amount of paint with a foot pedal that released pressurized air into the nozzle.

This company makes putter heads in some fairly luxurious materials, including beryllium copper.

That's one for players wanting a club with a softer feel and who don't mind paying up to $500 to get it.

Model ships are made for naval gazing.

They're representations of real ships.

Some are built meticulously to scale with extreme attention to detail and are truly museum pieces.

You can buy model ships preassembled or in kits.

But be careful.

These are truly delicate works of art.

The portlandsteamer sank in the atlantic in 1898, all lives lost.

But its image survives in models.

To make a model like the portland, the worker selects some wooden pieces from a stock room.

Model ships are actually made of thousands of parts, big and small.

These are just a few, and some are to be cut down.

A computer guides a laser beam as it carves the larger, flat pieces of wood into many parts.

They'll be components for the ship's deckhouse.

Next, a worker shapes a hull, or main body, using a machine called a duplicating carver.

Holding the machine's stylus on the left, he traces around a master shape.

This motion guides two routers on the right as they chisel into basswood, making exact copies of the master hull.

To make resin parts, they mix polyurethane with some plasticizer and pour it into a mold.

A chemical reaction causes it to harden.

This take up to a half-hour, and then they pull a newly shaped lifeboat out of the mold.

Next, a worker cleans up another mold.

It's to be used to shape cast-metal anchors.

He places the mold in a centrifuge and pours a melted mix of tin, antimony, and copper into it.

The centrifuge spins, and this causes the metal to fill the cavities in the mold and solidify.

He opens the mold and finds the anchors formed like spokes around the hub.

It's anchors away as he snips them free.

Now a worker sands smooth the bottom of the hull.

Then he positions the first of the ship's five decks.

He glues wooden spacers between the decks.

A special glue that dries in about 10 seconds allows him to work quickly as he builds the tiers.

Next, he submerges a deckhouse sidepiece in water to soften the wood.

He cuts the little tabs to free other deckhouse parts from a matrix.

After that, he carves out the center of two of the pieces.

Then he glues a block between them and applies more glue to the edges.

He bends the deckhouse side, which is now wet and supple, around the structure.

The moisture causes a chemical reaction in the glue which strengthens it.

After he positions the deckhouse starboard side, he sticks a strip of clear acetate to the back of a band of windows.

The acetate simulates glass.

He paints the front of the windowed wall white and then turns it around to paint red curtains on the acetate.

Other detailing has been laser-etched into the wood.

He glues the wall of windows between deck tiers, and the look is authentic.

He positions paddle wheels on each side.

These have 57 wood paddles held in place by brass radials.

Remember the anchors cast in the centrifuge mold earlier?

He now positions some on the ship deck.

Then he prepares the lifeboats.

The larger plastic one goes on the upper deck.

This golden eagle is the finishing touch.

Here, another worker rigs up a four-masted schooner.

Using surgical clamps, he pins the ropes down so they don't get in the way.

Then he measures a piece of decking to make the top of the deckhouse.

He glues it to a base...

And then positions it on the ship.

Next, a jeweler's lathe spins a piece of brass as a worker manipulates a cutter, milling parts for the ship's bell.

Once it's mounted, this ship model is ready for everyone to admire.

A drum's playing surface is called the drumhead.

It's the part of the instrument that vibrates, creating sound.

Some drumheads are still made the traditional way, from animal skin.

But a natural skin is very susceptible to temperature and humidity changes, so most drummers today prefer heads made of modern, synthetic materials.

The drumhead surface is often called the skin because, traditionally, it was made of calfskin.

This synthetic skin is a flexible plastic film called polyethylene terephthalate, the same polyester-based plastic they use to make soft-drink bottles.

Workers load several sheets of it into a press that applies 75 tons of force onto sharp, circle-shaped dies, pushing them upward through the film sheets.

The die-cut film circles become the skins.

A skin could be made up of just one film circle or several taped together.

Workers assemble the layers using a vacuum turntable.

The suction keeps the bottom film steady while they apply tape to its outside edge and then adhere another film on top.

Each layer is called a ply.

The more plies a skin has, the more bass frequencies it'll produce.

Now the skins go onto a computer-guided drill press.

The machine drills tiny holes all along their perimeter, about 1/8 of an inch in.

The holes are roughly the size of a nailhead.

They're spaced about 1/4 inch apart.

The next machine heats the edge of each film to soften it, then applies pressure to mold it to shape.

The skin comes out with a fluted edge, like what you see on a paper cup.

This shape keeps the tension even when the musician tightens the skin to tune the drum.

Meanwhile, this roll-forming machine uses a series of pressure rollers to gradually shape an aluminum strip into a hoop.

The hoop will hold the skin tightly over the drum's body, called the drum shell, creating the tension you need to produce sound.

This machine also imprints tiny dimples onto one side of the strip.

When the factory later glues together the skin and hoop, this rough texture will improve the bond.

Now the machine folds the edges of the strip inward to create a channel on the inside of the hoop.

That's where the glue will go.

Once the machine finishes forming the hoop, a small, built-in circular saw cuts the end.

A worker then loads each hoop onto a rotation soldering jig, positioning the ends together.

The rest is all automated.

A glob of silver solder on the joint...

Then natural-gas torches fuse the hoop closed.

After water cools off the hot metal...

The jig ejects the finished hoop.

Drumhead hoops can be as small as 6 inches or as large as 40 inches in diameter.

Finally, it's time to fit the skin into the hoop.

This is the tricky part, because the film must be perfectly level and centered.

Otherwise, when you tighten the skin to tune the drum, the short side would tighten before the rest, and that uneven tension would throw the tuning off.

So they do this critical assembly step on a specially designed table, placing the skins on circular vacuum fixtures that are perfectly level.

As suction holds each one steady, a robotic arm runs glue in the hoop's channel all the way around.

The glue drains downward through the tiny holes along the skin's perimeter, then dries, anchoring the skin securely in the hoop.

Some drumheads go on to get a textured coating.

By adding weight, the coating muffles the higher sound frequencies, enhancing the lower ones.

This produces a warmer, deeper tone.

It also produces that swooshing sound when jazz drummers play softly with brushes.

Once the coating dries, a pad-printing machine stamps on the company name.

Only about 30% of drumheads on the market are coated.

The rest are what's known as clear heads.

And that's how drumheads are made.


Wood Windows
Woven Cashmere Fabric
Plastic Recycling Machines
Architectural Glass

When it comes to windows, there's a variety of materials to choose from.

Wood windows are typically the most expensive option, but they are also the most versatile.

They can be constructed in any style, stained any shade, or painted any color.

Wooden windows can be custom made to match the home's existing windows.

This style is called a traditional double hung.

Its upper and lower sections open independently of each other.

Manufacturers make windows from a variety of woods.

This company uses mahogany, a premium rot-resistant hardwood.

This computer-guided saw cuts pieces of wood to the required length.

The next machine, called the jointer, squares the edges and smoothes the surfaces.

Now, they mill each piece to the final shape.

A vacuum holds it steady while a computer-guided router works at it from all angles.

The router uses up to 33 different tools from its on-board magazine.

This piece will be part of a curved window.

One tool cuts the basic shape, another tool profiles, and the other bores holes for the dowels.

Twelve different tools later, this is the final shape.

An assembler pours glue in the holes...

Then inserts wood dowels.

Their unique shape allows the glue to surround the dowel, maximizing adhesion.

Using the dowels as a guide, he connects the two vertical pieces of the window, the rails, with the horizontal pieces, the stiles.

This forms the window's sash.

He clamps the sash in a hydraulic press.

It's calibrated to join the parts together with just the right amount of pressure.

He dries the glue with a radio-frequency heating device.

They return the piece to the computer-guided router for the final milling.

This sideways saw cuts a slot down each side for weather stripping.

For double hung windows, another tool cuts openings along the edge.

These openings will hold weighted cords that counterbalance the sash.

Then, they put the finished sash through a sanding machine.

The machine removes tool marks and preps the surface for a paint primer.

They install the muntins, short pieces inside the sash that form decorative squares.

First, the horizontal muntins, then the vertical ones.

Each square will contain its own pane of glass.

They sand the muntins by hand to smooth the surface for finishing.

Then, the sash is sprayed with a water-based primer.

Once the primer dries, the sash goes to the glazing department.

This is where they cut the glass panes to size.

Windows can have single, double, or triple panes, separated by an aluminum spacer bar.

This is a single-pane window.

The glazer applies a bead of caulk to the inner ledge of the sash...

Then sets the glass on it.

He secures the glass in place by one of two methods-- either by driving in tiny, flat nails called glazing points, or by caulking the perimeter and applying small moldings called glazing beads.

The glazing beads are fastened to the sash with small nails.

Once the glass is secure, the worker removes the excess caulk, cleans the glass, and inspects it for any marks or scratches.

The final step is to install the hardware.

It varies by window style.

A double-hung window has a bar lift on the bottom and a latch that locks together the two sashes.

You release the latch to open either one.

Once the sashes are installed, they can be painted to match any home's exterior.

The art of weaving has been around since the stone age.

Traditional weavers use techniques and designs that reflect their cultural origins.

Today's fashion industry has built on this tradition to produce fine wool garments.

Designers keep a record of the fabrics they have created over the years.

They pin samples in books based on quality, colors, and patterns for their customers to choose from.

This is what cashmere goat hair looks like when it arrives at the wool mill.

Short fibers, called flocks, go through a carding machine.

This machine opens up the fibers and mixes colors together.

The carding process removes impurities and reduces the fibers to a flat layer.

The machine combs and twists the layer of fiber in preparation for spinning.

The spinner separates the layer into threads and winds each one on bobbins of over 40 pounds.

An operator loads yarn into a dyeing machine.

The entire fiber-drying process takes about two hours for a reel this size.

Uncarded locks of hair called wool tops are used to make worsted yarn.

A worker feeds the ribbon-like thread into a blending machine.

The blending process merges twelve threads into one large strip.

The machine re-combs and twists the blended fibers, then spins them into a single strand.

The coning machine winds the single thread around a cone by pulling it through a tensioning device with a series of spindles underneath.

This machine can comb 20 pounds of wool in about one hour.

Another spinning machine slowly unwinds worsted-wool bobbins.

It accelerates as the threads run through a tensioning device and onto spindles.

Even though the machine processes dozens of bobbins simultaneously, this process will last several hours.

The set of threads that will make up the woven cloth is called the warp.

Hundreds of parallel threads wind up on this roll, called the warping machine.

These rolls can stretch several miles long.

The warp is now ready for weaving.

This shuttle loom holds the warp under tension while it interweaves the over and under threads using two sets of weaving needles.

This moving part, the beater, keeps the fabric under tension as it comes out of the loom and onto the cloth beam.

This rapier loom can weave fabrics four or five times faster than an automatic shuttle loom, and about 200 times faster than a hand-operated loom.

The completed fabric goes to quality control.

A worker performs a visual check, looking for any defects in the fabric.

If she finds a broken thread, she repairs it by hand.

Using a sewing needle, she replaces the broken thread with a new one.

Once the fabric passes quality control, it goes through a two-hour cleaning process.

Then, the cloth rolls through a steaming machine before accumulating at the end of the production line.

The finishing process for a woven cloth can take up to a week.

Designers study the fabrics and choose arrangements to make a collection.

They mark selected patterns with codes and cut out samples.

Then they make a sample booklet of their fabrics for customers to choose from.

The fabric collection changes twice a year, providing a wide variety of styles suited to the season.

Plastic is a convenient form of packaging, but can be harmful to the environment.

Most plastics don't decompose, so they litter the landscape forever.

Machines called granulators can help ease this pollution problem.

They grind the plastic waste into tiny chips that can then be recycled.

Granulators greatly reduce the amount of waste we humans produce.

Instead of throwing plastics like these milk crates away, they can be tossed in a granulator.

They chop the waste into little pieces, which can be used to make new plastic containers.

Making a granulator starts with star-shaped rotors that will hold and rotate the blades of the granulator.

A worker machines the center hole of the rotor so that it will fit a steel shaft.

Employees slide the shaft through the center of the rotor.

Multiple rotors are machined and installed on the steel shaft.

The rotors are spaced evenly apart.

A member of the team welds the rotors to the shaft.

These welds will stop the rotors from sliding out of position during grinding.

Next, steel blades are exposed to intense heat for 12 hours.

Once they're red hot, an employee plunges them into cooling oil.

This removes stresses and strengthens the metal.

Next, a grinding wheel refines the shape of the blade so it will fit nicely to the rotors.

It also hones the cutting edge until it's extremely sharp.

They transfer the rotor-and-shaft assembly to a metal cradle.

This rotor system is smaller than the one assembled earlier.

It also has triangular rotors designed to chop up plastic jugs.

A worker screws six blades to the rotors.

He then attaches four blades to the casing, placing them at different angles than the rotating blades.

Together, these blades will chop plastic very effectively.

But, the gap between the blades needs to be fine-tuned.

A worker adjusts the gap to the optimal width.

Now, it's over to the granulator's lower casing.

A rotating blade shaves the edges to specification.

The next worker spray paints the outer-casing parts.

This protects the steel from rust.

After the paint dries, they install the blade system in the outer casing and add a wire-mesh screen.

The screen acts as a sifter, allowing only plastic small enough for recycling to travel through the holes.

Now, the upper housing is lowered onto the blade unit.

A long hinge is added into the holes so the plastic granulator can be opened for maintenance.

They give the blade system a test spin, and it turns freely.

Another employee assembles a hopper for the granulator.

He drapes a steel curtain over the opening to keep in any flying plastic chips.

Using a crane, the team lowers the hopper onto the granulator.

They confirm that the two components are correctly aligned, and bolt them together.

Next, a 50 horsepower motor is installed below the blade shaft.

Then, they loop a pulley from a flywheel on the blade shaft to the motor.

Now, the workers cover the pulley system and motor with the steel housing.

Then, a drawer is installed to collect the plastic chips as they fall.

They're now ready to power up the granulator.

Every machine is tested before it leaves the factory to confirm that it's fully functional.

This plastic granulator is now ready to take on the growing problem of plastic waste.

Glass lends a sparkle to any interior.

From a bathroom sink to a staircase, architectural glass is both functional and artistic.

The glass can be either handmade or mechanically formed.

It's called architectural glass because an architect usually designs its aesthetic features and the objects the glass will be paired with.

This company fuses multiple sheets of glass, each about a quarter of an inch thick, to create a finished product of any thickness.

For example, this soon-to-be kitchen countertop uses 5 sheets of standard glass.

Grabbing one at a time with handled suction cups, they gently place it on a pneumatically operated cutting table.

They measure and cut the correct size using a square angle with a diamond tip blade.

Diamonds are the only material that can cut glass.

This kiln is a specialized oven for baking glass.

A craftsman sprinkles white powder onto the base of the kiln.

The powder will leave a texture in the sheet of glass.

Next, he sprinkles ground-up, colored glass across the glass sheet to give the kitchen countertop a unique color scheme.

They sandwich the glass with another sheet of glass, repeating this coloring process with each of the remaining layers.

Once the last sheet of glass is put in place, they clean the top surface.

Now, it's time to close the kiln and bake the glass.

Inside the kiln, the five layers fuse into one unit.

At another kiln, a stack of glass has been fused together and is ready for the next step.

Workers open the kiln and carefully transfer the newly formed glass countertop onto a rolling cart.

They take the counter to the polishing machine.

With stones and water, the machine grinds down the edges until the layering is no longer visible.

The finished glass countertop is strong enough to span over nine feet without structural support.

And because of the heating-and-cooling process, the glass is now scratch-proof and chip-resistant.

You can even chop food directly on the surface.

At a different kiln, they're making a sink.

First, they use a textured glass stamp to press a pattern in the powder.

Then, they place three layers of glass over the pattern, carefully aligning the edges.

After baking, the three layers are fused into one thick circle of glass.

The bottom of the glass has taken on the pattern of the powder, leaving a unique look.

This will be the outside surface of the sink.

They place the glass over a sink-shaped mold in a different type of kiln.

Over several hours, the glass melts into the sink-shaped mold.

Once the glass cools, they extract what is now a sink.

They carefully measure and mark where the drain hole goes, then they drill the hole with a diamond bit.

This generates a lot of heat, so they must continuously cool the bit with cold water.

Otherwise, the tool could overheat and jam.

The glass sink is finished.

They use the same technique to produce glass sinks in various colors and shapes.

Sometimes, these sinks are even integrated with glass countertops.

Countless other interior-design components can be made from architectural glass.


Graphene
World's Smallest Car
Force Testers
Composite Cans

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

In 2004, british scientists extracted a substance called graphene from graphite, which is the material used to make pencils.

They won the nobel prize for this discovery and left their mark on physics history.

Scientists continue to explore graphene's extraordinary potential.

These silicon chips are dyed with thin flecks of carbon, known as graphene.

Just one atom thick and transparent, graphene can sniff out chemicals in the air and disease enzymes in blood.

This lab manufactures graphene using a process known as chemical vapor deposition.

A technician loads a capsule containing a copper foil sheet into a furnace.

He screws a cap on the end of the capsule and shuts the furnace.

He activates a system that uses argon gas to drive out oxygen.

When the furnace reaches about 1,800 degrees fahrenheit, methane gas and hydrogen are added.

A reaction occurs that deposits graphene onto the foil.

Graphene can't be seen with the naked eye.

A technician applies tiny gold contacts to a silicon wafer and then submerges it in solvent to rinse off the excess gold.

The remaining gold bits serve as electrical contacts.

A dip in acetone cleans off more of the loose flakes, and a final rinse in alcohol removes the rest.

Using a diamond-tip scribe, he scores the silicon wafer and breaks it along the score lines, creating rectangular chips.

Another technician deposits liquid plastic onto the transparent graphene on the copper foil.

He locks the foil in a machine called a spin coater.

It spins at 3,000 r.p.m. this spreads the plastic evenly across the graphene film on the foil.

It also accelerates the plastic's curing process.

He then separates the plastic-coated graphene from the copper foil.

To do this, he clips a wire to set of tweezers.

Using the tweezers, he picks up a small piece of the plastic, graphene, and copper sandwich and plunges it in the water.

The tweezers apply an electrical charge through the copper, causing bubbles to form in the water.

These bubbles lift the graphene and plastic film away from the copper.

The graphene now clings only to the plastic backing.

He scoops the plastic-backed graphene square out of the water using a large piece of plastic.

To remove contaminants, he immerses the square in a series of solutions.

In the last solution, he slides the square off the carrier.

And the square floats freely.

He picks up the silicon chip with tweezers and uses it to retrieve the floating graphene and plastic square.

It now sits on the silicon chip.

After taping metal stencils over three of the graphene-covered chips, he suspends them above gold pellets in a machine known as the evaporator.

He closes the evaporator, then turns up the heat.

A vacuum pulls the gold toward the stencils as it evaporates.

The gold and exposed graphene adhere to one another as they cool and solidify.

The technician removes the stencils from the chips, revealing gold horizontal runners between the gold contacts.

He transfers the chip to a plasma etcher.

He activates the chip, and plasma gas floods the chamber.

The gas strips off any graphene that's not protected by gold.

Only the gold contacts and gold-covered graphene runners remain on the chip.

Solvent dissolves the plastic backing on the graphene runners, taking the protective gold with it, leaving only graphene.

The technician now has a graphene sensor chip.

It's time to test its sensory powers using antibodies for a certain disease protein.

The antibodies attach to the surface of the graphene.

She tests the signal from the chip to confirm that it reads the protein correctly.

This graphene chip is ready to act as a high-tech sixth sense.

The world's smallest car has held the guinness book of world records title for more than 50 years.

Designed and manufactured in the u.k., it's about 6 feet long and 3 feet wide.

It fits one driver but no passengers.

Intended as a commuter vehicle, the world's smallest car travels up to 40 miles per hour.

Technicians craft the body in molds section by section.

First, they spread an epoxy resin in the customer's color choice.

Once the resin cures, they lay a sheet of fiberglass matting and impregnate it with resin.

This bonds the matting to the gelcoat layer.

Narrower strips of matting are applied around the perimeter.

Certain areas are reinforced with a more porous fiberglass matting to absorb more resin.

Finally, a second layer of fiberglass matting and resin is set over the entire mold.

The molds cure for a day.

When they're ready, the body sections are extracted from their molds.

This is the main section.

The gelcoat forms a smooth and shiny finish on the sturdy fiberglass underneath.

Using a saw equipped with a small blade, technicians smooth the edges of the fiberglass.

Elsewhere in the factory, technicians weld together the car's lightweight aluminum gas tank.

It holds 1 gallon of gas.

They drill a hole through it...

Then weld on the filler tube and screw on the cap.

The car runs on three wheels-- two at the front and one driven by the engine at the back.

Technicians assemble the wheel hubs, then mount them onto the triangular suspension of the axle.

They flip over the steel chassis and install the disc brakes on each wheel.

On the rear wheel, they mount a sprocket, which allows the engine to drive a chain that rotates the wheel.

They connect the shock absorber on the rear wheel to a mount underneath the body and install hydraulic brake lines and brake calipers on all three wheels.

They bolt the wheels and tires onto the wheel hubs.

Each tire is about 6 inches in diameter.

After installing the one-cylinder engine in the middle of the body, technicians bolt on the chassis.

They connect the shock absorber on the rear wheel to a mount underneath the body.

They install all the electrical components, such as the headlight, the brake lights, the turn signals and the wiper.

The car can be ordered with an electric engine, in which case they install four 12-volt rechargeable batteries.

The car has a rack-and-pinion steering system.

The steering column is attached to a circular gear, called a pinion.

When the driver turns the steering wheel in one direction, the pinion moves in that direction along the rack.

The rack is a track with teeth, connected by rods to the front wheels.

It moves and turns the wheels, steering the car.

The vehicle is mechanically complete.

Now, they install the windshield and windows, sealing the aluminum frames with silicone.

Inside, they mount the steering wheel and the dashboard, which houses the speedometer, turn signal light, and high beams.

They hang the door, which has been fitted with chromed hinges and a handle.

The style is consistent with the 1960s design of the car.

They finish the job with the installation of a vinyl driver seat, gas tank, and windshield washer fluid reservoir.

The world's smallest car is ready to hit the road and make a big impression.

Force testers pull and compress products to their breaking point.

They're used in labs and factories to evaluate a product's quality.

A force tester verifies that an object meets the manufacturer's required specifications.

Force testers are built to pull and compress.

Here, a tester arm bears down on a pencil.

It determines how much force can be applied before the pencil bends or breaks.

Measurements are displayed on a screen.

In the 1930s, basic force gauges were attached to cranes to measure a product's strength.

Today's force testers are high-tech.

They have digital displays and computerized controls.

An assembler starts by screwing brackets into a steel base for the main computer board.

The computer board comes next.

He uses nuts, called standoffs, to raise it above the steel plate.

This creates an air space between the two, preventing electrical shorting.

Throughout the assembly, the technician wears an electrostatic discharge band on his wrist.

This arrests static electricity to prevent damage to the parts.

He screws the motor drive board to the force tester base and moves on to the next batch of parts.

They include the power supply board, a mechanism to turn the unit on, and an emergency stop assembly.

He routes the wires for the power switches and installs the push buttons.

He connects a ribbon cable to the main circuit board.

Then, he attaches the other end of the cable to the motor drive board.

This allows them to communicate.

Finally, he completes the power supply connections.

Another member of the team assembles a vertical support rail to an aluminum base.

This rail is the backbone of the tester.

It supports the force arm and the track it moves on.

He attaches the track to the support rail.

Using an alignment tool, he slides the shuttle into the grooves of the track, then confirms it moves freely.

He's ready to mount the force arm to the shuttle.

A long, threaded rod, known as a lead screw, is fastened to the force arm.

The lead screw rotates, allowing the force arm to move up and down.

He lowers an aluminum cover over the force arm assembly and secures it to the base.

One side of the casing is open.

He'll install an accordion-style rubber curtain to it later.

Next, he threads a rubber belt around a pulley, which is attached to the end of the lead screw.

He installs the motor and wraps the other end of the rubber belt around the motor pulley.

The motor drive assembly turns the lead screw to move the force arm.

The base is now mounted with the electronics to the force tester frame.

After connecting switches that limit the force arm's range of movement, he installs an encoder on the motor to provide feedback on speed and power.

The electronics are covered with a tough plastic casing.

Next up is a slotted table.

He clips a computer tablet to the tester.

An adjustable bracket is attached, which is used for changing the screen's position as desired.

A force tester doesn't just bear down on things.

It also pulls things apart.

A technician conducts a pull test on a piece of nylon cord.

He activates the force arm.

The force arm pulls the cord as it grips the base.

The tester measures the peak force required to pull the cord apart.

The results are displayed instantly on the control screen.

There are different force testers for different applications.

But the purpose is always the same-- pull and compress objects in order to test their limits.

One of the ways a manufacturer can package a product is in a composite can.

It's a cylindrical container made of cardboard with a moisture barrier lining.

Composite cans are less expensive to produce than glass or metal containers.

And they're recyclable.

Many products are packaged in composite cans, everything from automotive grease to parmesan cheese.

The cans are cardboard with an interior lining that prevents it from absorbing moisture.

The top can be a sifter, a pull-tab cap, a ring and plug, or peel-off foil.

To make composite cans, they begin winding a strip of thin paper over a long steel rod, called a mandrel.

The machine applies glue to the top of the strip.

Simultaneously, two strips of cardboard wind off rolls and pass over a glue applicator, which coats their underside with adhesive.

Then these overlapping twin strips wind around the coated paper-wrapped mandrel.

The adhesive binds the layers, producing a two-ply cardboard tube with an interior moistureproof lining.

The machine pushes the tube off the mandrel to an automated circular saw.

The saw cuts the tube into shorter pieces.

They fall into a bin, which feeds the labeling machine.

Suction cups pick up the sheet of labels and run it over a glue roller.

It applies adhesive to the back side.

A vacuum carpet carries the label onto another set of mandrels.

The machine slips the tube onto the mandrel, then wraps the label around the tube.

Next, knives cut the spinning tube into seven cans.

The can-making line has been slowed by our camera.

At the regular output speed of 250 cans per minute, all you'd see is a blur.

A pusher moves the cans toward a device called an upender, which stands each can upright.

The cans then spin through a gluer, which applies a bead of adhesive along the top rim.

Meanwhile, another station lines up the closures in single file.

These cans are for parmesan cheese, so the tops are plastic sifters.

They go one by one onto a carousel.

The tops align with cans on another carousel with perfect timing.

A plunger pushes the top about a 1/2 inch into the glued rim of the can.

As the cans exit the machine, a conveyer turns them upside down.

The cans reach the end of the line, where workers stack them on shipping pallets.

The parmesan cheese producer will receive them like this-- open end up, ready for filling.

To make the metal bottom for the can, a punch press stamps circles out of a strip of tin that's been coated with a food-safe lacquer.

The gold-colored coating prevents the tin from rusting when it comes into contact with the moisture in the cheese.

The next machine uses forming rollers to shape the rim that will grip the can.

This production line is making composite cans for grease cartridges.

Mechanics use them in a device similar to a caulking gun.

For this product, the cardboard tube has a plastic-coated liner.

The liner is heat-sealed to the cardboard to prevent grease from leaking out.

The closure is a rigid aluminum top that you remove with a pull tab.

This machine, called a seamer, crimps the metal edge tightly around the can's rim.

As the cans exit the machine, a computer takes measurements of each top.

If it doesn't meet specifications, the machine ejects the can from the line.

The cans that pass inspection continue on to the packaging area, where an employee does one last visual inspection before shipping to the grease manufacturer.

Once a composite can is empty, the cardboard can be separated from the metal and tossed into a recycling bin.


Potash
Leather Bracelets
Wild Rice
Hex Key L Wrenches

Today on "how it's made": potash, leather bracelets, wild rice and hex key l-wrenches.

Potash is used primarily as an agricultural fertilizer.

It's extracted from underground by either conventional mining or by injecting hot brine into the formation to dissolve potash in salt crystals.

It then pumps the solution back up and separates out the potash in settling ponds.

Potash is potassium chloride, the chemical compound kcl.

It can be processed into a granular agricultural fertilizer or into a higher grade product for industrial use.

At this canadian potash mine, the deposit lies just over a half a mile underground.

The ore is comprised of three materials: kcl, clay and sodium chloride, the chemical compound nacl, better known as table salt.

The big machine manufacturers use to cut the face of the rock is called a continuous miner.

It has two rotors, each with three arms.

Each arm has six pairs of bits with carbide tips that grind the face of the rock, flaking off the ore.

The rotor arms sweep the ore into the machine, which feeds it off the back onto bridge conveyors, a series of conveyor belts that lead to a main conveyor belt.

Miners fasten sheets of polymer to the rock above to erect walls which direct the flow of fresh air that's pumped down into the mine for ventilation.

The bridge conveyors transfer the ore to a main conveyor.

At this particular potash mine, up to 10 machines work simultaneously at different locations.

All those main conveyors, nearly 22 miles of moving belts, converge at the skip, a gigantic elevator bucket which hoists up to 49 tons of ore at a time to the surface and dumps it into a storage bin.

A conveyor transfers the ore to the mill for processing.

First the ore tumbles down a series of vibrating screens.

Smaller particles drop through the openings and move on to the next station while larger particles stay on top where they are whisked off with the flow of brine into a crusher.

The finer particles flow to the fine flotation tank while the larger ones sink to the bottom, drain out, then travel to the course flotation tank.

The particles are treated with chemicals.

Over the course of five minutes in flotation, the chemical treatment makes the kcl particles attach to air bubbles and rise to the surface.

In the course flotation tank paddles skim the surface, pushing the floating kcl into a collector.

The clay and nacl particles drain out the other end.

Similarly in the fine flotation unit, the kcl particles attach to air bubbles and rise to the top where they overflow into a collector.

The collected potash then goes through a centrifuge and a dryer to remove all the moisture.

The dryer feeds this vibrating screening machine, which separates the kcl particles into three categories.

Oversized particles go back to the crusher.

Undersized particles go to machines which compact them into boards then break the boards into new particles which then go back to the vibrating machine for another round of screening.

The final product size particles go directly to the shipping warehouse.

This granular potash is the type used as agricultural fertilizer.

It's kcl concentration is 95 percent because there's some residual clay and nacl.

Technicians regularly test product samples to verify the kcl content.

They grind each sample into a find powder and compress it inside a stainless steel cap to form a pellet.

Then the workers load the pellet into an x-ray fluorescence analyzer.

The pelletized sample absorbs that energy then releases energy as fluorescent radiation.

The analyzer measures the fluorescent radiation to determine the sample's concentration of kcl.

The mill also processes potash for industrial use.

This higher grade potash with a kcl concentration of 99 percent is a white powder manufacturers make it by dissolving the 95 percent kcl granular potash in hot brine to remove more of the residual nacl and clay.

Then workers crystallize the potash by evaporation and cooling.

The result, potash that's almost pure kcl.

Handcrafted leather bracelets are an unconventional jewelry choice.

Traditional bracelets are chains or bangles made of metal or stones.

But these fit like a cuff and are eclectic in design.

Each one is an original.

So the wearer can express individuality.

Handcrafted leather bracelets are substantial pieces designed to draw attention to the wrist.

They can also complement an outfit in a big way.

Making one starts with a strip of stainless steel that will serve as the bracelet's base.

The artisan bends it by hand into a round shape.

Using pliers she closes the gap a little more.

This bracelet is meant to be large, so the loose fit seems right.

She sorts through a collection of leather pieces and ideas for the design begin to take shape.

She selects a piece to cover the inside of the bracelet.

She draws an outline of the bracelet on paper to create a pattern and she cuts it out.

She sticks the pattern to the leather.

Using a utility knife, she follows the pattern to cut the shape in leather.

The edge of a triangular ruler serves as a guide for a straight cut.

She peels the cut leather away from the paper pattern and applies a textile adhesive to the back of the leather.

She curls the leather and inserts it, glued side down, into the steel bracelet form.

She applies pressure for a strong adhesion.

For the bracelet's outer materials there are many colorful options, from dyed exotic leathers to luminous semi-precious stones.

She sorts through the different leathers and stones, looking for inspiration.

She selects a quartz stone and a piece of fish scale leather.

Once tanned, fish skins can be surprisingly tough.

She cuts the fish leather to size using a paper template of the front of the steel bracelet base.

She wraps it around the bracelet band to check the fit.

She applies glue to the back of the quartz and then positions the stone in the center of the leather.

The glue tacks it in place while she now stitches a beaded surround to permanently secure the stone to the leather.

She selects special beading needles for this.

The heads of these needles are tiny enough to pass through the mini beads.

She'll use beading cord made of a tough polyethylene to string and stitch the beads.

For the first three rows she uses silver beads that are two millimeters in diameter.

She pulls the beading snug to the quartz stone as she stitches the beads to the fish leather.

In addition to securing the stone, the beaded surround also serves as an embellishment to it's beauty.

She completes the three rows of silver beads and switches to glass beads.

At 1.7 millimeters diameter, they're a little smaller and trickier to work with.

She pulls the thread through the eyelets of the beads a total of for times to form a tight pouch around the perimeter of the stone.

She now applies strong glue to the steel exterior of the bracelet base.

And it's time for the next decorative elements, black lace.

She glues the lace to the base so that the flowery border overhangs.

She now spreads glue onto the back of the fish leather.

She wraps the leather around the lace-covered base and presses it firmly to it.

She then stitches silver beads around the edges to join the leathers and encase the steel base.

The beaded stitching matches the quartz stone surround for another decorative touch.

This handcrafted leather bracelet is now complete and ready to add something completely different to someone's jewelry collection.

Wild rice is the grain harvested from four species of aquatic grasses that grow in many freshwater lakes in northern united states and canada.

Historically, indigenous people harvested this plentiful and nutritious food which they considered to be a sacred gift.

Wild rice was a vital food source for thousands of years.

It also became a valuable commodity, which indigenous people exchanged with fur traders who traveled the territory by canoe and needed portable, nutritious food that didn't spoil.

Beds of wild rice plants still grow today in the shallow areas of rivers and lakes.

People still harvest the rice by traditional means, in a canoe using two cedar flails and winnowing baskets.

The baskets are made from bark pieces laced together with dried roots of black spruce trees.

Harvest time is usually in early september, once the plants are protruding from the water at least half a yard or so.

Paddling through the rice beds would uproot the plants so one person propels the boat with a forked pole while the other gently bends the plants over the canoe with one flail and gently knocks off the mature kernels with the other.

The harvested kernels pile up at the bottom of the canoe.

Harvesting wild rice is a delicate operation.

You have to knock just hard enough to dislodge the kernels, yet not break the plant stalks.

Each kernel is comprised of a fibrous hull encasing a rice grain.

Back on land, harvesters transport the harvested kernels by a winnowing basked or a grain sack.

The harvesters dump them onto either birch bark sheets, a tarp, or smooth bedrock then spread them out to cure in the sun.

Sun curing takes anywhere from several hours to several days depending on the weather.

The next step is to parch the kernels over an open fire.

This evaporates addition moisture, enabling the rice to be stored indefinitely without spoiling.

It also gives the rice a roasted nutty flavor.

For centuries indigenous people parched the kernels on a woven willow rack above the fire, letting the rising heat and smoke permeate the rice.

Once the trade began with the europeans, the indigenous people began using cast iron kettles set directly on the flames.

Fresh rice grains are green and flexible.

After parching they're brown or black and snap cleanly into two when bent.

Next comes threshing, removing the grains from the hulls.

Harvesters cool the kernels in the basket, then pour them back into the parching pot.

Before acquiring cast iron implements, indigenous people would pour their kernels in a hole in the ground lined with wood or animal hide.

Threshing doesn't require any special handcrafted tools, just a pair of feet.

The pressure of each step forces the rice grains out of their hulls.

This is what the rice looks like before threshing and after.

The last step is winnowing, separating the rice grains from the now-empty hulls.

There are two traditional techniques: repeatedly flipping the rice in a single winnowing basket like this or pouring it from one basket to another.

The movement creates wind that blows away the feather-light hulls.

Eventually only the rice grains remain in the basket.

Today, instead of deerskin pouches, harvesters store wild rice in containers or plastic bags.

The grains range in color depending on the body of water from which they were harvested and how long after harvesting the grains were parched.

Wild rice is high in protein in fiber, low in calories in fat, contains all essential amino acids and is rich in b vitamins, potassium and phosphorous.

Hex key l-wrenches are designed to turn screws and bolts that would otherwise be tricky to reach.

They have ball-shaped hexagonal heads that take an angled approach to installing threaded fasteners.

The long arms of these l-shaped wrenches also extend the user's reach into tight spots.

Hex key l-wrenches often come in sets to provide tools for almost every job, big or small.

Making these wrenches starts with 13-foot long steel bars formed to a hexagonal profile.

A technician tests the short piece to confirm it could be bent without breaking.

The steel must be hard, yet elastic.

A diamond-tipped tool presses into another piece.

The depth of the indentation is a measure of the steel's hardness.

After the steel passes all tests, workers slice the just over 13-foot long bars into smaller lengths using a die cutter with a hexagonal profile to prevent any distortion of the shape.

Each steel piece then spins in a lathe as a computerized tool carves a gentle slope into the end.

This is before and after the contouring.

A second computerized tool shapes the end rounder to create a sphere shape that retains the hexagonal angles.

An automated loader serves up the steel pieces to a spiral copper heating element.

The element heats a specific spot on the piece to 1,112 degrees fahrenheit to soften it.

A mechanized tool then bends the steel at this softened point to give it an l shape.

The hex key l-wrenches have now taken shape.

In the next operation, workers heat treat the wrenches to make the steel even harder.

Workers fire the parts in an electrical furnace, quench them in oil and then heat them in a second furnace that's not as hot as the first one.

The heat treatment strengthens the steel but leaves a residue.

A wash and then a sand blast cleans them up a bit, but the wrenches are quite tarnished looking so it's into a vibrating machine with ceramic stones and polishing solution.

This cleans and brightens the steel.

A magnetic conveyor extracts them from the mix and takes them to a revolving drum.

Here the wrenches bounce around with corn grains that absorb residual moisture from the polishing.

What a difference the cleaning has made.

On racks now, the wrenches take a dip in different nickel and chrome baths.

The rack delivers an electrical charge to the parts, which attracts the nickel and chrome.

The metals coat the wrenches for a shiny rust-proof finish.

Next a device spins the wrench in front of a sensor.

The sensor detects and crookedness in the wrench's long arm.

If needed, he straightens the steel with a special tool.

The wrenches are now ready for a spray of powder coat.

It will provide a durable finish and the color will indicate the wrench's size.

After powder coating a robot transfers the wrenches to a printing station.

A mechanized tool nudges the wrenches forward to put them in alignment.

Another robot moves in.

It picks one of the wrenches and moves it under a printing pad.

The pad stamps brand information and a serial number on the wrench.

The robot retrieves the wrench and places i on a conveyor.

They now make the plastic holders for the wrenches.

This machine melts and molds plastic under pressure to produce them in seconds.

A robot removes the plastic holders from the machine and deposits them in a bin.

A worker now places two of the holders under a laser.

He lowers the protective shield and the laser etches company information onto the plastic.

Another member of the team inserts the color-coded wrenches into the correct slots in the holders.

They now have a full kit of hex key l-wrenches.

It should have all the angles covered.


Aluminum Pots and Pans
Artificial Limbs
Peanut Butter
High

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

Aluminum pots and pans, artificial limbs, peanut butter, and high-intensity light bulbs.

There are several different ways to manufacture aluminum pots and pans.

Some factories have giant machines that simply stamp out or mold the cookware, while other factories use a technique called metal spinning.

To make cookware that's safe for food use, the aluminum must be pure--  no other metals mixed in.

It all starts with a round aluminum sheet called a blank.

They stamp the pot size and the company name on what will be the bottom of the pot.

They clamp it onto a lathe, centered against what's called the chuck-- a metal mold shaped like the inside of the pot they're going to spin.

The lathe spins at 2,000 revolutions per minute.

Guided by computer software, the spinning tool-- a round wheel made of special plastic-- pushes against the chuck, stretching and shaping the aluminum blank much the way potters stretch and shape clay against their hand on a pottery wheel...

Except that metal spinning works sideways, not up and down like pottery.

The machine trims off excess aluminum as it rounds the edges.

The factory has no use for these very sharp metal leftovers, but it doesn't throw them out.

Aluminum is difficult to mine and, therefore, very expensive, so scrap aluminum is sent off to be recycled into other products.

After the final trim to the finished size, another trimmer moves in to take the sharpness off the edge.

It's taken 4 minutes to spin this 8 1/2-gallon pot.

Now it comes off the lathe.

They punch out handle holes...

Then rivet on aluminum handles.

The pot is now finished.

Items that aren't as large and heavy are spun on a hand lathe.

This is where you need an experienced metal spinner because this trade isn't a mechanical science.

You've got to have a feel for it.

Besides cookware, many other aluminum products are spun on a lathe.

This is a light reflector-- that round aluminum fixture that covers light bulbs in factories, stores, and arenas.

When working the hand lathe, the metal spinner uses what's called a scissor tool.

It's the equivalent of the plastic wheel on the automated lathe.

As the blank spins, he moves his tool further and further down to stretch the aluminum into the right shape.

This is a sausage funnel.

And this will be the inside tube of a cake pan.

He makes the body of the cake pan on a different lathe using a variety of tools to get a variety of effects.

This beading tool creates an edge, for example.

Almost all metals can be spun, though some are better suited for the technique than others.

Aluminum and steel are very formable metals, so they provide the best results.

Can a baking ingredient be the answer to global warming?

Researchers have found a way to transform harmful carbon dioxide into harmless sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda.

They mix co2 with water then force it through plastic balls treated with an enzyme from alfalfa.

Today's artificial limbs are a far cry from the wooden leg of yesteryear.

They look very realistic.

And thanks to advances in prosthetic technology, artificial limbs function more and more like the real thing.

They start by measuring the amputee's stump-- what doctors call the residual limb.

First, they measure the circumference at different points...

Then the diameter at different points.

They protect and lubricate the residual limb by coating it in petroleum jelly.

Then they immerse it in algin, a gelatinlike substance that comes from algae.

After about 5 minutes, they remove the residual limb.

The algin has already begun to stiffen and maintain the limb's shape.

A couple of hours later, it's stiff enough to be used as a negative mold.

They pour in plaster of paris then insert a metal rod.

The rod is what will later allow them to mount the dried plaster to work on it further.

The plaster takes about an hour and a half to harden.

They cut off the algin.

Then, using sandpaper and files, they refine and smooth the surface.

This plaster copy of the residual limb will now be used as a positive mold to cast the artificial limb.

Sometimes they use a different technique to make the positive mold.

They build a negative mold using strips of plasterized cloth, much the same way they make a plaster cast when you break your leg.

Then a scanner takes a detailed 3-dimensional reading and programs it into a computer.

A technician then makes any necessary modifications.

They put a plaster block on a cutting machine.

The computer guides the blade to carve out the positive mold.

With either technique, once the positive mold is ready, they can make the artificial limb.

The process they use is called lamination.

First, they cover the mold in fabric socks-- some made of nylon, others of a material that contains fiberglass.

They layer 6 to 10 socks in all, depending on how rigid they want the artificial limb to be.

Then they coat the socks with a liquid resin made of either polyester or acrylic.

Here they're using acrylic tinted to look like caucasian skin.

It's important to ensure the surface is evenly soaked.

It's a meticulous process that takes about an hour.

The acrylic solidifies in about an hour.

Polyester takes about 12 hours.

They then break the plaster mold inside, leaving a durable plastic shell called a socket.

That will be the basis of the artificial limb.

The socket connects to another plastic shell containing the mechanics, or, like this artificial leg, the mechanism can be modular and covered in just a skin-colored foam.

If the muscle at the site of the amputation still emits a good electrical signal when contracted, the patient can get a myoelectric prosthesis.

It has an electrode that captures and amplifies the signal, triggering the artificial hand to open and close.

As early as the 1400s, africans made peanut stews.

Peanut butter, as we know it today, was invented in 1890 by an american doctor.

He used it as a protein substitute for people whose teeth were so bad they couldn't chew meat.

The best peanuts for making peanut butter are runner peanuts.

Because they're uniform in size, they roast more evenly than peanuts that vary in size.

They arrive at the peanut-butter factory already shelled.

To make an 18-ounce jar of peanut butter, it takes 20 ounces of peanuts.

That's about 1,100 peanuts.

The first step is to roast them.

The nuts travel through a hot-air roaster heated to 399 degrees fahrenheit.

The shaking motion moves them around so they roast evenly.

Almost 4 tons of peanuts go through this roaster per hour.

When they come out, they've turned from white to light brown.

Next, they go into another machine, which fast-cools them at room temperature using suction fans that circulate air quickly.

This rapid-cooling process is critical.

It halts the cooking and prevents the peanuts from losing too much oil.

Next, the peanuts go through a machine called the blancher.

It removes the outer skins by rubbing them between rubber belts.

Then it splits the kernels and removes the heart of the peanut, which has a slightly bitter taste.

But what's discarded doesn't go to waste.

The skins go to farmers for pig feed, and the hearts go into bird feed.

The peanuts land in a big stainless-steel hopper.

From there, they drop down into the grinder to be ground into a paste.

At this point, the other ingredients go in-- salt, sugar or another natural sweetener, and a small amount of hydrogenated vegetable oil, which acts as a stabilizer to keep the peanut oil from separating and floating to the top of the jar.

Peanut butter contains no artificial coloring or artificial sweeteners.

It has no preservatives either, yet doesn't need to be refrigerated.

The peanut butter is finally ready.

All that mixing has heated it up to 140 degrees fahrenheit.

It goes through a cooling system to bring it down to 100 degrees.

Now it can go into jars.

Peanut butter is a healthy, protein-rich food with plenty of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

It has no cholesterol, but it does contain fat.

The good news is that more than 80% of that fat is unsaturated-- in other words, good fat that may actually help lower certain cholesterol levels in the blood.

The bad news is that the rest of the fat content is trans fat, or bad fat.

It comes not from the peanuts themselves but from the hydrogenated vegetable oil that's used as the stabilizer to keep the peanut oil from separating.

If you want to avoid that, you can eat all-natural peanut butter, which doesn't contain a stabilizer.

You'll just have to stir the peanut oil that collects at the top of the jar.

Once the jars are filled with peanut butter, they go through the capping machine.

The caps have an aluminum seal inside.

As the caps pass through a heat machine, the seal drops down and adheres to the top of the jar, creating an airtight seal.

A machine prints the production date and the expiration date.

These unopened jars of peanut butter will stay fresh for one whole year.

A household light bulb creates light through a metal filament.

A high-intensity industrial light bulb uses not only a metal filament but also coils, electrodes, and mercury vapor.

It's more durable but needs a cooldown period before relighting.

In 1809, a british chemist invented electric light.

Over the next few decades, other inventors produced electric lamps and bulbs, but the light didn't last very long.

The big breakthrough came in 1879, when thomas edison invented a carbon filament that burned for 40 hours.

Then, just a year later, he produced a bulb that burned for more than 1,200 hours.

That finally made electric lighting feasible.

They start by making the coil support.

Later, they'll thread the filament through the support.

They take a glass rod about a half an inch long and heat it up enough to insert a pin just 1/1,000 inch thick.

The pin is made of tungsten, a hard metal that won't melt under high heat.

The rod and pin go into a machine that heats the glass and pressures it into a mushroom shape.

They insert 3 or 6 wires just .

0005 inches thick, depending on the model of light bulb.

They cut the wires to the required length, which also depends on the model.

Then they curl the ends into little circles.

The coil support is finished.

Next, they build the mount onto which several other parts will be assembled.

They weld on the arc tube-- a quartz tube containing a coil, electrodes, gas, and mercury.

Next, they weld on the bimetal switch, which cuts the current to the coil and the arc tube.

Then they weld on the coil support they prepared earlier.

They bend the coil support down to receive the filament, which is made of tungsten.

Now they weld one end of the filament to the mount and feed the other end through the little circles of the coil support...

Then weld it to the other side of the mount.

The mount is now fully assembled.

Next, they apply a specific amount of pressure to the bimetal switch to calibrate it.

They submerge the finished mount in alcohol to remove any dust or other contaminants.

They let it dry for 10 minutes then apply a liquid called zirconium getter.

This draws moisture away from the filament.

It's finally time to put the mount in the glass bulb.

The sealing machine cuts off excess glass from the bottom then melts what's left until it attaches to the mount.

How will this light bulb work?

The electric current travels through the filament to the coil inside the arc tube.

The coil warms gases, which then vaporize the small amount of mercury.

The mercury vapor then conducts the current from one electrode to another, creating light.

The bulbs are made into different shapes and sizes.

A machine blows air in the hot glass while a mold creates the form.

A special flame lets the glass cool slowly so it won't become brittle from the stress.

They print the wattage and voltage on the bulbs, then run them through an oven at 932 degrees fahrenheit to draw out any humidity or impurities that may be caught inside.

Then they go through what's called the tipping torch.

It seals in nitrogen gas, which prevents the filament from overheating.

Now the bulb is ready for its first test-- a 10-minute burn to make sure it operates properly and there's no air inside.

Finally, it's time to attach the socket.

They apply cement on the base then hook up the bulb.

The bulb passes through a flame that cures the cement.

The next machine cleans the socket with acid...

So it can be soldered at two points.

The finished bulbs are put aside for 48 hours then retested before being shipped out.