How It's Made (2001) s01e05 Episode Script

1
Narrator:
Today on "how it's made"
Copy paper --
we'll check it out again
and again and again
Jeans --
stay tuned
for a "denim-stration"
computers --
here's some hard data for you
and plate glass --
we promise you full transparency
in this report.
Computers were supposed to send
paper back to the stone age --
no more letters, just e-mails.
Goodbye, typewritten reports.
Hello, floppy disks.
Well, those predictions
were wrong.
Photocopiers and printers
have us using more paper
than ever before.
Paper production begins with
the arrival of wood at the mill.
Paper is made from a paste
produced from a mix
of 65% maple, 25% birch,
and 10% poplar.
They require two tons of wood
to produce one ton of paste.
Everything starts
from this debarking drum,
which removes bark
from the logs.
It's about
a 20-minute operation.
The bark will be burned
to produce steam,
for the operation of the mill.
The debarked logs are
transported on this conveyor.
All is controlled
by an operator.
Now the logs are reduced into
small pieces called kindling.
They're accumulated into a pile
and remain outdoors
winter and summer.
The kindling looks like this.
These 5 piles total
about 30,000 tons of kindling.
Next step -- reduce the kindling
into a paste.
They begin by washing it.
This screen verifies that
the washer is properly loaded.
Then comes alkaline cooking.
This diagram
controls its operation.
This huge cylinder
is the washer,
in which the kindling is cooked
for several hours
at a temperature of 315 degrees.
And this is
the recuperation boiler.
It burns wood lignite
at 1,800 degrees.
Certain chemical products,
which come out fused as lava,
are recuperated.
This black lacquer,
a reside of burned wood,
will be burned to produce steam.
Exiting the washer,
the brown paste is washed
and sent to the thickener.
With this spatula,
they verify the quality
of the brown-paste washing.
The paste must be bleached.
This alkaline-extraction tower
places the brown paste
in contact
with chemical products.
It's bleached
with chlorine dioxide
and gradually becomes
more white.
Then the water
is partially drawn off.
Water is extracted
with this equipment,
the beloit bel baie III
paper machine,
operating at a speed
of 3,500 feet a minute.
Between the entry and the exit,
the concentration of water in
the paste falls from 95% to 5%.
Here we see the sheet of paper
coming out of the presses.
Then analyzers verify
the quality parameters
of the paper
and signal any anomaly.
The paper is then rolled up.
This roller produces
enormous main spools.
With this transfer arm,
they change a full spool
for an empty one.
A roll weighs over 35 tons
and contains over 37 miles
of paper.
The spooler cuts the main spools
into smaller, less wide rolls.
Some will be delivered as is,
while other will be shipped
to paper cutters.
Rolls are sent
to an automated warehouse.
In the warehouse, they store
rolls that will be cut later.
Robots,
guided on rails in the floor,
feed the bielomatik
paper cutter.
This is the one
that produces copy paper.
Robots are controlled
by a central computer
directed by operators.
Production reaches
55,000 sheets per minute.
We see here the transfer section
of the cutter.
Four automatic catchers
and operators
verify paper quality
before packaging.
In one hour, this mill produces
6,600 packages of copy paper.
A single log allowed
for the production
of at least 15
of those packages.
Narrator: Jeans might be
the world's greatest
rags-to-riches story.
When they were first invented,
nobody would be caught dead
in them,
except for factory workers,
farmers, and tradesmen.
Yet, today, they're one of
the most popular clothing items
in the world --
quite a fashion statement.
Jeans are made from a highly
rugged cotton called denim.
This enormous roll contains
1,500 feet of fabric,
from which they will produce
350 pairs of jeans.
Several thicknesses
of the material are unrolled
on this long table.
This knife can cut up
to 100 thicknesses
of the material at a time.
By multiplying the thicknesses,
they produce a whole pile
of pieces with one cut.
They shape the denim pieces
following the cutting patterns.
Each piece of the jeans
has its own cutting pattern.
The little pieces of fabric
are cut with a clicker,
also known as the stamper,
which cuts out pockets
with a cutting mold.
Exerting 1,500 pounds
of pressure,
it can cut 20 pockets at a time.
They begin sewing.
Jeans are sewn
with 100%-cotton thread.
This needle pierces the fabric
4,000 times a minute.
Designs are embroidered on
the pockets with this machine.
Its needles move
at 2,500 strokes per minute.
This pocket robot
will simultaneously fold,
press, and sew a pocket.
This machine allows
for the installation
of 75 pockets in 60 minutes.
The pocket is now
sewn into place.
Next step -- the buttonhole.
This machine sews the contours
of the buttonhole
and a steel blade comes down
to cut the opening.
The closing button
is positioned.
This machine is used
to make the loops,
which will hold the belt
in place.
The loops are sewn, as usual,
with cotton thread.
At this stage, they assemble the
different pieces of the jeans.
This operator joins the two
pieces of denim at the crotch.
Then she sews it.
Then they sew the exterior
of the leg.
This sewing is done flat,
with an overcaster,
which cuts excess material
proportionately and to size.
Now for the zipper.
This machine installs
the zipper holdfast
and the slide.
The zipper is sewn
into its position.
The final sewing step consists
of installing the jeans belt,
a strip of fabric.
This operation requires
only a few seconds.
The jeans were made up
on the reverse side,
so that all stitches
would be on the inside
when the jeans are worn.
The pant is then turned
right side out with this turner,
which has 100-pound
suction power.
All that now remains
is to steam-press the jeans.
This operation lasts
only 20 seconds
and eliminates any pleats.
This company makes
1,500 jeans every day.
Producing a pair of jeans
will have taken 12 minutes
and 50 seconds of work
and will have required between
3.6 and 3.9 feet of fabric.
Narrator:
Just 30 years ago,
nobody could have told you
what this object was,
let alone the kind of wonders
you could work with it.
Well, times change,
and today, it's hard to imagine
a single modern home or office
without at least one
of these revolutionary devices.
It takes about 90 minutes
to assemble a computer.
Its hard-disk drive saves
information transmitted to it
for a long time.
The reading head
reads the information.
It is extremely precise.
The space between the
reading head and the hard disk
is as thin as a hair.
The hard disk is installed
in its position
within the computer.
There are two other units
which safeguard information --
the removable
3-inch-disk reader,
and the cd-rom reader,
which allows for the reading
and execution
of programs recorded
on compact discs.
These two units
are placed into position.
The spinal column of the
computer is the motherboard.
It is to this unit
that the other elements
of the computer are connected.
This cooler dissipates the heat
generated by the chip set.
Certain sound cards
are integrated
directly on the motherboard.
These connections, in sequence,
are the audio input,
its output,
and the microphone port.
This agp retaining ring secures
the video card during transport.
This thermal unit measures
the temperature emitted
between the processor
and the motherboard.
The processor is the brain
of the system.
It interprets, calculates,
and executes the instructions
given to it.
The processor has
several million transistors.
And its cadence,
its operating speed,
reaches the gigahertz level.
The processor rests
on this base.
The processor's cooler
dissipates the intense heat.
Its efficiency depends
on the type of material used,
and a conducting material
assures better cooling.
The R.A.M. Memory stores
short-term information,
but erases it
when the current is turned off.
This memory is more rapid
than that of the hard disk
or cd-rom.
Now they integrate everything
in the case.
It protects
the internal elements
from the external elements.
At this stage,
they install the electronic
components in this case.
Several connectors of the case
are connected
to the motherboard,
such as the computator
and various light indicators.
This is the output connection
for the video card,
which links the computer
to the monitor.
We also see the video chip,
which creates images
in 2 and 3 dimensions.
Here is the video memory.
The more its capacity
is increased,
the clearer will be the image
displayed on the monitor.
The video card is placed
into its position.
The modem allows two computers
to communicate.
Its capacitors produce
the perfectly clean phone signal
to facilitate communications.
These modem chip connectors
control information circulating
between the two computers.
The fax modem is installed.
The power supply
transforms electricity
according to the voltage
required by
the different components.
The computer's internal cabling
is installed.
It allows information
to travel
between the different media
and the motherboard.
The I.D.E. Cable is connected
and the cd-rom.
The last electrical wires
are connected to different
computer components.
The assembly of 30 components
of the computer is now finished.
Just before closing the case,
they test each computer
to verify the good functioning
of the peripherals.
Then they close up
and proceed to packaging.
This company produces about
300 computer units every day.
Narrator:
No need to adjust your set.
What you're looking at
is supposed to be hard to see.
Here at "how it's made,"
our job is to explore
the everyday things around us
and how they came to be.
So let's start by making
one thing perfectly clear --
manufacturing plate glass
is anything but simple.
We can speak of the use of glass
since the time of the Egyptians
4,000 years ago.
It wasn't used
in construction, though,
but merely to enclose
small objects.
Later, the romans became masters
of glassmaking,
with their methods being used
up until the 18th century.
By the end of the 19th century,
glass was no longer
just a luxury item,
but became
a construction material
as common
as steel and concrete.
Plate glass is made
from several raw materials
mixed with a little water.
These materials
are silica sand
Soda ash
Dolomite
Limestone
Nepheline syenite
And salt cake.
It begins by dumping
into a hopper
pieces of recycled glass
together with the raw materials.
It will all be melted.
In a continuous stream,
the mixed materials go
into a gas-fed furnace.
Temperature inside the furnace
is 2,700 degrees.
It contains 1,500 tons
of molten glass.
They use 500 tons of it
every day.
In this regenerating chamber,
combustion air is preheated
to 1,800 degrees.
The materials of the mix
begin fusing,
and the molten glass
is stirred up.
The homogenizer mixes the glass
to equalize its temperature.
Pouring will be done
within several hours.
In the glass industry,
they call this machine
the top roller.
The glass is poured onto a bath
of liquid tin,
on which it floats.
As soft as toffee,
it is molded into a ribbon.
All equipment in the tin bath
is cooled with water
so that it won't break
from the heat.
Coming out of the bath,
the glass is at 600 degrees.
The glass must again be cooled,
and this unit
is used to do that.
This huge ribbon of glass
is 11 feet in width.
The ribbon of glass
rolls gently on rollers,
gradually cooling along the way.
The glass is still soft.
The marks we see are imprints
from the top roller.
The glass must have
a uniform thickness.
This laser scanner measures
its thickness
to within a hundredth
of a millimeter.
The glass is now fairly hard.
They proceed to cutting it.
This ultrahard
tungsten-carbide roller
makes a longitudinal score
before the glass can be cut.
Now they proceed
with transverse scoring,
made according to the dimensions
customers have asked for.
The scored glass
separates easily.
The glass strips are separated
and continue along the conveyor.
These roller breakers cut
the edges of the glass sheet.
Leftover pieces fall
to the ground and into a chute.
They will later be recycled.
These rubber-covered rollers
move the glass sheets
to the inspection department.
When they arrive for inspection,
these immense glass sheets
are handled with great care
and are positioned upright.
The glass is inspected
for faults
with florescent lamps.
Once inspected,
the glass sheets are handled
one at a time
and stored vertically.
Making the glass
took several days of work.
It is now ready for delivery.
Heat fusion has transformed
solid ingredients
into transparent glass.
--Captions by vitac--
captions paid for by
discovery communications, inc.
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