How It's Made (2001) s01e09 Episode Script

1
--Captions by vitac--
captions paid for by
discovery communications, inc.
Narrator: Today
on "how it's made"
Steel -- the original
heavy metal
Apple juice -- from
the tree to the glass
Aircraft landing gear --
what you really need
to score a touchdown,
and cosmetics --
we'll tour a factory where they
make it up as they go along.
They call Superman
"the man of steel"
because, flying and
X-ray vision aside,
he could bend solid
steel with his bare hands.
Thanks to its
legendary strength,
steel is used for everything
from bridges and skyscrapers
to household appliances.
Steelmaking usually begins
with a pile of scrap metal.
Using this 11-ton electromagnet,
scrap iron -- composed
of crushed car bodies,
electric appliances, cans,
and other steel scraps --
is gathered up.
This powerful magnet is
able to lift 5 1/2 tons of metal.
About 83% of this scrap will
be transformed into bars of steel.
This metal is then
dumped into a basket
which, by itself,
weighs 35 tons.
The basket can hold
up to 65 tons of metal.
And now they're
going to melt the metal.
This furnace
reaches a temperature
of 3,000 degrees, hot
enough to liquefy the metal.
It is heated by three electrodes
and by four natural-gas burners.
The contents of the basket
are dumped into the furnace.
Here, the pieces of
metal come into contact
with liquefied steel,
which always remains at
the bottom of the furnace.
There's a reaction, and an
aeration system draws out
the smoke that's produced.
At this high heat,
the 66 tons of metal
will melt in about 60 minutes.
Then the cover is
placed on the furnace.
This liquid is
composed of impurities
that rise to the surface when
the metal becomes molten.
At this stage, a workman
draws a sample of steel
to determine its
chemical makeup.
And now they make use of
a supersonic Oxygen lance.
This lance blows Oxygen
into the molten steel.
This reduces its carbon content,
homogenizes the mix, and
speeds up the melting process.
A ladle is positioned
beneath the furnace.
The molten steel
will be transferred
from the furnace
into this ladle.
The molten steel easily
pours into the ladle.
The ladle weighs 60 tons and
holds 127 tons of molten steel.
An overhead crane
capable of lifting 200 tons
carries the ladle
filled with steel.
Additives are introduced
in order to obtain
the correct steel tone.
Here, the electrodes are
taken out of the furnace ladle.
A workman now opens the
pouring nozzles of the distributor.
It is equipped with
four pouring holes.
The molten steel
runs into molds.
It cools very quickly
and begins to harden.
Steel billets are produced
in lengths varying
from 15 to 35 feet.
The billets are then
cut to the desired length
with a natural-gas torch.
A pouring identification
number is marked on them
with a wax crayon.
The difference
between a steel billet
and the nearly finished
flattened product is clear.
Flattening of the billets
remains to be done.
Before flattening begins,
billets are placed in the
furnace to be reheated
for 2 hours at 2,000 degrees.
Water jets cool
the billet ejector.
The billets are
placed on the flattener,
where powerful
rollers compress them.
This operation gives the billets
the required shape and size.
Water-cooled rollers
crush the billets.
Some billets go from a thickness
of 5 inches down to 1/2 an inch,
while other reduce from 6
inches down to 3/4 of an inch.
At the end of production,
bars move along at a speed
reaching 22 miles per hour.
Once they reach their
required dimensions,
the bars must be cooled.
This cooling bed allows the
steel bars to cool uniformly.
A total of 440,000
tons of steel bars
are made at this
plant each year.
Narrator: Dump thousands
of apples into a giant press,
apply several tons of
pressure, and what do you get?
Apple juice, of course.
And good thing it's made
on such an enormous scale,
when you consider
how many people
drink gallons of this
popular juice every year.
Here at rougemeau,
they make apple juice
mainly from McIntosh apples.
Some 90% of juice production
is done at
harvesttime in October.
A conveyor transports apples
to an inspection location.
Apples tumble in the reverse
direction of the conveyor belt
so that wet leaves and
undesirable materials
adhere to the belt.
The apples are stored
in silos for several hours.
So the apples don't get
too bruised in their descent,
they're slowed down
in this stepped chute.
Juice making can now begin.
Now they wash the apples.
Since they use some apples
that have already
fallen to the ground,
this first water bath
must eliminate pebbles.
A shower of cool water
completes the washing process.
The apples are cut into
little pieces in this grinder
and produce gratings.
Enzymes are added,
which break down
the cellular
structure of the fruit,
allowing for maximum
juice extraction.
Next, the gratings
are transferred
into maceration reservoirs,
where they'll stay
for 60 to 90 minutes.
Then they extract the juice.
The gratings are pumped
into a powerful hydraulic press.
Inside the press, filter
sleeves hold back the skins,
seeds, and stems of the apples.
Quality control is strict.
At each stage of the process,
they draw off samples of juice
to evaluate its quality
and to make sure that
fabrication parameters
are well adhered to.
The juice is
filtered a first time.
The very smallest
undesirable particles
are held back by this sieve.
The fabrication
process continues.
Juice flows from
one stage to another
via these immense reservoirs.
The next step will
be pasteurization.
Juice enters this
exchanger at 72 degrees
and is heated up to 190 degrees,
then cooled back
down to 122 degrees.
Enzymes are then
added to hydrate the pectin
and facilitate the
second filtration.
This is the
ultra-filtration process,
where filter membranes
with microscopic pores
retain the smallest
of particles.
The apple juice is
now perfectly filtered.
Its clarity is verified,
as well as its flavor,
color, and natural
fruit-sugar content.
Since juice is
produced in October,
it has to be conserved
throughout the year.
A portion of the
production is stored
in this sterile warehouse area
to await being
bottled during the year.
Each reservoir can hold
29,000 gallons of filtered juice.
No preserving agent is added.
Now we move to the next
stage, the filling of containers.
These little drinking containers
are filled at the
rate of 100 a minute.
The containers are
then hermetically sealed.
Two little sprays of hot glue
are applied to the containers.
This secures the
straws to their sides.
Another automated production
line fills bottles with juice.
They circulate in a
row on this conveyor.
Bottles are washed
and disinfected
with hydrogen peroxide
in this white, sterile room.
Then they're rinsed
with sterile water
before being carried
to the filling location.
Each minute, 120
bottles are filled
with pasteurized apple juice
and sealed with a cap
in a sterile environment.
Bottles are then labeled
and sent to shipping.
Between 20,000 and
40,000 tons of apples
are transformed
into juice yearly.
Thanks to its
perfect preservation,
consumers can enjoy this
juice at any time of the year.
Narrator: What goes up,
they say, must come down,
and when what's
up is an airplane,
you need dependable landing
gear to get you back down safely.
This critical piece
of aircraft equipment
is the product of
expert mechanics
combined with
sophisticated technology.
This heavy piece of steel
is the undercarriage
of a kc-135r airplane.
A landing gear
comprises a central shaft
to which an axle and
wheels are attached.
They begin machining the shaft.
This digital lathe machines
the exterior surface of the part.
Sprays of water
and oil cool the part,
which heats up due to friction.
They're now going
to pierce the shaft.
This drill head will ream
out the inside of the shaft.
Alignment of the
head must be perfect,
so they're cautious
with their work.
The perforating gets under way.
Turnings from the
cutting are saved,
and these will be
sold to foundries,
where they'll be recycled.
We see here the cutting tool
used to pierce the
holes in the landing gear.
To perforate the part, very
sharp cutting tools are used.
Here, they complete
an attachment hole.
The hole is
enlarged on its sides,
as required by
this machine tool.
The part is cooled with
a mix of water and oil.
Cutting is completed,
and the hole is now cleaned
out with compressed air
so that they can proceed
with a visual inspection.
Here, three pieces are rough-cut
at the same time
by this machine.
Because they'll
be used in aviation,
these pieces have to be
machined to perfection.
The machining of the shaft
is now almost completed.
This deburring unit polishes
the machine's surfaces
with a compressed-air
tool and sandpaper discs.
And now they have to verify
the dimensions of the parts.
This digitally controlled
machine has three axes
and does the verification
with extreme precision.
Here, another unit allows
for the machining of parts
with greater dimensions.
This facility also reconditions
used landing gears,
such as this one
from a boeing 707.
They strip off the
paint with a sandblaster
to verify the condition of
the parts with great precision.
And here are those
parts stripped clean.
But a visual inspection
is not enough.
They can detect cracks by
magnetic-particle concentration.
They magnetize the part,
and any cracks will become
visible under ultraviolet light.
Now it's time for the
shot-metal procedure,
where they spray steel
balls onto the metal's surface
to increase its
resistance to fatigue.
Before repainting the
part, they first plate it.
The part is immersed for
10 minutes in cadmium,
which forms a
protective coating on it
that will resist corrosion.
Then the part is quickly soaked
in a weak concentration
of chromic acid.
Water, agitated by air jets,
cleans away the chromic acid,
and the part is rinsed
with water another time.
The part is now baked at
375 degrees over 23 hours
to remove hydrogen induced
during the plating process.
Then the part is immersed in
liquid nitrogen at -200 degrees
before it's inserted in
order to reduce its size.
This collar is easily pushed
on with a hydraulic jack.
Reheating the collar makes
it return to its normal size.
Now the different components
and the leakproof joints
are inserted into the piston.
The shock-absorber
tube goes into the piston.
This part absorbs the shock
stresses when an aircraft lands.
The piston is now
slid into the cylinder,
and they verify that the
shock absorber is leakproof.
Fabrication finishes with
paint baked in an oven.
Some six to eight
months are required
to make a new landing gear
and between six to eight
weeks to recondition a used one.
Narrator: Perfume, eye
shadow, foundation, lipstick --
they're all products
of a huge industry
driven by our desire for beauty.
Well, "how it's made"
is about to show you
how they manufacture cosmetics,
and we assure you,
we're not making this up.
During archaeological
excavations,
mummies were
discovered wearing makeup,
the Egyptian technique
of enhancing eye contours
with antimony, lead,
and metal oxides --
all toxic, lethal substances.
Greek women also
adorned their cheeks
with a dye made from lead oxide.
In 1910, Florence Nightingale,
under the name Elizabeth Arden,
would change the
whole makeup picture,
launching the vogue for
cosmetics without toxic agents.
Cosmetics have been in
existence since the dawn of time.
There are many ingredients
that make up a cosmetic formula.
The industry heavily
uses iron oxides
to color its products in a
multitude of attractive tones.
Before moving into
fabrication, each ingredient
must be carefully and
accurately weighed.
These raw materials are
often dry, such as powder,
but can also be liquid
and even oil or wax.
Every ingredient will
have first been approved
by the quality-control
laboratory.
A single formula may
contain over 50 ingredients.
The other essential
ingredient is water.
The water used in
making cosmetics
is first purified by an
inverse-osmosis system.
When it meets strict
company standards,
it is put into a
stainless-steel tank.
Depending on the
complexity of the recipe,
between 4 and 10 hours of work
are needed to make up a product.
Let's begin with a
bubble-bath recipe.
A part of the recipe is prepared
in an adjoining container
to make certain
ingredients more soluble.
A stainless-steel
screw propeller
mixes all the
ingredients thoroughly.
All along its
fabrication processing,
the product will be
subjected to many tests.
Here, an acid-based
neutralization-reaction test
is performed with
a color indicator.
The bubble bath
has to be colored.
A fragrance and
a color are added,
for in this recipe, the
final product will be mauve.
Before the filling process,
the quality-control and
microbiology laboratories
make sure that the product
meets strict quality standards.
Now it's on to the next step.
This filler can
simultaneously fill
up to 12 700-milliliter bottles
at a steady pace
of 50 per minute.
The fill level is
adjusted electronically.
Capping remains to be done.
This capper positions and
tightens the caps automatically.
Urethane rollers apply
the precise tightening force.
The bottles now pass
beneath a sealer via induction,
which generates
a magnetic field,
heating the metal
piece placed in the cap.
When hot enough, it welds
itself onto the neck of the bottle.
Another product made
here is the peeling mask.
The mask is poured
into this funnel,
whose end is attached
to the tube-filler pipe.
The product
descends via gravity.
The filler pours the peeling
mask into 50 tubes each minute.
Then, with heat and crimping,
the tube end is sealed,
and the tube
heads for packaging.
Other products made here
-- Cologne and perfume.
The liquid is drawn
into the bottle by suction.
This rotating filler operates
with intermittent vacuum
to fill 50 bottles a minute.
Bottles are positioned
beneath the 16 filling spouts
that seal their opening to allow
for the creation of a vacuum,
which draws in the product.
Now atomizer pumps are inserted.
Handling two bottles
simultaneously,
this machine seals the pump,
securing it around
the neck of the bottle.
We see the white
sleeve aligning the pump,
while the gray one
tightens the pump.
Then there are the sprayers.
This machine applies
the spray stoppers
and, with a hammer, presses
them onto the pumps of the bottles,
which are now finished.
And one final product
-- roll-on deodorants.
This machine fills
115 bottles a minute,
handling 8 bottles at a time.
A filling stem pours the
product into the bottle,
and here they place the
roller ball at 115 per minute.
Then the ball is lightly
pressed into the cavity
in which it turns freely.
This plant makes over
1,200 different products
and yearly sells 32
million items per year.
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