How It's Made (2001) s01e10 Episode Script

1
--Captions by vitac--
captions paid for by
discovery communications, inc.
Narrator: Today
on "how it's made"
holograms --
projections for the future
package printing -- how
to make an impression
skin culture -- it
definitely grows on you
and canned corn --
we hope you're all ears.
Holograms aren't just
beautiful and fascinating.
They have a certain
high-tech mystique about them.
Well, stay tuned to have
the mystery revealed.
Holograms are simply
layered variations of an image,
each one causing light
to reflect in a different way.
A hologram is a
3-dimensional photograph
produced by the interference
of two laser beams.
A laser emits light
-- this light ray.
The color of the light varies
according to the wavelength.
A shutter, when activated,
either blocks the light
ray or lets it pass through.
Here the beam splits in
two at a 90-degree angle.
The interference
of the two beams
is clearly visible
on this screen.
It has very defined fringes.
The beams need great stability
because the pattern
of interference
projected on the screen
is extremely sensitive
to minute vibrations.
A light tap on the table
can easily spoil it completely.
The team will create a hologram
from this sculpture
made of modeling clay.
The sculpture is
positioned on a support
with a magnetic base that
adheres to the metallic table.
Then they place a glass
in front of the object.
Here's the exact point
where the light beam passes.
The table has to
be perfectly stable,
so it's made of a
2.4-ton block of steel,
which rests on 18 air tubes.
The table and laser
are thus well-insulated
from all vibrations.
The beam splitter
separates the beam in two,
directing one behind the
object and the other in front of it.
One part of the beam
heads toward the
front of the sculpture.
The beam first passes
through an objective lens
that diffuses the light.
Then it's reflected
by a parabolic mirror,
which prevents it from
losing too much of its intensity.
As in photography,
film is required.
This holographic film is
attached to a glass plate
with adhesive tape.
Then another
glass plate is added
so that the film will not move.
A vibration of 1/10 of the
laser's wavelength is tolerable.
The laser is turned on.
The intensity of its light ray
reaches about 250 milliwatts.
The normal exposure time
of the model to the beam
is about one second,
but some holograms
made with a pulsed laser
are exposed to the
light for 12 nanoseconds,
an infinitely short
period of time.
Here we see the reference beam
coming from the
parabolic mirror.
And here we see it
from another angle.
As in photography, the
film has to be developed.
These trays contain
different chemical solutions
and the developer.
First the film is soaked in
the developer for two minutes.
This solution
blackens the silver salts
that have reacted to the light.
Then the film is soaked
in a solution called bleach
to completely eliminate the
silver salts that blackened it.
Now the film is rinsed.
This step is used to eliminate
the acids in the emulsion
and so as not to
contaminate the next solution.
The film gently
becomes transparent.
It's then rinsed in clear water.
And it's soaked for one
minute in a wetting agent
which eliminates
all water spots.
The film is then dried,
and it reveals its secrets,
and here's the hologram
created from the sculpture.
A hologram really creates
a 3-dimensional illusion.
Some holograms can be animated.
They are generated from
a series of still holograms.
Depending on the
complexity of the project,
a hologram can be produced
from between one and five hours.
Narrator: Your average
product packaging
is crammed with
so much information,
it's hard to see the artistry
behind the instructions
and ingredients.
An incredible amount of thought
goes into making
packaging that's unique,
instantly identifiable, and
attractive to the consumer.
All consumer
products are packaged,
and the making of these packages
starts with the burning of an
aluminum plate like this one.
This animation illustrates
the burning process --
the transfer of an image
onto an aluminum plate.
The plate is placed
onto a cylinder,
and, using a laser,
the burning begins.
The image appears
in six minutes.
This plate will make
the printing impressions
on packages.
The laser that did the burning
has to be perfectly
calibrated using this test plate.
The plate is now ready
to make impressions
via the offset method.
Printing involves ink,
and it requires
selecting the right one.
If the desired
color does not exist,
it has to be made up from a
mix of various other colors.
An ink trial is
done with a spatula,
and, using this small manual
press, color ink tests are done.
The ink is spread onto paper
and the color compared with
the one called for by the customer.
If the two match, the
presses can be started up.
This is a 6-color offset
process printing press
with a 28x43-inch capacity.
The press is fed by a
suction and friction process
devouring 8,000 sheets an hour.
Now the printing plate is
placed onto the press cylinder.
This plate will contact inking
rollers of the ink reservoir.
To prevent it from drying,
ink viscosity is maintained
with this oscillator.
The press starts up and
reaches a production rate
of 8,000 impressions
in 60 minutes.
The press comprises
individual color printing units.
The paper sheet passes
from one unit to another,
receiving a new
color at each step.
Here they register the colors --
that is, the quality of
the superimposition
of the different colors.
The final step is the folding
and gluing of the boxes.
This grooved plate
makes folding-point
marks on the carton.
And this machine does
the cutting, the embossing,
and stripping of the sheets
at a rate of 6,000 an hour.
The cutting die cuts
the carton sheets
and, together with the grooved
plate, makes the folding joints.
This sheet is slid
behind the cutting die
to equalize the
cutting of the sheets.
This enormous pile of 3,000
sheets is ready to be cut.
The embossing press feeder
handles between 6,000
and 8,000 sheets an hour.
Rollers guide the sheets
in the direction of the press.
And here the sheets are
embossed by the machine.
The precision of the
embossing is then verified.
Next comes the
cutting of the sheets.
They cut 8,000 an hour.
The cutting unit strips and
removes the unnecessary pieces,
and the carton scraps are
sucked up for eventual recycling.
The scraps can also be cut
away manually using a hammer.
The carton end pieces
are sent off for recycling.
All that remains is the
assembly of the packages.
This high-speed gluing unit
can make up to 30,000
to 40,000 per hour.
Gluing begins with
the folding of sheets
following the folding marks.
The sides of the formed
box are then glued together.
An average of between
five to eight steps are needed
to fabricate a packaging box.
Every day this plant produces
between 1 and 2 million boxes,
requiring almost 4,000
tons of cardboard annually.
Narrator: For people
who've suffered severe burns
there's hope.
They can be treated
with skin grafts
using human skin that's
been cultured in a lab.
Patients who
receive these grafts
tend to develop less scarring
and usually heal in
a fraction of the time.
Culturing of skin allows
us to save many lives.
To grow skin, epidermis
cells have to be isolated
and made to multiply.
It all begins with the removal
of a small skin sample.
The 10 million
cells in this piece
are enough to make a culture.
The skin soaks
in a medium containing
penicillin and gentamicin,
antibiotics which protect
it from bacterial infection.
Now a piece of skin is cut
and delicately sectioned
on a petri dish with a scalpel.
The fat is gently
detached from the dermis
since it will not be
needed in the culturing.
The skin is cut into thin
strips because thermolysin,
the enzyme that separates
the dermis from the epidermis,
acts more efficiently
on the small surfaces.
Then an enzyme
destroys the links
uniting the dermis
and the epidermis cells.
This procedure is carried out
in this incubator over three hours
at a temperature
of 98.6 degrees,
or body temperature.
Once incubation is over,
the petri dish is removed
from the incubator.
Only the epidermis cells,
also called "keratinocytes,"
are retained.
The epidermis is detached from
the dermis with great precision.
Now the strips are placed
in a trypsination unit.
Trypsin, an enzyme,
will destroy the links
uniting the epidermis cells
in order to isolate them.
This operation signals
the cells to multiply
now that they're in
a favorable medium.
In order to increase the
effectiveness of trypsin,
the trypsination unit is
placed on an agitator.
The cells do not have to remain
in extended contact
with the trypsin.
They're inhibited with a
medium containing serum.
Then the liquid containing
the cells in suspension
is drawn off.
Now the liquid is centrifuged
to obtain two fractions.
The base fraction
containing the desired cells
is at the bottom of the tube,
while the upper floating
fraction containing the trypsin
has to be removed.
This upper fraction is drawn
off with a vacuum system.
In order to eliminate
all traces of trypsin,
the culture medium is
added to the base fraction,
and the whole is put
back into suspension.
Now the cells from the small
skin sample have to be counted
before being centrifuged
a second time.
The cells are counted by
hand using a microscope
or with this apparatus.
The exact number of cells
obtained during the extraction
via a biopsy is determined
as well as the number of
cells that will have to be seeded
for maximum growth.
The bottom portion
of keratinocytes
is divided in these flasks
containing a culture medium
whose composition
resembles that of blood.
The cells will multiply
over a week in these flasks,
placed in an oven at 98.6
degrees and at 8% oxygen.
The medium in which
the cells are immersed
is changed every two days.
In less than a week,
the cells have almost covered
the entire surface of the flask.
They can now be trypsinated anew
and thus reseed some 50 flasks,
which in turn will be placed in
the oven for about one week.
Skin strips carpet the
inner surface of the flask.
They are then
detached with a spatula.
The flasks are cut in two
with a heating unit
resembling a soldering iron.
To make handling easier,
gauze is placed on the skin strips,
whose thickness is less
than 1/10 of a millimeter.
The graft is placed
on the wound.
Clamps and the gauze will
be removed after 10 days.
A patient can be skin-grafted
in less than two weeks.
Narrator: When it
comes to vegetables,
there's nothing like
fresh corn on the cob.
But when that's not available,
corn is also great
right out of the can,
and anyone with an appetite
for feats of engineering
will appreciate the whirlwind
journey from cob to can.
Throughout man's history,
food preserving has
included smoking, freezing,
drying, and salting.
In the early 19th century,
Nicolas Appert built a factory
to preserve foods in
hermetically sealed glass jars
and to sterilize
them by boiling.
But glass was
breakable, and so in 1810,
an englishman named
durand invented the tin can,
first used by the military,
and soldiers, it seems, first
developed a handy can opener.
The corn that's
canned is harvested
from mid-August
until mid-October.
Canning is done very quickly.
Less than four hours pass
between harvesting
and canning procedures
so as to conserve much
of the nutritional value
of the product to be sold.
The unloading of many
trucks of this size will be needed
for the 150,000 tons of corn
that are canned here annually.
The cobs are transported
into the plant on this conveyor.
They will first have to pass
through a kernel remover.
Equipped with several
counter-rotating cylinders,
this unit removes the leaves and
the silk which surround the cob.
With only a few seconds,
the cob is completely
stripped of its covering.
Once cleaned, the
cobs fall into this chute
en route to the next
processing step.
Here they're lined up,
ready to be handled
by the kernel remover.
The kernels are
removed from the cobs
by going through the machine
where knives remove the kernels
in a fraction of a second.
Each of these units remove
1.5 tons of kernels per hour.
Twice a day the machines are
stopped to inspect the blades,
to clean, and sharpen them.
The corn kernels
fall into the middle
while the cobs themselves
are moved to the sides.
Both kernels and cobs move along
on their separate
ways in the process.
The kernels are entered
into this rotating drum,
which removes any particles
larger than the kernels.
Nothing is wasted
in the processing.
Corn residues, leaves, and cobs
will all be used
later as animal feed.
Now the kernels fall into
a mix composed of water
and of a fluid that's obtained
when cutting the corn kernels.
This liquid mix allows for
the transporting of the kernels
without damaging them.
Next the kernels
flow along this belt
and are placed on this conveyor
toward the following
processing step.
Bleaching is done
in this huge cylinder.
A worm screw brings the
bleached kernels to the surface.
A visual inspection verifies
the quality of the kernels.
All that remains is to pack
them into these leakproof cans.
Thousands of cans of every size
are carried to the
filling department.
Filling the cans is done from
this rotating filling machine.
This filling machine can
handle 300 to 450 cans a minute.
The kernels that
fall to the side
are gathered up
later in this cylinder
and returned
to the filling line.
Here a brine solution
composed of water,
salt, and sugar is added.
Covers are securely
attached onto the containers,
but the canning
is not yet finished
because they have to proceed
with some very important tests.
They perform tests
in this laboratory
that assure the
quality of the product.
First they check the
watertightness of the cans.
They also control
the filling weight
and the quality of the kernels.
Meanwhile,
cans continue winding
their way through the plant.
One step remains
-- sterilization.
Sterilization takes
place in this oven
at 250 degrees
and lasts between
4 to 6 minutes.
This is a crucial step
because it guarantees
that the product is reliable
and that it will remain
so for 18 months.
Now they taste
samples of the product
to determine that it
conforms to quality standards.
Cans are labeled as
customers' orders are filled.
In this facility,
they produce an amazing
total of 43 million cans of corn.
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