Surfboards Stickers Sandwich Cookies Concrete Roofing Tiles
Surfing is an ancient polynesian pastime, first documented by europeans in the 18th century. In the 1920s, the sport spread from hawaii to the beaches of california. Back then, surfboards were made of solid wood. Today, they're made of lightweight synthetic materials. Serious surfers have their boards custom-made and engineered for the types of waves they'll be riding. At the board's core is a piece of polyurethane foam with a wooden strip down the center. The factory's shaping specialist inspects the board and checks the foam for defects. If all is well, he cuts the board to the right length. Then he chooses a board shape template from his library and traces it. Then he saws along his pencil line. Using a planer, he refines this starting shape to the customer's specifications. When he finishes, he checks to make sure everything's symmetrical. Next, he shapes the edges. With a power sander, he flattens and smoothes out the surface then follows with a fine sanding by hand. Before releasing the foam core to the next department, he checks the dimensions-- thickness, contours, and the smoothness. A lamination specialist preps the board to receive its first layer of fiberglass. He masks the top, called the deck, to shield it from the resin he'll now apply to the bottom. He lays down the first fiberglass cloth, leaving a 3-inch overlap along the perimeter. Next, he spreads polyester resin that's tinted to whatever color the customer ordered all over the fiberglass cloth. He folds the overlap onto the deck... Then grinds the corners flat. He flips the board deck-side up and trims the overlap. Next, he covers the deck in two layers of fiberglass. In between them, he pours clear polyester resin then positions company logos printed on rice paper. The resin soaks the paper, embedding the logo. Then another layer of resin-coated fiberglass. Once that dries, he applies yet another coat of resin on both sides of the board. Using a router and template, he cuts a hole for the box that'll hold the surfboard's fin. He fills the hole with black resin then inserts the fin box. Now a sanding specialist takes over. He grinds the box flush, which opens its fin slot. Then he gives the board an overall sanding to smooth the surface. Next stop is the paint room. The painter uses masking tape and an acrylic paint pen to decorate the surfboard with black pin lines. Once they dry, he masks the board and air-brushes in a white pin line. Once dry, he applies a finishing coat of resin over the entire board. Now a polishing specialist steps in. After a fine sanding, he buffs the entire board with polishing compound, producing a slick high-gloss finish. The factory ships the board to the surfboard shop, where the customer chooses a fin from the many models available. The fin screws into the fin box, and, dude, the board is ready to go. Stickers have long been used in merchandising. But in 1979, they took a crafty turn with the introduction of decorative stickers. Sticker art soon became a popular hobby, allowing anyone to engage in a little creative embellishment. Stickers can be used to accent greeting cards, photo albums, or add a certain flourish to any project. Every sticker begins with a work of art. The artist transfers the image to a computer and manipulates it until the desired effect is achieved. Next, a sheet of photopolymer goes onto an exposure machine. The technician places a negative of the art on top of the photopolymer sheet. He pulls plastic over the two and closes the machine's lid. Inside, a vacuum pulls the negative to the photopolymer. Intense ultraviolet light transfers the art to the photopolymer in seconds. He makes several photopolymer printing plates, each one a variation of the original artwork. They will be used to layer pattern and color. Before they can print, they have to make the art stand out from the background. This machine removes material surrounding the transferred images using a special chemical and a heavy-duty brush. Because the images were hardened during the exposure, they withstand the chemicals and abrasion. The process leaves the images slightly raised against a clear backdrop and ready for the printing press. They wrap the printing plates around cylinders. The press operator examines the seam under a magnifying glass to confirm that the edges are perfectly aligned. He loads the cylinder into the printing press. Then he pours yellow ink into a reservoir below. And it's time to roll the printing press. Rollers transfer the ink to the printing cylinder, and it prints the art onto adhesive-backed sticker paper. They use a different printing plate for each color to create variations in the design. As a result, each of these hearts ends up looking different. It's all about layering color and pattern to give the sticker artists plenty of options. Next, the press operator prepares a cutting cylinder. It cuts around the designs, but only penetrates the top layer of the sticker paper. Rollers pull off the surrounding material. They wind it up for recycling offsite. Only the stickers remain on the backing, but they aren't ready for the scrapbook just yet. First it's over to another press, which hot-stamps foil to the designs. This process is carefully choreographed. A sensor on the press detects the hearts which are to be given the metallic finish. Those get shiny swirls, glossy ribbons, or other trimmings while others are left untouched. The next machine cuts the stickers into sheets. Then it's over to a packaging machine where an operator loads the sheets into a hopper. Wheels with little grippers collect the sheets and drop them in piles of two onto a backer car. The packaging machine then wraps plastic film around the stickers and seals the package with a static charge. A hot knife then cuts and seals it at both ends. When it comes to other designs, there's no shortage of choices, giving sticker artists of all ages plenty of ways to express themselves. Early in the 20th century, an american biscuit company introduced a cookie sandwich. It was two chocolate cookies with rich vanilla icing at the center. This sandwich cookie created an instant sensation, and almost a century later, it hasn't lost its appeal. People still crave this sugary fusion of crunch and cream. Dipping the sandwich cookie in milk is a tasty tradition, and whoever started it must have been one smart cookie. Sandwich cookies start with pure granulated sugar. This worker heaves bags of it into a mixer as he prepares to whip up the batter for the wafers. He adds two kinds of cocoa. The combination will give the wafers the desired taste and color. A premix of salt and other ingredients follows. A specially formulated canola-oil mixture will transform these dry ingredients into a batter as huge beaters blend everything together. They add water, and the batter starts to look like a bubbling chocolate soup. They add dry ice, which chills the batter as it evaporates. The lower temperature is key as they add flour to thicken the batter into a dough. The dough will turn out less crumbly than it would have been if it had been kept at room temperature. A premix of leavening ingredients goes in next. One final mix, and this chocolate dough is ready to go. The worker shovels it onto a grate, which protects his fingers as he presses the dough down into a molding machine. This machine shapes the dough into cookie wafers while pressing intricate designs and the brand name onto them. It churns out an impressive 5,000 chocolate wafers an hour. The freshly molded cookie wafers now move from the silicon conveyer to a steel one. It takes the wafers into a gas oven, where they travel in a continuous loop for several minutes to receive an even baking. After that, fans cool the wafers to the desired crispiness. The chocolate wafers then move to another conveyor, which feeds into a series of chutes. Then the wafers travel over ramps designed to make them fall into a certain position. One row lands plain-side up, and the next lands with the embossed side up. This correctly orients them to be sandwiched around a cream filling. It's a high-speed operation, as a cylindrical pump deposits the vanilla cream on the plain side of the wafers. The cream-coated wafers head over to the next station. Here, machinery moves the top wafers onto the cream-coated ones. The cookies move up for the count. Mechanical fingers separate them into bunches of 11. Then grippers swing into action to move each little bunch forward. They release the cookies neatly into plastic trays. The trays full of sandwich cookies move on to the wrapping station. Here, metallic film unwinds and wraps around the trays. Hot jaws move in to seal the package at both ends. Finally, they're shipped to retailers. But once these sandwich cookies are in the pantry, it might be tough to keep them under wraps. In moderate climates, tile roofs are the norm. The tiles are typically rounded and terra-cotta in color, characteristic of mediterranean architecture and made of clay or concrete. Today, concrete roofing tiles come in a wide variety of colors and styles from traditional to contemporary. While concrete roofing tiles can emulate wood or asphalt shingles, they have a far longer life span-- more than 50 years. The tile-making process begins with smooth sand from natural sand deposits combined with sharp, jagged sand made from pulverized rock. The factory regrinds any concrete tiles that failed quality control and adds them to the mix, as well. Technicians analyze the composition of the mix, measure the moisture, and assess the silt content. Too much silt will weaken the concrete. They measure silt by shaking the sand in a test tube. Heavier particles settle to the bottom, water at the top, and silt in between. The amount of silt must not exceed 10%. The sand mix runs through a vibrating screen, which filters out large objects, such as rocks and sticks. To make concrete, you mix sand with cement. The cement-truck driver hooks up a hose to blow its contents into a huge silo. From the silo, the conveyor system metes out a specific amount of cement into the sand. It's critical to get the ratio just right. Roof tiles come in a choice of colors. They tint the concrete a specific shade by pumping in natural iron-oxide pigments and water. A cement screw mixes everything until it's evenly blended. The concrete is now ready to be molded into roof tiles. This machine sprays the aluminum molds with vegetable oil, which will make it easy to extract the finished tiles. The concrete drops into an extrusion machine, which squeezes it out in a continuous sheet onto the passing molds. Knives descend, cutting the sheet to tile lengths. This is what the process looks like in slow motion. Real-time production moves at a rate of 110 tiles per minute. The tiles now run past rollers that finish the edges nicely. Then an ink-jet printer applies product information along with the date and time. The next stop is a giant oven. The factory meticulously controls the temperature and humidity inside so that the concrete dries and cures properly. The tiles come out of the oven, depending on their size, 5 to 24 hours later. An automated separator extracts each tile from its mold. The conveyor then sends the empty molds back to be refilled with wet concrete. Nozzles spray sealer onto the top of the tiles. This will force moisture and calcium to exit thorough the bottom, preventing discoloration on the tile's surface. Workers do a final visual check, removing any tiles with cracks or other flaws. Automated equipment stacks and straps 36 to 39 tiles into a group called a sleeve. The factory subjects random samples to rigorous quality-control testing for strength... Permeability... Even hail. To pass this test, the tile must be left unscathed by a 2-inch ice ball flying at 35 yards per second. This fire-safety test ensures that heat or flames can't penetrate the tile. Roofs made of concrete tiles can even withstand winds of up to 150 miles per hour, making them ideal for regions prone to hurricanes.