Power Steering Pumps Asian Bowl Meals Walking Canes
In the first half of the 20th century, power steering was not an option. Prototypes were too expensive for production. During world war ii, the british and american armies began to use power steering in heavy vehicles like armored cars, and auto makers soon began adding it to passenger vehicles. These hydraulic steering pumps are the steering muscle in muscle cars, providing a power assist to give the driver more control. Using computer software, manufacturers design the pumps to fit specific classes of vehicles. They print a plastic model using a 3-d printer. This is a time-lapse video of the process. The designer removes the plastic model and he sends it, along with the computer design, to a casting facility, which produces aluminum pump-housing parts. Back at the factory, a worker mounts 12 of the castings in a machine with computer-controlled tooling. He activates the system, and it moves the rack of castings into position. The tools machine the face of the castings. They bore center-bearing holes and drill threaded holes for bolts. This is precision work, which will now be double-checked by a device known as a coordinate measuring machine. A worker clamps the pump housing in the machine. Then, a ruby-tipped probe scans its dimensions. The machine analyzes the information. It verifies that every part of the housing meets the precise specifications. With that confirmation, he unclamps the part. This is the pump housing in the various stages of production. Other tools turn a solid aluminum dowel into a fitting for the pump's pressure bore. They sculpt the circumference and carve a complex geometry in the center for controlling the flow of power steering fluid. Another tool carves the thread to screw the fitting into the pressure bore, and the final one drills the fluid bypass hole. A blue anodized coating protects it from corrosion. A worker now locks the pump housing in a honing machine. The machine floods the pressure relief bore with lubricant as the stone hones the inner diameter to a precise tolerance. He then transfers the pump housing to a press. He inserts a bearing and shaft in the center bore. He places an aluminum tool over the bearing and shaft to align them correctly as he manually presses them into the bore. Once the bearing has been solidly entrenched, he removes the tool. He inserts a metal snap ring in a groove to retain the bearing and shaft. He turns the power steering pump over an installs o-rings to seal the pressure section. Then the worker installs the cam ring and the rotor with the veins. As the rotor spins, the veins will move in and out, collecting hydraulic fluid. This process adds pressure, taking the load off the steering wheel. The worker installs this critical sub-assembly in the pump housing. He screws the device in place in the four corners. He turns the power steering pump over and seals the end of the pressure bore with an aluminum plug and copper washer. He now tucks the pressure relief valve in the open part of the pressure bore. He secures it with the special flow fitting we saw machined earlier on. He tightens the fitting with a torque wrench. He turns the power steering pump onto its side. He attaches a fitting to the intake port for the hydraulic fluid. The power steering pump is now equipped with all the working parts. Here's a look at the transformation. A display model with a cutout offers a peak inside. At the test station, a technician makes all the connections and runs it as if it was in an actual racecar. A computer measures its performance and confirms that it meets all the technical requirements. The power steering pump is now ready for the twists and turns of professional racing. Across asia, rice bowl meals are an enduring tradition. By combining protein and vegetable elements with rice in a bowl, people have a meal. It's asian comfort food, and somehow it just tastes better in a bowl. And people around the world are discovering the appeal of these one-bowl meals. Asian bowl meals start with the rice. Then people add whatever they want. At food bars like this, there's any number of choices. The bowls can be served up fast, and the food is healthy. Because there are many possible combinations, these one-bowl meals never get boring. Preparations start with the rice. This food worker measures enough for 40 portions. After rinsing the grains repeatedly, he adds it to a rice cooker. He then measures the water for cooking. He adds it to the cooker. It will steam the grains so they cook uniformly for one hour. While the rice is cooking, the food worker then pours peeled garlic cloves into a food processor. He adds a half cup of vegetable oil. The garlic will flavor several dishes in the asian food bar. The food processor chops the garlic to a fine consistency. Using a mandolin vegetable slicer, he slices slivers of carrots. Along with chopped onions, the carrots will enhance the flavor of fried rice. He now removes some rice from the cooker, in order to make fried rice. He separates the grains so they'll fry more uniformly. The food worker is now ready to fry. He heats the wok to a very high temperature. He adds cooking oil, and it starts to sizzle. He tosses in the carrot slivers, chopped onion, garlic and frozen peas. He constantly stirs the ingredients, and the flavors sweeten and deepen. He turns down the heat a bit an adds the rice. He mixes the rice with the other ingredients as the cooking continues at a slightly lower temperature. He measures the temperature. For food safety reasons, it needs to be over 143 degrees fahrenheit. The food worker pours soy sauce onto the hot wok. It trickles down to permeate the rice, adding flavor and color. That completes the fried rice component of the food bar. Next up are the vegetable and protein choices. The food worker cubes sushi-grade tuna. It will be marinated with a spicy saucy shortly. He places the tuna in a food bar container. He peels cucumber and then juliennes it. The cucumber will be a raw food choice that will offset the strong flavor of the tuna. The food worker then prepares the tuna's spicy marinade. He adds chili sauce and a smaller amount of chili oil to mayonnaise. It's hot stuff. A seaweed salad dish is another refreshing choice that will cool the palate. He adds the chili mayonnaise to the tuna. And he turns up the heat a little more with some extra chili oil. A thorough mixing completely saturates the raw fish with the spicy sauce. Next, the food worker prepares the dressing for a cabbage salad. He starts with a white miso paste. A generous amount of soy sauce follows. Sushi vinegar and vegetable oil are the next ingredients. After adding some sesame oil, he blends all the components. He coats the shredded cabbage with the miso dressing. He sprinkles black sesame seeds onto the cabbage salad. Teriyaki beef is the next option. The main ingredients are shaved filet steak, chopped ginger, and shredded onion. The food worker sautés the onion and ginger to provide a flavor base. He adds the shaved steak, and as it cooks, it takes up the essence of the onion and ginger. The soy-based teriyaki sauce provides the final layer of flavor. With this dish now complete, it's time for the fun part-- mixing and matching components for the asian food bowl. There was a time when an elegant walking cane was a status symbol for fashionable gentlemen. Today, a cane is no longer considered an accessory, but rather a utilitarian medical aid for people with mobility issues. However, one can still find canes which combine both function and fashion. Walking canes can indeed be stylish, with straight or crook handles made of exotic wood or bone, elegant knob handles, or elaborate figurative handles. This family enterprise has been hand-crafting walking canes since 1909. Making a crook handle requires bending the handle material. After heating a curved steel form in a fire, workers insert a square stick of ebony in a steel spring and mount it on the central axis of the machine. The clamp the machine's guide wheel against the form, then clamp the part of the stick that will remain straight. Using their body weight, the worker forces the machine's lever forward, wrapping the top part of the stick around the hot, curved form. It's critical to do this slowly to prevent the wood from snapping. Workers then lock the bent stick against the form with a brace... And remove it from the machine. They set it aside for a week. One week later, they remove the brace and spring and mount the curved stick on a lathe. As the stick spins, a carriage moves a saw down the straight part of the cane, known as the shaft, reducing the diameter and rounding it out. This is the shaft before and after this step. A worker runs the handle against a coarse grit sanding belt to pare it down and begin rounding it out. He uses a router to refine the shape and works on the harder-to-access inner part of the curve. Once the handle is rounded, and its diameter equal to that of the shaft, he performs a final fine sanding. Then he polishes the entire cane with polishing compound against a cotton buffing wheel. Slowly but surely, this makes the ebony sleek and lustrous. All wooden canes--  these here are made of maple-- warp a bit during woodworking. Another worker heats the cane to make the wood flexible, then inserts it in a v-shaped holder and peers down the length of the shaft to assess the direction of the deformity. Then he manually straightens out the cane. These canes undergo a final step to add a decorative feature. A worker sands off some wood on the crook handle, creating a flat, oval surface. He applies glue, then he adheres a piece of cow horn. Once the glue dries, he grinds the horn flush with the surrounding wood. The result is a horn inlay. Wooden canes also need protection against moisture and wear. The factory submerges them in varnish for a half hour, so that the varnish deeply penetrates the pores of the wood. Hanging the canes to dry would leave varnish drip marks, so the factory uses this ingenious pulley-driven contraption that dates back to the 1900s. With its wood wheels and leather belts, the machine continuously rotates the canes to prevent the wet varnish from dripping as it air dries. That's how to make a wooden crook-handled cane. As you'll see next, fancier walking canes require additional steps. Whether it's decorated with ornately carved wood, sleek horn or gleaning metal, brandishing a fancy walking cane is like wearing a bold pair of eyeglasses. What might otherwise be a bland necessity can be elevated to a fashion statement. Elegant canes can have horn or knob handles, or silver-plated figural handles. The figural ones are molded two at a time. After placing a screw mechanism in each cavity, a worker closes the mold and places it in a centrifuge machine. As the mold spins, he ladles pewter into a funnel that feeds the channels leading into the mould cavities. The centrifugal force shoots the pewter onto the cavity walls in an even layer, where it cools and solidifies in about five minutes. Then he stops the machine and removes the mould. The worker opens the mold and extracts the two pewter castings, each with it's screw mechanism securely embedded. One is a cobra handle. The other is a dog and boar handle. They require a bit of refinement, so the next step is to remove the excess metal with a rotating wire brush. A worker then shines up the surface with some polishing compound and a cloth buffing wheel. He washes off the polishing compound and silver-plates the pewter. The handle will top an equally elegant ebony shaft. A worker places the square stick of ebony in a lathe, which rounds it. The shaft goes through several sanding and polishing steps. Then a worker drills a two-inch-deep hole in the top of it. He puts some glue in the hole and screws in the handle. If silver-plated cobras aren't your style, how about a handle made of white cow horn? First, a worker heats all but the tip of the horn in a fire. This destroy the nerves in the bone inside the horn's shell. This horn will be shaped into a crooked handle using the same bending machine the workers use for wood crook handles. The base of the horn is hot, so they use a small block of wood as a buffer. After clamping the machine's guide wheel against the middle of the horn, they use their body weight to move the lever forward, and wrap the top half of the horn against the curved form. Before heating the horn, the worker drilled a small hole through its tip. Now he inserts a thin steel wire through that hole and ties the wire tightly around the opposite side to hold the horn to the round form. He sets it aside for a week. A horn handle undergoes the same multi-step sanding process as a wood handle, however, a worker drills a hole into the bottom and screws in an aluminum rod. This makes the handle easier to hold while sanding. The worker removes the final traces of the outer layer with a router and finalizes the crook's shape. He removes the handle from the metal rod and finishes it off with a fine sanding. The horn surface is now as smooth as silk. He then polishes the handle on a cotton buffing wheel using a polishing compound specially formulated for horn. That brings out the color and sheen. Then the worker screws and exotic-wood shaft into the same hole used for the metal rod. This fashionable cane, which has taken 4-6 hours to craft, is ready to be modeled on the walkway.