Kayaks Safety Boots Electronic Signs Cereals
Today on "how it's made"... Kayaks-- we'll tip you off to how they're made. Safety boots-- we'll walk you through the manufacturing process. Electronic signs--  a sign of the times. And cereal--  we're milking this one big time. In days gone by, kayaks were made of wood and animal skin and used by people who hunted to survive. Fast-forward to today, and you'll see that kayaks have updated their image. Now they're marvels of molded plastic coveted by sports enthusiasts far and wide. A kayak is formed by the melting of plastic on a mold of nickel. This mold is made in two parts-- an upper and a lower section. The surface of the mold is perfectly smooth and has a mirror finish that guarantees an excellent luster. The graphics are laid on the mold before molding begins. This way, they're well-impregnated in the plastic. It's an operation that requires quite a bit of dexterity because, contrary to self-adhering stickers, these graphics can't be lifted off if they haven't been well-positioned. This is the yellow powder they're going to melt-- linear polyethylene. It comes in several colors. The amount of powder to be melted is determined by the kayak model to be made. At the same time, in other molds, they're going to fabricate other parts of the kayak, such as the baggage compartment cover, the central support, and the seats. The polyethylene is poured into the mold, which is then closed. All the other molds are closed, as well. Before entering the oven, the molds are securely closed with clamps to avoid any loss of polyethylene. The kayak mold is put onto a transporter and placed facing the oven. Because of the large dimensions of the craft, the oven had to be custom-made. The whole kayak goes in. The oven is 23 feet long and has a diameter of about 6 feet. The polyethylene melts at 550 degrees. To completely distribute the powder throughout the mold, it pivots on several axes. It turns on itself while the oven oscillates 30 degrees towards the front and rear. This procedure is termed "rock 'n' roll" and lasts 19 minutes. Cooking is now over, and the mold exits the oven. But the plastic has to cool in order to solidify. To do this, they place the mold in this cooling chamber. It must not be cooled too quickly or it deforms. A 16-foot kayak can lose up to 6 inches of its length. Now the cover of the mold is lifted off. Then they unmold the cover and the other small parts. The kayak is finally unmolded. Now they can proceed to machining it. While inspecting the kayak, they remove any plastic ridges left by the joint between the two halves of the mold. They now move to finishing. This begins with the screwing on of carrying handles. Here, they cut the opening for the baggage compartment. And then they install the trimming. The central support is positioned. It plays an important role because it links the bottom and top portions of the craft. All that remains now is to finish the baggage compartment. They attach fasteners, then put the cover in place and hold it down with a retaining strap. Finally, the kayak is packaged, ready for delivery. This company makes 12 kayak models of various dimensions. Here's a lesson we hope you won't have to learn the hard way. Drop a hammer on the job, and you might have a few broken toes to show for it. Enter the sturdy work boot. Lace on a pair, and chances are, your feet will survive even your klutziest moments. Work boots are made from cowhide that has undergone both mineral and finishing tanning. A waterproofing treatment completes the preparation. Let's follow the process. This machine is a shaver. It evens up the hide and opens its pores before it receives other appropriate treatments. They treat the hides in this retanning drum. Water, coloring products, and retanning products are at temperatures varying from 90 to 180 degrees. Hides are removed from the retanning drum. The leather will then be vacuum-dried for 2 minutes at a temperature of 160 degrees. Then, the hide will be hung for 24 to 48 hours. Here, the hide is stretched on a vacuum-drying plate. It's evened out to get rid of any creases. A hide measures almost 22 square feet. They'll need about 4 square feet of leather to make a boot. They begin cutting the boot parts. This punch, with the help of a press, cuts the different pieces of leather. They also cut brown fabric pieces-- the interior lining of the boot, made from a foam base and woven polyester fibers. This paring machine thins the edges before they're sewn. During the cutting, each piece of leather is identified by its size. They now begin assembly of the boot. The two sides of the boot are sewn together on this machine. Now the front part of the boot is assembled. Excess leather is progressively cut away. The eyelets-- made of steel, brass, or aluminum-- are then positioned. Here, they attach a foot mount on a form with tiny nails called tacks. The last is placed in the boot to facilitate the assembly of the front part. This carding machine removes any unevenness at the level of the lining before proceeding to the next step. They now install the tempered-steel toe cap. The lining is pulled. They insert the cap and fix it well in place. The leather is folded beneath the boot, the bottom secured with a tack, and the sides fastened with hot glue on this seat and side lasting machine. The boot front is now finished. We get a good view of the application of the hot glue. At this stage, they remove the last installed at the beginning. It's no longer needed. Now the sole will be installed. The heel core is of pine. It's put onto the sole, which will soon be secured into place. Here, they proceed with machining and welding of the rubber sole to the boot tip. It's called vulcanization, done at a temperature of 330 degrees. And the sole is solidly installed. This machine sands the edges of the sole to eliminate any vulcanization residue. They also apply a sealant. They now place an insole inside the boot. Here, they install the laces and stitch on the labels. The boots now leave for the packaging area. Building a pair of boots required no less than 123 different fabrication steps, including packaging. Each pair needs 330 feet of nylon, cotton, and polyester threads and over 10 square feet of thick and rugged leather. Take a stroll down tokyo's downtown drag, and you'll get the distinct impression that neon is passé. Today, electronic signs are all the buzz-- futuristic miracles of light, color, and animation that make the world their matinee screen. Digital electronic signboards are sometimes used as giant television screens or to post written messages. They come in different sizes--  from a few feet all the way up to many thousands of square feet. The creation of a sign starts with plans drawn by engineers and architects. Hundreds of plans are created by computer, among other methods, and require between two days or even a month of work. Millions of tiny lights, or light-emitting diodes called elements, make up the screen's surface. These elements are made of germanium, gallium nitrate, and silicon semiconductors covered with plastic. These elements have to be placed so as to form a matrix. Each of the 20 machines at this plant can install and solder 1,500 elements an hour. Lighting up an element requires only 10 to 20 milliamps, and they last for about 150,000 hours. All the wires are placed behind the matrix in the different electrical connections. This conceals everything behind the sign and shelters it from the weather. Depending upon the distance from which the sign will be seen, spaces between the elements vary from 1/10 of an inch to several inches. A workman now makes the electrical connections. The wires have to be solidly connected to resist shaking caused by movement of the signboard. The matrices must operate together and require controllers, which send information from one to the other. Thus, each group controls its own image. Each matrix has to be electrically powered and integrated to its own 5-volt element-illuminating connector. Sometimes the matrices are made up in two pieces-- one supporting the elements and the other having the components. In this case, it simply requires two cards to establish the contact. Now they connect the information cable that lights up and extinguishes the elements. Each matrix has two connectors-- one that supplies the electric current and the other that carries the sign's information. Here, they verify the functioning of each matrix. Then, they can begin to join matrices together to construct the signboard. We see here all the colors assembled as they will be on the screen. The boards are sometimes installed outside and are thus vulnerable to the weather. That's why they put on this rubber strip, which waterproofs it. The matrices are now assembled together. Then, 10 matrices are joined to make up a module. At this stage, they insert the signboard conductor. Then the wires are connected. These wires transmit electric current and all the information relating to the sign. The elements require a very low-voltage current-- about 5 volts. Each module is then provided with its own converter to maintain a steady voltage. Then all the modules are assembled in the signboard support. And the many electrical connections linking the different modules are made. This gigantic signboard is a composition of 35 modules and 12 matrices. The signboard is almost finished. They now check the color, the luminosity, and the resolution of the screen. The signboard is made of 120,000 electrical light diodes and took nearly 3 months of work. Each year, this company constructs hundreds of digital signboards requiring about 100 million lighting elements. If you aren't the type to rise at the crack of dawn and wolf down a hearty breakfast, chances are you eat a bowl of cereal or a granola bar on the fly. One of the best ways to beat the early-morning blahs, the goodness of cereal now comes in as many forms as our fast-paced lifestyles demand. Our breakfast cereals were born out of the religious beliefs of the seventh-day adventists. The seventh-day adventists are vegetarians who, in 1860, founded a sanatorium where patients were fed only cereals-- wheat flakes invented by dr. John harvey kellogg. His brother, william keith, saw a promising future and built the first flakes factory to market the product. His success would later be imitated by the famous charles william post of post cereals. The making of frosted corn flakes starts in this cooker. The corn kernels are cooked here for 2 hours and 20 minutes. Then the corn kernels are ground up. They're ground up by this endless worm screw. It also determines the number of pounds of kernels needed to make up a cereal recipe. The ground corn is next dried in a dryer unit, an important step before they're cooked. To give them their nice, flat shape, the corn kernels are crushed in the flake roller. Two rollers turn opposite to each other, and the kernels fall into the constricted space between them. The flakes fall onto this conveyor, and the next step will be cooking. The flakes arrive at the cooking oven. They're shaken to make sure they will be uniformly browned. The flakes exit the oven well-browned. They then fall into this chute and head in the direction of the next step. This vibrating conveyor sorts the flakes and retains only the right-sized ones. This drum mixes the flakes and sprays them with a sweet solution boiling at 445 degrees. The sweet solution is dried, and a rake uniformly spreads out the frosted flakes on the canvas. Now they add in vitamins. The cereals are placed into this rotating drum. The vitamins are sprayed onto the flakes by a series of jets. The cereals are now finished, and they head toward the packaging site. This packager fills the bags with cereal. It handles between 40 and 45 bags a minute before they head off for final packaging. This plant doesn't only make cereals. It also makes soft cereal bars. This kneader mixes the ingredients-- oat flakes, rice, and syrup. The preparation is mixed twice a minute. When well-mixed, the preparation is poured into a large container. They will now proceed with the molding of the bars. The contents of the bin are emptied onto a conveyor. And the mixture is spread out. Here, they add chocolate chips to the mixture. The mix is compressed to the desired bar thickness by this roller. The bar separator then divides the mix into 35 equal strips. And then a guillotine cuts the bars to their proper length. The bars continue circulating. This equipment is used to line up the bars and make the packaging process easier. Side by side, the bars are turned here so that they run one behind the other. This roller applies a delicious caramel fondant to the bars. This caramel fondant then cools and sets. They're now at the final stage of production-- coating with chocolate. About 400 pounds of chocolate are needed for the bar recipe. Now finished, the bars are ready for packaging. This machine individually bags the bars. Finally, they proceed with the packaging. These tasty bars will be enjoyed by children, as well as adults.