Inflatable Watercraft Couscous Modelling Dough Wicker Products
Today on "how it's made"... Inflatable watercraft... Couscous... Modeling dough... And wicker products. Today's inflatable watercraft range from rafts and dinghies to canoes and kayaks. They're less expensive than conventional boats and easier to store and transport. You don't need a trailer-- just throw your boat in the trunk, then unfold and inflate it when you get to your aquatic destination. Whether it's a raft shooting the rapids or a motorized boat gliding across a calm lake, an inflatable watercraft begins with sturdy, waterproof material. This company uses pvc fabric . 04 of an inch thick that has a nylon or polyester fiber core. After workers trace and cut out the pieces that will form the boat, they connect them with a strip of the same material, fusing them together using a machine with a propane flame. The intense heat melts the surface of the pvc until the pieces bond. Here's that bonding action in slow motion. Next, they fuse a strip of pure pvc to the underside of the joint. This assures that air won't leak out of the boat where the pieces connect. Inflating the boat will pull on the material surrounding the air valve, so they reinforce that area with a round piece of pvc called a doubler. This high-frequency welding machine applies 280 pounds of pressure and heat-generating f.m. waves to fuse the doubler in place. Then they cut a hole in the middle of the doubler for the air valve. Next come the cones. Cones support the weight of the motor and enable the boat to plane, to rise above the water when traveling at high speed. Using the propane-flame machine, workers seal together the ends of the boat... Then insert the inside cone piece just before they close it up completely. They finish off the seal using the high-frequency welding machine, then pull the cone piece through. They inflate the boat until the pressure forces the cone piece into place. They seal all around it with heavy-duty caulking... Stick on the outside cone piece... Then screw it securely in place. They fully inflate the boat to perfect the seal and expel the excess caulking. Now they install what's called the transom, a plank of wood that supports the motor at the rear of the boat. They cover it in boat fabric, using a plastic resin-based glue that's resistant to the fiery heat of the sun. They apply the same glue to the piece of material that will become the underside of the boat, then position it in place. After gluing on a bumper made of hard pvc, they coat the boat's underside in a liquid plastic resin. This protects the bottom when the boat runs aground over rocks and sand. They test-inflate the keel, a stabilizer that runs the length of the boat. Then they deflate it and begin installing the floor. The floor is made up of five connected pieces, three made of aluminum and two made of fiberglass, plastic, or wood. The hole in the floor is for the keel's air valve. After inflating the boat... They inflate the keel. Now they take measurements to determine where to position the oars. First, they glue on the oarlocks, the pieces that hold the oars in place. The oars are made of aluminum, so they're lightweight and they won't rust. The motor is 6 horsepower to 50 horsepower, depending on the size of the boat. Couscous is a traditional staple of north african cuisine. It looks like a grain, but it's actually pasta. These days, few people make couscous from scratch. Even in north africa, they usually buy their couscous ready-made and just steam-cook it. Couscous is the product of culinary simplicity. It's made from one ingredient and one ingredient alone-- wheat, most often, the durum species of wheat. When you remove the grains, grind them, and sift out the finer flour, you're left with a coarser wheat flour called "semolina". That's the flour from which they make couscous. The first step is known as "hydration". An automated food processor measures about 1/3 water to 2/3 semolina, then mixes them for 3 minutes. The flour particles absorb the liquid and bloat into a raw dough. The dough particles then go into a rotating drum, where they spin for seven minutes. This rounds them into balls of varying sizes. A screen inside the drum sifts out the big clumps. The raw doughballs go into a giant steam-cooker for 15 minutes. The intense heat, over 210 degrees fahrenheit, cooks the dough by gelatinizing the starch in the wheat. As the couscous balls exit the steam-cooker stuck together, giant revolving blades break them up. The soggy couscous now enters a rotating dryer, where it spins for 18 minutes. This removes 22% of the water. The remaining moisture is necessary to prevent the couscous from drying out in the package. Now the couscous pours out of the dryer and onto the conveyor belt that funnels it to the next station. You can see that the balls are much drier and relatively uniform in size, but they're still steaming hot, so they go off to a refrigeration chamber for two minutes to cool. As the couscous exits the chamber, it runs through a screening machine that separates the balls, called "grains," by size. Medium and fine couscous go off to their respective storage silos, while grains that are too big or too small go back to be reprocessed. The couscous-making process, from wheat semolina to the finished product, has taken just 45 minutes. As we've seen, most of the cooking's been done by the factory, so all the consumer will have to do is steam this ready-made couscous for five minutes on the stove or in the microwave. This factory packages its couscous in bulk quantities, as well as in smaller, meal-sized portions. Today, ready-made couscous comes in many different flavors. And depending on the dish you're making or your personal preference, you can choose medium grain... Or fine grain. Plain or flavored couscous is becoming an increasingly popular side dish, an alternative to rice, potatoes, or noodles. You can even buy main-course couscous kits that come with a can of vegetables and a packet of sauce. There's nothing little kids love more than digging their hands into a mound of squishy modeling dough, then rolling and shaping it. It's a hands-on experience in creativity, made all the more fun by modeling doughs that come in bright colors and yummy scents. Just in case little billy decides to snack on his artistic creation, this scented modeling dough is made entirely of food ingredients-- flavorings and colorings, salt, flour, hot water, and some secret ingredients the company won't divulge. The key to achieving just the right consistency is meticulous measurement. They use electronic scales to precision-weigh each ingredient. Bit by bit, they pour the dry ingredients and flavorings into the mixer. The amount of hot water they add varies according to the color and scent they're producing. The proportions are about 30% water to 70% dry ingredients. The last ingredient is food coloring-- in this case, cherry red. For the modeling dough to come out just right, the mixing time has to be precisely 3 minutes and 20 seconds. When the dough comes out, it's roughly the consistency of pie dough. It's quite hot from all that churning, almost 160 degrees fahrenheit, but there's no need to cool it before packaging. It goes right into a machine called the stuffer, which cuts it in container-sized portions. The finished product is soft and malleable, enough for endless hours of playing. Besides smelling delightful, this modeling dough doesn't crumble, doesn't stick to things, and won't stain clothes or upholstery. A machine called the container distributor lines up the plastic containers. Then the stuffer drops a wad of hot dough into each one. As the containers move down the line, on goes a cover stamped with the production date. A compression roller then runs over the cover to create an airtight seal. Last but not least, a colorful sticker to boldly identify the scent. The containers pass through a metal detector, a precautionary measure in case some metal shards wore off the machinery and landed unnoticed in the dough. The company lab is continually developing new scents. This brand comes in 36 different scents so far... From a variety of fruits... To kid-friendly foods. The lab is also constantly experimenting with new colors, though some, such as purples, are quite difficult to produce. Children, of course, can make their own colors simply by combining existing ones. If you leave the modeling dough out of the sealed container for too long, it'll dry out. But because this brand is water-based, not oil-based like some others, you can revive it. All you have to do is add a few drops of water, knead it a bit, then put it back in the sealed container. After a few hours, your scented modeling dough will be as good as new. Wicker is thin branches or vines flexible enough to be woven. Many plants can be used for wicker, such as willow and rattan. Quality wicker is very durable. You can find antique wicker furniture that's as sturdy today as it was in its heyday. The oldest piece of wicker on record dates back to 1400 b.c. archeologists discovered it in egypt, where, in ancient times, people used wicker chairs. Handwoven wicker furniture was the rage in europe and north america in the 1800s. To meet this demand, trade schools churned out master wicker weavers. But by the 1930s, manufacturers developed a paper fiber to mimic the look of wicker and large mechanized looms to do the weaving. Today's genuine wicker items are usually made of rattan core, rattan palm-tree branches stripped of their bark then processed into different diameters and profiles. At this workshop, they use a manual loom to weave wicker hampers. Taking what's known as "flat oval rattan core"-- flat on one side, rounded on the other-- they run horizontal strands through vertical strands in an under-and-over pattern, working between the hamper's wooden frame and its fiberboard lining. They keep the vertical strands taut by tying them to weighted ropes. It's important to keep moistening the rattan with hot water to keep it supple enough to manipulate. They weave one thin round strand after every 5-inch-high section of flat oval. There's no structural reason for this pattern-- it's purely aesthetic. A wicker wastebasket begins with a base that dictates the shape. They insert vertical stakes of round rattan core along its perimeter, then below the base, bend each stake over the next, then under the one after that. This forms what's called the foot border, a bottom rim that holds the base securely in place. Now they insert a wooden form and begin weaving. First, a small section of round rows, then a large section of flat oval ones. Slowly and patiently, they work their way to the top, never resorting to glue or staples to hold the strands together, only a hook to compress the rows for a neat and tight weave. Every so often, they use pliers to tear off a stray fiber. Now for the finishing touch. They braid what's left of the vertical stakes into a decorative top rim. This particular braiding technique is very complex, requiring all 10 fingers and a special tool to pry stubborn strands apart. They snip off the excess with a cutter. When they're finished, they remove the modular wooden form. Its components are numbered, so they'll know how to reassemble them for the next basket. Another more decorative way to finish the top of the basket is this arch technique. They trim each vertical stake, bend it into an arch, then tuck it into the basket three stakes over. This measuring tool ensures the arches are of equal height, while this metal device creates a space into which to tuck each stake. Wicker weavers create magnificent designs by combining various shapes and sizes of rattan. A strand can be as thick as a pencil or as thin as a needle. While this doesn't quite fall under the category of wicker, it's not uncommon to see wicker workshops use other natural materials. Here, they're weaving a chair seat out of cord made from sea grass. There's also wicker seating material. This prewoven sheet is called "cane seating," or "rattan peel". It's made from the bark stripped off the rattan branch. First, they force it into a groove in the chair's wooden frame, then they glue in what's called "spline," a strip of rattan core with a pointed edge. They wedge that edge into the groove and bring it down to the hold the rattan peel in place. Then they trim off the excess. Because wicker is wood, it can be stained or painted or left its natural color. Whatever the finish, they give it two or three coats of varnish for protection.