Horse Bits Oat Cereal Turquoise Jewellery Electric Scooters
For thousands of years, riders have communicated with horses by inserting a bit in the sensitive area of the animal's mouth and manipulating it to steer him in the desired direction. The first bits were made of rope, wood, and even bone. Over time, bits have become far more elaborate. With silver and gold embellishments, these western-style bits are definitely an extravagance. But serious riders don't mind putting their money where their horse's mouth is. To make a bit, the maker first pounds his name onto a curved steel piece. This is the part of the bit that the reins attach to. He stamps one letter at a time to make the lettering fit the curvature of this part. He aims a torch at the center of a steel bar to soften it so it can be bent entirely by hand. He bends the steel around fixtures to shape it into the bit mouthpiece. The mouthpiece will rest on the horse's tongue and the toothless sections of the mouth between the front and back teeth. The size and contours must be exact in order for it to sit properly in the horse's mouth. He pounds the part that will lie on the tongue to give it a downward curve. He trims and shapes the mouthpiece a little more and polishes it until it gleams. He inserts steel balls in both ends and tack-welds them to the mouthpiece. The balls are part of a hinge mechanism. He now permanently welds the balls to the mouthpiece. Next, he installs a copper roller on the mouthpiece. The roller will act as a kind of soother, providing an outlet for nervous tongue action. He sands the end of a curved steel rod to bevel the edge. It will be part of one of the bit's shanks. He places the top part of the bit shank in a fixture, followed by three curved rods and a ring for the reins. Now, perfectly aligned, he welds all the parts together. This bit shank is now ready for some decorative touches. He welds tiny beads of stainless steel to the shank, making it look like a row of pearls. He gives the bit's second shank the same beaded look. He assembles the shank to the two ends of the mouthpiece. The two shanks are ornamental, yet functional, connecting the bit mouthpiece to the bridle and reins. He welds the hinge pins to the shanks. Next, an engraver cuts decorative shapes in sterling silver, wriggling the tool for a zigzag effect around the edges. He carves swirls onto it. It takes years of practice to perfect this artistry. One false move and he'd ruin the part. Once the engraving is complete, he brushes an acid cleaning solution on the back. He then melts a tin-and-silver alloy and applies it to the back of the engraved piece, spreading it for maximum coverage. This molten metal will serve as a solder to fuse the engraved part to the shank. To prepare the shank, he heats it from the bottom and cleans it with more of the acid solution. He applies more solder and transfers the engraved silver to the bit shank. He reheats the shank to ensure the solder is completely molten before cooling and fusing the parts together. The engraving is now one with the shank, and he washes it with clear tap water. After he solders more engravings to the bit, he polishes the silver until it gleams. Now, the bit just needs the headstall. That's the leather harness that holds the bit in the horse's mouth. He slips the headstall tabs into rings on the bit's shanks and screws the ends of each tab very tightly together. Crafted entirely by hand, it takes a couple of days to make one of these bits. After that, it's time to take it for a test trot. Breakfast cereal is most commonly made from such grains as wheat, corn, rice, and oats. Oats are a popular choice for health reasons. They contain a soluble fiber called beta-glucan, which, when consumed regularly, helps maintain normal blood cholesterol levels. These tasty little oat "o"s come ready to eat in a bowl with milk or dry as an easy and portable crunchy snack. At the cereal factory, production begins with the bulk ingredients, mainly oat flour and wheat starch. After the mixer blends these ingredients thoroughly, an air-driven tubular conveyer transfers them to the next station, which blends in the lesser-quantity ingredients, primarily salt and fortifying minerals such as calcium. The entire dry mix is sifted, then transferred to the next station, which adds water to transform it into dough. Then the machine cooks the dough by heating it with steam for approximately a minute. An extrusion machine now compresses the dough and forces it through a stainless-steel forming die. The forming die is a large disc with hundreds of little "o"-shaped holes. The dough exits the die holes as long "o"-shaped tubes, which knives then cut into individual "o"s. At this point, the cereal's moisture content is about 30%. In order for the "o"s to be crunchy, that has to be reduced to about 3%. So the next station spreads them out on a conveyer, which travels through a warm-air drying tunnel for about an hour. When the cereal exits the dryer, the moisture content is down to about 11%. The next operation is so top-secret, the company won't let us show it. It's called expansion. A heating process turns the moisture in the "o"s to steam. This expanding steam puffs the "o"s much the way hot air pops popcorn. This is what the "o"s look like prior to expansion... And after. They lighten in color due to the air inside. Next, the cereal travels over screens. The mesh is just the right size to let the "o"s remain on top, and any smaller, broken pieces fall through. Now the cereal enters the coating station. The coating is a combination of sugar and water, with water boiled out to reduce the mixture to a concentrated syrup. The cereal enters a coating drum. Inside, two nozzles spray the syrup on the "o"s. Continual rotation ensures the application is thorough and even. To dry the coating and further dry the cereal, the "o"s now travel on a belt through another warm-air dryer for about 20 minutes. This reduces the cereal's moisture content to the target level of 3%. For quality control, the factory regularly tests samples of the finished product. First measuring the moisture content... Then checking the density, which is calculated by weighing a specific quantity of cereal. Assuming everything checks out, the cereal proceeds to packaging. The packaging machine feeds plastic film around a fill tube, which drops in 20 ounces of cereal. Heat seals the top of the bag as well as the bottom of what will be the next bag, then cuts the filled bag loose to the conveyer belt below. It passes the bags through a metal detector to ensure no foreign object fell in accidentally during production. The next machine slides each bag into a cereal carton, stamps on the eight-month "best before" date, then seals the carton flap shut with food-grade hot glue. As each box of cereal exits the production line, it passes over what's called a check weigher, a scale which ensures the package contains the correct quantity of oat cereal. Turquois jewelry has adorned the human form for thousands of years. Worn by egyptian pharaohs and aztec kings, turquois was one of the first gemstones to be crafted into jewelry. Fast forward to today and turquois hasn't lost its luster. In the american southwest, native people have long mined the earth for a stone that is as blue as the sky. Turning it into jewelry is a tribal tradition. There are many shades of turquois, and some are more greenish than blue. The artist rinses off the dirt and debris to reveal the true color of each stone. He evaluates them and selects one. He cuts it with a circular saw. As he cuts, he lubricates the stone with water to keep it cool, because too much heat could cause discoloration. He cuts the stone thinner again, with an eye to fitting the turquois in a silver pendant setting. He sands the surface flat and smooth so it will sit well in the setting. He selects coordinating pieces for a mosaic work and sands them to create an equally flat surface. He now etches a line on a sheet of silver and then saws along this line to produce a silver strip. This silver strip will now be used to make the pendant setting. He wraps it around a steel mandrel to shape it into a loop. Then, using a leather mallet, he gently pounds the silver to the mandrel to perfect the shape. He pinches the ends with pliers to close the loop. Next, he saws a silver square. He stamps the maker's insignia onto it, as well as the hallmark indicating the silver's purity. He seals the silver loop with solder. He places the loop on the front of the silver square that he's covered with a flux. This paste facilitates the soldering process as he now joins the loop to the square. He cuts the square to round it to the loop using metal shears. The pendant setting has now taken shape. Using a fine abrasive file, he gets rid of the excess silver around the rim, and he smoothes the edges. He solders a loop for the chain to the pendant setting. The chain loop is known as the bail. The artist is now ready to create a turquois mosaic in this setting. The initial cuts were just approximate, so the stones don't exactly fit together in the setting. He grinds each one a little at a time until they do. He's careful to not grind too much. That would leave gaps in the mosaic. Each stone must sit snugly against the next in the silver setting. He handles the turquois gently because it's a soft stone and breaks easily. In the event of a fracture, he improvises and treats it as an artistic opportunity. He cuts a tiny bit of another stone to complete the mosaic. It serves as an accent piece, enhancing this stone mosaic pattern. The turquois stones now all fit together like pieces of a puzzle. He removes the stones from the setting and mixes a two-part epoxy. He applies a generous amount to the setting. He places the turquois stones back in the pendant in their original configuration. The epoxy dries quickly and the stones bond to the silver in minutes. The turquois mosaic now undergoes an intensive sanding, beginning with a rough-grit sandpaper and ending with a fine one. The sanding makes the seams almost disappear. He applies a sapphire grit and water solution to a leather buffing wheel and polishes the pendant until it takes on a nice patina. Crafted using techniques handed down through the generations, native turquois jewelry still makes a statement. That's why it never seems to go out of style. An electric scooter is a motorized version of the traditional foot-powered kick scooter. While the kick scooter is designed primarily for children, the battery-powered electric scooter is decidedly an adult vehicle, popular with urban commuters looking for a simple and inexpensive set of wheels. This isn't your kid's scooter. Lightweight, battery-powered, and foldable, it reaches speeds of up to 20 miles per hour and can carry a passenger weighing up to a hefty 250 pounds. Most of the components, like this sprocket, which goes on the rear wheel, are made of aircraft-grade aluminum-- a high-strength, yet lightweight metal. After cutting the shape, the computer-guided milling machine cuts decorative holes that further lighten the weight. A punch press cuts the shape of the brake disc, made of aircraft-grade stainless steel, also a strong, yet lightweight metal. The scooter chassis is made of high-strength steel. To one end, they weld on a bushing for the real axle. To the other end, a large tube to house the scooter's electric motor. To that support tube, they weld the front part of the chassis to which they'll later connect the handlebar. They also weld on a support for the rear wheel. They paint the chassis with what's known in the industry as powder coat-- dry paint particles applied with an electrostatic charge, an application technique which ensures full, even coverage. The chassis goes through an oven for about five minutes at 403° fahrenheit to bake on the finish. The brake disc, meanwhile, has gone through a heat-treatment process for strengthening, and has acquired aluminum spacers to properly position the first magnesium wheel rim, which goes on next, followed by the rubber tire, then the second wheel rim. To hold this front wheel assembly together, they thread a lug nut into the bolt protruding from each spacer. These lug nuts are self-locking, meaning their threads are shaped in such a way that they won't loosen during normal use. This is an important safety feature. Next, workers insert the battery-powered electric motor into the support tube on the chassis. After securing the motor in place with screws, they install the drive-chain adjuster. The drive chain links the motor to the rear wheel. This adjuster maintains the appropriate chain tension under all conditions. Now they mount the rear axle and rear wheel with its large sprocket. They install a small sprocket on the drive shaft, which protrudes from the motor. Then they take the drive chain, made of high-strength steel, and hook it around the two sprockets. They mount the rear fender and chain guard, both made of high-strength plastic, then tighten the axle to hold everything together securely. Now for the scooter's handlebar. An automated welding machine fuses two aluminum tubes into a "t". After chemically treating the handlebar to prevent corrosion and wear, they install a catch that holds the handle to the base when the scooter's folded. Next, the lever for the disc brake on the front wheel and the control for the motor. Last but not least, rubber handlebar grips, embossed with a snazzy design. The motor control has a push-button ignition, a thumb throttle for regulating speed, and a battery-life indicator. With the motor control and brake lines taped in their proper position, workers mount the handlebar on the chassis with the hinge pin, enabling it to fold down onto the base. They mount the front wheel with its disc brake. When you activate the handlebar brake lever, this caliper and pad grab the disc, which stops the rotating wheel. An aluminum pan in the base holds the battery, battery charger, and all the electronics. They cover it with a birchwood platform on which the rider stands. The wood has a weatherproof coating and features the company logo in nonskid material to prevent the rider's feet from slipping. The mechanics are simple. The motor turns the drive shaft, which turns the small sprocket, which turns the chain, which turns the large sprocket mounted on the rear wheel, propelling the scooter.