Folding Kayaks Piñatas Garbage Trucks Ceramic Composite Brake Discs
The folding kayak is a seaworthy vessel that can be disassembled and stuffed into a duffel bag. This boat-in-a-bag concept was developed in germany a century ago. It's a good fit for the modern traveler's lifestyle because it can be stowed in a car trunk, checked on to a plane, or stashed in the condo closet. History has shown that when going gets rough, the folding kayak doesn't fall apart. Adventurers have crossed oceans in them, and today its story continues to unfold. The kayak frame starts with parts cut from solid ash and laminated birch. For waterproofing, they dip them in marine-grade varnish three times, drying them for 24 hours between dips. A worker then rivets metal fittings to a varnished section of the keel board. It's these fittings that enable the folding kayak to move with the sea instead of against it. That's because they're made of an aluminum-copper alloy, a metal with a certain amount of give. He fastens more aluminum-alloy fittings on the cross ribs. There will be a total of seven cross ribs in this two-seater folding kayak. The center three will carry most of the load, so they're made of nine layers of laminated birch. It's super strong because unlike solid wood, it has few knots or imperfections. He applies a label with the production's serial number to a boomerang-shaped piece of the frame. This is how the kayak owner would actually assemble the boat on-site. He locks two sections of the keel board together with the flexible fitting we saw installed earlier. He snaps the bow piece to the front and hooks rods into fittings installed on the bow. He fastens a couple of ribs to the keel board. The gunnels, which are the top sides of the boat, are next. He attaches one end to the bow and the other to one of the ribs. The bow and stern parts are color-coded with red-painted fittings for the bow and blue ones for the stern. All the parts fit together like a toy model. With both gunnels now attached, he's ready to install more ribs-- the laminated birch ones that form the cockpit. He completes the assembly of rods. All these rods will give the kayak directional stability. He unfolds part of the kayak deck assembly, known as the coaming, and arranges it to surround the cockpit. He attaches it to the gunnels using metal clamps and fittings. He slides the two seats into place on the keel board. And he attaches the back rest to the gunnels. The frame of this folding kayak is now complete and ready for its custom-made skin. Over in the sewing department, the seamstress traces the patterns for the kayak deck onto cotton-hemp material and cuts along the penciled lines. This natural fabric will allow the deck to breathe and yet keep it water-tight. It's now time to piece together all of the parts, including two long sleeves for inserting inflatable tubes. Deflated, the tubes will create slack, making it easier to fit the frame into the skin. Inflated, they make the kayak virtually unsinkable. Once the thick layers have been stitched together, she's ready to insert the inflatable tubes. They were pumped full of air to be examined for holes, so she deflates them. She uses a long pole to extend her reach and push the inflatable tube into the sleeve. With a synthetic rubber hull now stitched to the deck fabric, the skin is complete and ready for the kayak's wooden frame. This particular model has been painted black. If the fit is even slightly off, the kayak won't perform properly. The skin fits like a glove. He brushes glue onto the tips of the bow and stern and then presses molded rubber bumpers onto those areas. The bumpers will protect the ends of the hull casing, which takes a lot of hard knocks. In total, it takes about 50 person-hours to make a folding kayak. It should take the owner about 15 minutes to disassemble or assemble one. For some, it will become a traveling essential, part of the luggage on any trip. The piñata is a colorful paper-mache object typically filled with candy or small toys, then suspended high from a string. Blindfolded partiers take turns trying to hit the piñata with a stick to break it open and release a shower of goodies. From popular cartoon characters to colorful, glittery shapes, today's piñatas are a big hit at kid's parties where children eagerly await the decisive blow that breaks open the piñata, releasing the treats inside. The traditional way to build one starts with a clay pot suspended from a string. The piñata-maker glues cardboard shapes to it and secures them by gluing on pieces of newspaper. Then she covers the rest of the pot. When the glue dries, she decorates the surface with colorful paper. The modern method is to use a balloon instead of a clay pot. After inflating the balloon, she pastes pieces of newspaper all over it. This technique is known as paper-mache. The trick is to completely saturate the newspaper with a thick paste and make sure no part of the balloon is left uncovered. She continues this process until she's built up two or three even layers of newspaper all over the balloon. Then she suspends it from a clothespin to dry. Hours later, the paper-mache is hardened into a shell around the balloon, which she now breaks and removes. Next, she cuts an opening at the top of the shell. This is the hole through which the buyer will fill the piñata with treats. She'll later reattach the cut piece to make a trap door. But first, with the sharp tips of her scissors, she pierces a row of holes along the circumference and threads twine through them. She leaves long ends at the top with which to suspend the piñata. This piñata will be star-shaped. To make each point, she rolls thin cardboard into a cone, taping it closed. She trims it to the required size, then cuts tabs at the base and bends them back. She makes seven of these cardboard points, then tapes them onto the shell one by one. Once all seven are positioned, the decorating with colorful, glittery foil wrapping paper can begin. She tapes a sheet around each point of the star. Then she applies glue in between the points and adheres pieces of wrapping paper to those areas. She folds other pieces into flower shapes and glues them on, as well. Once the entire piñata is covered, she tapes matching streamers to the end of each point. Historians believe spanish missionaries used star piñatas like this one to convert the native peoples in the americas to christianity. The star symbolized satan, its seven points, the seven deadly sins, its beautiful colors, temptation. Wearing a blindfold represented blind faith in god. Striking the piñata with a stick meant goodness and virtue battling evil. Breaking the piñata, releasing a shower of treats or trinkets, symbolized heavenly rewards. Human beings have always generated garbage. In the battle to keep the streets clean, the mechanized garbage truck is a combat vehicle. It crushes tons of trash en route to deliver it to landfills, incinerators, and recycling facilities. Without it, we'd all be knee-deep in garbage. Garbage trucks have different approaches to handling garbage. Some load from the front, other from the rear or side. And some are entirely mechanized like this side-loader truck. The operator inside the cab barely needs to lift a finger as the hydraulic lift-arm does all the heavy work. The garbage truck has come a long way since it hit the street in 1952. Production on a modern side-loader truck begins with a welding robot. The robot fuses numerous steel supports to the truck body floor. These supports will allow the truck to hold up to the force of tons of trash being compacted inside. Meanwhile, down the line, other parts like the roof and sides take shape in separate assemblies. Once they're complete, they hoist the large steel parts into place and assemble them within a metal framework. The framework serves as a guide to piece together all the parts of the truck box. Once assembled, the workers clamp the parts together to secure the assembly as they weld the seams. The garbage truck body is then ready for the mechanized parts, beginning with a hopper. It's equipped with a powerful, hydraulic compactor to squeeze as much trash as possible into the truck. They fit the hopper snugly to the front of the truck body and weld it to it. Then they lift the tailgate into position at the rear of the truck box. They hinge it to the truck by sliding heavy-duty steel pins through brackets. Once hinged, the tailgate can swing up and out of the way to allow garbage to be discharged. The driving force for this is a pair of hydraulic cylinders attached by brackets, welded to the tailgate at one end and the truck body at the other. With that job done, these cylinders can now extend to lift the tailgate and retract to close it. Across the factory floor, another team assembles a pair of steel lift-arms. These lift-arms are designed for another kind of truck, the front-end loader. It's mainly used to collect hefty commercial garbage containers. In action, these arms pivot around the truck cab and extend to the front to fork up the trash container and deposit the contents in the hopper. Hydraulic cylinders also power these lift-arms. When the task is complete, the forks at the end of the arms fold back out of the way. Nearby, workers test this rear-loader garbage truck. Its tailgate is split into two hoppers-- one for recyclables and the other for trash. Hydraulic systems lift them one at a time or simultaneously. Collecting garbage and disposing of it can be tough on a truck's paint job, so they apply an extra-durable finish. They spray sealer on the sanded outer surface, followed by two coats of epoxy paint. After that, they bake on the layers. Meanwhile, the truck chassis has arrived from another factory. It's a standard size, so they chop a piece off to size it for the garbage-truck body. They install bracket plates at the back and slide thick pins through the holes to join the truck body to the chassis. Using a crane, they lift the automated side-loader truck body onto the modified chassis. Once it's installed, they test the compactor. Dual hydraulic cylinders push the ejector blade to the back of the truck. They test the tailgate--  which has by now been equipped with signal lights, mud flaps, and other parts-- and verify that everything functions properly. Once a truck passes muster, it's ready to handle whatever garbage society throws its way. And with these automated garbage trucks, there's no need for anyone to strain their back or get their hands dirty, because these robot arms can handle it. High-performance cars typically have ceramic composite brake disks rather than regular cast-iron ones. That kind of power on wheels requires being lightweight, and cast iron is very heavy. It would also wear out too quickly due to the intense heat friction generates when you brake a car with such a powerful engine. Ceramic is heat-resistant up to 1,830 degrees fahrenheit. Therefore, these ceramic composite brake disks last about 60 times longer than standard cast-iron disks. Ceramic composite means the ceramic material silicon is combined with carbon fiber for strength. The disk factory prepares the carbon fiber by mixing two ingredients-- a heat-molded resin and chopped pieces of raw carbon fiber, the strength of which lies in the interweaving of its miniscule carbon filaments. Automated machines pour the carbon fiber into aluminum molds in the shape of the disk ring. The first filling station fills the mold cavity only halfway. Workers then fit a slotted belt around the mold and insert aluminum cores into the slots. These cores will form a ventilation channel in the disk ring to keep the disk from overheating. Now the mold moves on to the next filling station. It fills the remainder of the cavity with carbon fiber. A roller levels the top. Then workers close up the mold, and a small press pushes down the cover to lightly compact the contents. The mold enters a large press which applies 20 tons of pressure while heating to almost 400 degrees fahrenheit. This compacts the carbon fiber and transforms the resin powder into plastic. Once the mold has cooled down enough to be handled, workers submerge it in cold water for five to eight minutes. This cools the disk ring completely, enabling them to pull out the cores. A computer-guided laser then examines the mold to make sure every last core has been removed. When they get the all-clear, they open the top and bottom sections of the mold and extract the disk ring. Computer-guided machines then smooth out the rough areas and drill tiny ventilation holes. They put the disk ring into an oven which, over the course of two days, gradually heats it to just over 1,800 degrees fahrenheit. This causes a chemical change which transforms the plastic into carbon. Next, they take a crucible-- a high-heat resistant container-- and position five mounts inside. They place the disk ring on the mounts. Then in the middle, a funnel, into which they pour a ceramic material, a fine silicon powder. Then they load the crucible into an oven for 24 hours. It gradually heats the disk ring to more than 3,000 degrees fahrenheit, melting the silicon. Then it applies low-level suction, drawing the now-liquid silicon into the disk ring. This creates an exceptionally hard new material called silicon carbide. After a computer-guided drill bores mounting holes, the disk ring goes into a chamber where it receives a coat of protective paint. The paint shields the carbon in this disk ring from oxygen, which is critical because at high heat, oxygen burns carbon. This anti-oxidation treatment significantly extends the life of the brake disk. The paint is cured in an oven, leaving behind a white residue. A robot sands it off, then polishes the entire disk-ring surface. Here's what the finished disk ring looks like before it's cleaned and polished... And after. Every single brake disk ring undergoes a meticulous inspection. This sophisticated machine takes thousands of high-definition photographs of the surface, which a computer then analyzes in micron-level detail. To complete the brake disk, they affix the bell, a circular component in the middle which connects the brake disk to the vehicle. The bell is made of either aluminum or stainless steel and bolted into the mounting holes in the disk ring.