Classic Car Gauges Chocolate Marble Cake Ghillie Kettles Rubber Gloves
They may have stopped making the car. But they still manufacture replacement gauges that look just like the originals. After all, modern digital instruments just wouldn't look right in the dashboard of a classic vehicle. Technicians give the mechanism a bit of an update, but the look is all retro. These car gauges are new. But they have the same old faces. The old-style dials are built to the original designs as replacement parts for classic and vintage vehicles. Making a classic car gauge starts with a zinc-coated steel blank. A worker places the blank on a tool. A press stretches it around the form to shape it into the gauge case. After a flange has been formed on the rim and holes punched for assembly purposes, it's on to the next operation. A worker welds a stud to the back of the case. The stud will be used to mount the gauge to the dashboard. Another worker paints the inside of the case white. Next up is a brass tube for the light bulb. A worker secures it in a fixture and places the case over it. A press crimps the top of the light tube around one of the holes in the case, securing the tube to the back. A mechanized printer pad picks up ink from engravings on a metal plate and transfers them to a dial. For this gauge, they'll need a hollow, curved spring, known as a bourdon tube. To shape this flat brass tube into a spring, a worker tucks one end into a forming tool. He inserts a shim into the other end to keep the tube hollow as he curls it around the form. This turns the flat tube into a c-shape spring. He then crimps one end in this press. He dips the crimped end into a chemical cleaning agent and then into hot solder. The solder hardens and seals this end of the bourdon spring. He solders a brass adapter to the opened end of the bourdon tube. This hollow socket is the part that will receive the fluid pressure. That pressure will cause the tube to unwind and move gears that turn the pointer on the gauge dial. A worker places the tube in water and pumps pressurized air into it through the socket. He checks for bubbles that would indicate there's a leak. They make the gears that move the pointer using a hobbing machine. It's a spinning cutter that carves teeth into brass parts, known as racks. A worker inserts a brass pivot in a holding device. Using a press, she crimps the pivot to the center of the rack. She then assembles a hair spring and a pinion between two brass plates. She positions the rack in the gear sandwich. She secures the assembly using a hand press. Now, with tweezers, she pulls the end of the spring through a hole in one of the posts and locks it in place with a pin. She turns the shaft to confirm that the rack-and-pinion gears engage and work smoothly. Returning to the bourdon tubes, she transfers one to a fixture and locks it in place. She places the gears on top of the bourdon tube and screws it to the side of the socket. She then installs the bourdon tube assembly in the gas gauge casing. A worker now connects the gauge to a pressurized air source. She pops the retro-look dial into the device and attaches the pointer to the protruding gear shaft. She then introduces air at a known pressure to calibrate the gauge. She tucks a gasket into the top rim and then fits a glass pane on top. A chrome-plated bezel retains the assembly and frames it. A press snaps the components together. Made to measure, this car gauge is now complete, and it looks like a classic. A chocolate truffle cake has nothing to do with those rare and pricey fungi that are a culinary delicacy, nor is it directly related to the chocolate truffle, a decadent confection consisting of a chocolate ganache center coated in either chocolate, cocoa powder, or toasted, chopped nuts. A chocolate truffle cake has many variations. This version features a flourless chocolate truffle cake base under a layer of chocolate marble cheesecake, garnished with fudge ganache. To make the cheesecake layer, they begin with cream cheese. They mix for three or four minutes to soften it, then blend in sugar and salt. Next, they add sour cream to make the cheesecake creamier and fluffier. The last ingredients are whole eggs blended with vanilla extract. Another three to four minutes of mixing completes the batter. To make the chocolate truffle cake base, they combine water, sugar, corn syrup, and cream of tartar, which is a leavening agent that works in flourless cakes like this one. It also prevents the sugar they just added from crystallizing. While heating those ingredients to a boil, they soften butter in a mixer, then add melted semisweet chocolate, which contains vanilla extract. They mix for another five minutes or so until the chocolate is thoroughly blended in. Then they add the boiled ingredients, then coffee syrup... Then blended whole eggs. A final five minutes of mixing, and the chocolate truffle cake batter is ready. They pump it into the funnel-shaped feeder of a depositor. Workers meanwhile line aluminum cake pans with silicone and place them on a conveyor belt. The depositor is set up to squirt exactly 28 ounces of the thick chocolate truffle cake batter into each pan. They pump the thinner cheesecake batter to the feeder of a second depositor, which squirts an identical amount of cheesecake batter into the pan. This batter is much lighter than the dense chocolate truffle cake batter. So rather than blend, the two batters form separate layers. Using the squeeze bottle, they drizzle on some extra chocolate truffle cake batter and drag a knife back and forth, creating what's known in pastry making as a napoleon-style design. They put the pans in the oven for 90 minutes at 90 degrees fahrenheit. The long baking time at a relatively low temperature ensures the heat penetrates the dense truffle batter gradually. Otherwise, the outside of the cake would burn before the inside is fully baked. The cakes cool at room temperature, then go into a freezer overnight. The next day, workers easily pop the rock-solid cakes from the pans thanks to that silicone liner. They place the cake on a cardboard circle, then, with a pastry bag, garnish the edge with fudge ganache. The ganache is made of heavy cream, corn syrup and the same melted chocolate they put in the truffle cake batter. They placed the finished chocolate marble truffle cake into an automatic cake slicer. The turntable rotates after each strike of the blade until the machine has cut the cake into 12 slices and separated them with paper dividers. They wrap the cake in a cardboard band printed with the brand name. Then they put the dessert through a machine, which encases the cake in plastic film, then applies heat to shrink the film taut. To serve this decadent dessert, you let it defrost at room temperature for four to five hours or in the fridge overnight. Impatient chocoholics take note-- you can also defrost a slice in the microwave in just 30 seconds. Invented in the 1890s by irish fishermen, the ghillie kettle is still popular off the beaten path. Simply stuff twigs, leaves or other scraps in the bottom chamber and ignite. The water in the surrounding chamber boils in minutes, allowing you to have a quick cuppa in the middle of nowhere. Roughing it in the wilderness? With the ghillie kettle, you can still have a civilized cup of tea unplugged. Making a ghillie kettle starts with a thick aluminum disk. A metalworker clamps the disk against a form in a lathe. As the lathe spins, he presses the disk to the form using a blunt tool. This transforms the disk into a flared vessel, one that looks like a flower pot. A cutter at the side trims the rim. They call this flower-pot shape the draft. The next phase takes the draft from flared to cylindrical. A worker presses the spinning draft to another form. This stretches the aluminum shape longer and narrower. Finally, they taper the cylinder at the top to form a slanted chimney and slice off the bottom. From flat disk to a tall kettle, it's a dramatic change. He drills a hole in the gradient of the kettle. He inserts a screw that's attached to a punch. Then, using an allen wrench, he turns the screw, forcing the punch into the metal to cut out a hole for the kettle spout. He now slides the kettle body over a post with a die that fits into the spout hole. He places the spout over the die and hammers it into the hole. The die helps form the seam as the metal spreads due to the impact, tightly locking the spout to the kettle body. A worker transfers the kettle to a jig with a template for drilling. He drills holes into the kettle body, relying on the template to space them correctly. These holes are for the handle and chain attachments. Next, the inner wall of the ghillie kettle takes shape. Wielding a tool with force, a worker pulls and stretches the aluminum disk into a long cone. He inserts the cone in the kettle body. A gap between them will serve as the water chamber. And smoke will be vented out the center. He rolls the upper lip of the cone around the kettle's top rim, locking them together. He also secures them at the base the same way. He transfers the ghillie kettle to a stand to keep it upright as he rivets steel ears to it. The ears are for attaching the handle and a chain for the kettle whistle. He now assembles the whistle. He aligns a gap in a round plate with one in the whistle body. This small gap will allow steam to pass through. He inserts a screw and a ball knob in the center hole to hold the whistle together. The base of the ghillie is this fire chamber. For packing purposes, he stacks it upside down and places the kettle over it. He wraps the entire kettle in british newsprint for shipping. This protects it and also gives the purchaser something to burn the first time he or she tries it out. He crimps the ends of the handle to the ears that protrude through the headlines. He places the whistle over the wrapped spout and then tucks the kettle into a drawstring tote. This ghillie kettle is ready to provide the convenience of hot water in the backwoods. The camper removes the whistle from the spout and pours water into it. This particular model can hold about 51 ounces. He replaces the whistle and lights the fire in the bottom chamber. As it burns, smoke comes out of the center. The cone-shaped cavity creates an upward draft, ensuring rapid boiling even in windy or damp weather. Within minutes, there's hot water for beverages or soup noodles. Smoking and whistling in the wilderness, the ghillie kettle offers some of the comforts of home. It was an american nurse's sensitivity to an antiseptic that led to the development of medical rubber gloves. The year was 1890, and the hospital was johns hopkins in baltimore. Sympathetic to the nurse's plight, the chief of surgery asked a rubber company to develop protective gloves. Around the world, healing hands wear rubber gloves to stop the spread of germs and save lives. To make them, they need a lot of hands, the kind made from ceramic or aluminum. They'll serve as molds. First, they need to remove residue from the last rubber glove production. So they do a thorough washing in soapy water... And then in bleach. They must remove every speck of residue because even the smallest contaminant could lodge in the latex rubber gloves and create holes. Leaving the bleach, the ceramic hands twirl into round, revolving brushes. Their bristles scour the surface and the hard-to-reach areas between the ceramic fingers. After this thorough scrubbing, the hand molds dive into a tub of hot water. It's the last cleaning before production begins. As they exit the tub, the hands swivel on the rail carrier to drip-dry. Still slightly damp and spinning, the hand molds head into a chemical bath, which forms a film on the surface. It's a critical coating because liquid rubber won't adhere to bare ceramic, but it will to this substance. The ceramic molds now reach into warm liquid rubber, which has been enhanced for extra strength. The liquid rubber reacts with the chemical coating on the hands and becomes gel-like. Coated with the rubber gel, the hands spin to shake off any drops as they head into an oven. Under intense heat, the rubber dries to the hand form and also undergoes a chemical process, called vulcanization, that makes the rubber stronger and elastic. After a wash and dry, the gloves spin through brushes which roll up the cuffs. This cuff roll, called the bead, has a specific purpose-- it makes it easier to pull the rubber glove off the mold. Workers grab the gloves by the beads to peel them off the ceramic forms. These particular medical gloves were molded from synthetic rubber for people who can't wear natural latex rubber due to allergies. These synthetic rubber gloves are a bit stickier than the natural latex ones. And they must be removed by hand. However, the natural latex glove come off much more easily. Bursts of pressurized air blow these gloves off the ceramic forms. At a test station, a worker now stretches and inflates each medical glove to check for weak spots and holes. Even a pinhole leak would be cause for rejection. Next, they take a sample glove from every batch and pump water into it, again checking for leaks. If the sample glove is watertight, they approve the entire batch for shipment. They color-code gloves for strength. These orange cleaning gloves are thick and reusable. Others, like the medical gloves, are for limited use and disposable. Each rubber formulation is customized for color, strength, and other characteristics. It has taken a lot of fake hands and real ones to make rubber gloves. And it all happens very fast. They manufacture 200 rubber gloves a minute at this factory. That's about 12,000 gloves per hour. They pack them up in batches of 100. A cornstarch solution applied earlier keeps them from sticking together in the box. Later, that starch will also act as a lubricant to allow the gloves to slide easily onto hands. And with that, these rubber gloves are ready to protect the public.