Narrator:
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 ba*ls
in both ends
And tack-welds them
to the mouthpiece.
The ba*ls are
part of a hinge mechanism.
He now permanently welds
the ba*ls 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.
Narrator: 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
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.
Narrator: 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.
Narrator: 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 403ãâ° 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.&Quot;
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.
If you have any comments
about the show,
Or if you'd like to suggest
topics for future shows,
Drop us a line at...
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