18x11 - Pharmaceutical Blister Packs/Deli Slicers/Oysters/Weathervanes

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: while the pill bottle
isn't yet passé,

We're seeing many medications
being sold in blister packs --

Those cards on which
each pill is lined up in a row

And encased
in a packaging bubble.

To take your medication,
you simply press the blister

And push out the pill
through the breakable backing.

Blister packaging
prevents moisture and air

From coming into contact
with the medicine.

The package
is comprised of two layers --

Typically, an aluminum foil
sheet called the lidding

And a pvc plastic sheet
with rows of blisters.

Once the manufacturer designs
the packaging format,

The engineering department

Tailor-makes the tools
to produce it.

This computer-guided mill
creates the die

That will form the blisters
in the pvc sheet.

They mount the die on a machine
called a thermoformer.

As the pvc sheet
enters the machine,

An oven heats it up,
making it soft and malleable.

The die then strikes it,

Imprinting
the pattern of circles.

A split second after
the forming station closes,

A blast of air forms the circles
into raised blisters.

Refrigerated plates
then sandwich the sheet,

Setting the new shape.

The pills arrive
at the packaging facility

In bulk containers.

Workers sift off any pill dust
that may have formed,

Give the pills
a preliminary inspection,

Then load them
into a large hopper.

If they were shipped with
any moisture-absorption packets,

An employee
now removes and discards them.

The hopper
feeds the packaging machine.

The blister sheets move through
open side up

So that the pills fall right in.

Rotating brushes and paddles

Dispense the pills
into the passing cavities,

Which are designed to fit no
more than one pill per blister.

An inspector
fills any empty blisters

While a sophisticated
vision system

Detects
any broken or chipped pills,

Flagging them
to be rejected later.

The blisters
enter a seal station,

Where they're mated
with the foil lidding.

One side of the lidding

Is printed beforehand
with product information.

To make the printing plate,

Technicians mount a blank
rubber mat on a cylinder.

As the cylinder revolves,

A powerful laser
cuts away at the rubber

Until the information
to be printed

Appears in raised lettering,

Just like
a traditional rubber stamp.

They transfer this rubber plate

To the packaging line's
printing station,

Where the rubber plate
picks up ink

And rolls it onto the lidding.

The ink dries

By the time the lidding
reaches the sealing station,

Where lidding
and blister sheet meet.

The next station simultaneously
applies pressure and heat.

This activates
an adhesive on the lidding,

Heat-sealing the sheets
together.

Then, refrigerated plates
cool the surfaces

To set the adhesive.

Here a die punches the hole

Through which
the blister pack will lock

Into a childproof case.

Then another die punches the
individual blister packs apart.

Vacuum arms transfer the packs
to a single-file conveyer belt,

Dropping any packs

Which the vision system
identified for rejection.

This automated arm sets
childproof cases on a track

Moving in parallel

To the conveyer
that holds the blister packs.

Then a loading arm

Slides a blister pack
into each plastic case,

Mating the hole in the pack
to the case's internal lock.

Finally, an applicator
places an adhesive label,

Bearing all the required

Identification
and safety information

Onto each passing case.

Random samples undergo a series
of quality-control checks.

In this test
for water- and air-tightness,

Technicians submerge
the blister pack in blue dye

And apply a vacuum.

Any dye penetrating the pack

Would indicate
a hole in a blister

Or a flaw in the seal
between the plastic and lidding.

Should a particular medication
require extra protection,

The blister pack can,
for example,

Be made of light-resistant
materials

Or contain
an extra moisture barrier.

Narrator: invented in holland
in 1898, the deli slicer

Launched a revolution
behind the meat counter.

No longer was it necessary

To carve meats and cheeses
entirely by hand.

With a turn of a crank,

The deli slicer produced
precise cuts in a jiffy.

The modern deli slicer
is powered by electricity,

With a manual override
for the carriage

That delivers food
to a spinning blade.

Production begins
with a cast aluminum base.

A worker installs
a cam mechanism

That is part of a system

For adjusting
the thickness of the slice.

He threads wiring, connected
to an on/off indicator light,

Through holes in the base.

Then he screws an index knob
onto the shaft

Protruding from the cam
mechanism installed earlier.

An important warning label
comes next.

Then he seals the gap around
the blade shaft with silicone

And removes the excess
with soapy water.

Next up is the wiring
for the slicer motor.

She clamps the wires together

And bolts the clamps to
the inside of the aluminum base.

She inserts the on/off switch
and the plastic trim,

Then attaches a device
that will slide

To adjust the gap between
the gauge plate and the blade,

Thereby controlling
the thickness of the cut.

The deli slicer is ready

For the slide rod
and carriage sub assembly

That will deliver food
to the spinning blade.

The carriage will move
across a track

That she now attaches
to the lip of the base.

She tests the carriage assembly
to confirm that it's on track.

The next worker

Secures the blade motor
to the wiring with bolts.

He connects the motor to the
blade shaft with a drive belt.

Operating the motor
allows him to observe

The drive belt and pulleys
in action,

Confirming that they operate
smoothly.

Once the gauge plate
is installed,

They move on
to making the blade.

Computer-guided cutters
slope the steel surface

And carve a precise bevel
onto the rim.

It goes from a rough blank

To a precisely shaped blade
in just minutes.

The next worker etches the
company logo and production date

Into the blade metal.

Another lathe
pre-sharpens the blade

To the point where
it could cut through something

As fine as several thousandths
of an inch.

A worker slides the blade
onto the drive shaft

And secures it in place
with a nut.

He now checks the alignment
of the gauge plate

In relation to the blade.

He turns the thickness mechanism
to close the gap

And checks it again.

With a dial indicator,

He measures the position of
the blade even more precisely.

This tool confirms

That the blade is in
the exact position for cutting

And that it won't lose
that position once activated.

This deli slicer comes with
its own sharpening system,

A grinding wheel
in protective casing.

He mounts the grinder
and activates it

To hone the edge
to razor-sharpness.

When the blade cuts
through tissue paper cleanly,

It's ready
for real slicing action.

A worker screws the arm for the
sliding tray to the carriage.

He uses a spacer disc to
establish the correct distance

Between the food tray
and the blade.

He sets the food tray on the arm

And checks the gap
between it and the blade.

Once the two
are correctly aligned,

He removes the spacer

And latches the safety guard
to the blade.

And now for a test, verifying
that the tray doesn't drag

Or scrape
against the blade guard.

Below, they've installed rods to
move the carriage on the track.

The system can be
manually operated

Or driven by a second motor.

Finally, a worker cleans the
slicing machine until it gleams.

At 135 pounds, this deli slicer
is no lightweight,

So they use a crane to lower it
into the packing box.

Hefty and heavy duty,

This deli slicer
should have what it takes

To cut it at the meat market.

Narrator: oysters
are a versatile shellfish.

You can bake them,
boil them, smoke them,

Or eat them raw
right from the shell.

Over the years,
wild oyster stocks have declined

Due to overfishing
and pollution.

So today, 95% of the oysters we
consume come from oyster farms.

Oysters are filter feeders,

Meaning they draw seawater
over their gills

To trap and eat
the phytoplankton --

Microscopic aquatic organisms.

An adult oyster can filter

More than five quarts
of seawater per hour.

Oyster farms are located
in or by the sea

Because the oysters need to feed
off seawater to survive.

The hatchery keeps the oysters
in upwellers --

Mesh-bottom buckets
sitting in seawater.

Oysters can reproduce
once they're six months old.

However, the ideal breeding age
is between two and 10 years.

At breeding time, workers put
the oysters into breeding trays,

Oscillating the temperature
between 68° and 86°

To stimulate spawning.

The females squirt out eggs,
the males squirt out semen,

And 16 hours later, the
fertilized eggs hatch larvae.

Right from birth,
the oysters feed

On a blend of the phytoplankton
they'd eat in the wild.

The hatchery dilutes
this plankton mix in seawater

And pumps it
to the oyster containers.

Marine biologists
manage the ponds

In which the hatchery
grows its phytoplankton supply.

The larvae are so tiny,
you can't see them in the water.

They're visible
only under a microscope.

Right from the time they hatch,

They already have a shell
and can swim.

By about the two-week mark,

They've grown
to the size of a speck,

About 1/64 of an inch long.

However, now they act like
miniature adults and stay put.

The hatchery keeps them in
suspension in circulating water

So they have an ample supply
of food and oxygen.

As they grow,

They're transferred
to progressively larger bottles.

By the time
they're four to six weeks old,

They're ready
to leave the hatchery

And move to the oyster farm.

The farm floats in a harbor.

The baby oysters arriving are
a tiny fraction of an inch long.

They go into upwellers.

Pipes circulate seawater,

And the babies filter-feed
on the natural phytoplankton.

Over the next six weeks or so,

They quadruple in size to about


Workers then pack them
in plastic mesh bags,

Stack the bags on metal racks,

And suspend the racks
in the sea.

The oysters live like that
for three months,

Getting transferred into
progressively larger mesh bags

As they grow.

Halfway into it,
the oysters are this big --

About 8/10 of an inch long.

By the end of three months,
they're double this size,

Grown up enough to leave home

And venture out
into the real world.

Workers lay them
on the sea floor

And leave them for six months
to reach harvest size,

Which is determined
not by length anymore,

But by weight --
just under three ounces.

To finally harvest the oysters,

They lower
a custom-built machine

That's part dredger,
part conveyer.

It generates jets of water

That blow the oysters off
the sea bed onto the conveyer.

They travel up
out of the water into the boat.

That conveyer dumps the oysters
onto another conveyer

That leads
to the picking station.

There, workers select
the correct size oysters

And put them into baskets.

Whatever
they leave on the conveyer --

Smaller oysters, rocks,
and such --

Continues to the end
and drops back into the water.

Of course,
the harvesting machine misses

Some three-ounce oysters.

Those remain on the seabed
sometimes for years,

Growing larger like this guy,
weighing about 2.2 pounds.

Prior to sale,
the harvested oysters

Go through a cleaning process
called depuration.

For 42 hours, they sit in tanks

Filled with seawater
sterilized by ultraviolet light.

The oysters draw this
clean water through their gills.

This flushes out
all the bacteria.

Thanks to
this depuration process,

It's safe to eat raw oysters.

It's taken a good 18 months

To grow from microscopic
organism to dining delicacy,

Which has a refrigerated
shelf life of about a week.

Narrator: long before
satellites and doppler radar,

People relied on weathervanes
for storm tracking --

A folk-art figure
balanced on an axis

Turns with the wind to indicate
both its direction and speed.

Though more ornamental
than practical,

It's still
a great way to find out

What's in the wind,
weather-wise.

As it swings
with prevailing winds,

A weathervane
offers important clues.

Northeast winds, for example,
could mean a storm is brewing.

Learn to read the signs,
and the weathervane offers

Up-to-the-minute
weather information.

To make a weathervane
the old fashioned way,

A craftsman starts
with a sheet of soft copper.

It can be easily cut,
bent, and shaped.

Using electric shears,

He slices the copper
to the appropriate size.

Then he clamps it to a steel
mold of a rooster body and head.

With a rubber mallet, he now
carefully pounds the copper

Into the crevasses of the mold.

This is a critical
first shaping of the copper,

And he has to hit it with
just the right amount of force.

If he's too heavy-handed, he
could break or tear the copper.

Too little force,

And the shape won't properly
transfer to the metal.

With a basic rooster shape
now established,

He reaches for an air hammer

That's equipped
with a plastic tip.

It beats the copper
into the mold

Thousands of times per minute.

This transfers finer details,
like feathers.

And with its smooth plastic tip,

The air hammer
inflicts no damage.

It takes less than 20 minutes,

And the rooster comes to life
in copper.

He unlocks the clamps

And removes
the molded copper rooster.

He'll make another one
just like it

For the other side
of the weathervane.

This will distribute
its weight correctly

And make it look good
from all angles.

He then pounds copper into
the shape of the rooster's tail.

It has generous plumage
for just the right balance.

With a band saw, he slices
around the molded shapes

To remove the excess copper.

This liberates the molded
rooster from the matrix.

He now trims the rooster
with a set of clippers

To give it a cleaner edge.

Using long clippers, he snips
copper from inside the beak.

This opens it up.

Once the ragged bits
have been trimmed,

He's ready to match

The two sides
of this weathervane rooster.

He secures it in a vise

And cleans the seam
with a solution called flux.

He tacks it with solder and then
checks the evenness of the seam.

When the two molds
match perfectly,

He solders the entire seam.

This weather rooster
is now ready for its tail.

It will give the weathervane
a larger surface on one side,

Offering greater resistance
to the wind.

This will cause
the front of the weathervane

To point into the wind.

He inserts the weathervane axis

Through the rooster's foot,
into the cavity,

And it emerges
from the back of the neck.

He pounds the top of the shaft
flush to the surface

And then solders it in place
for a permanent installation.

For some extra pizzazz,

He slides a decorative
copper ball up the turning rod,

Resting it
just below the rooster foot.

He secures it with solder.

He now cuts out
the feathered end for an arrow.

It's known as the fletching,

And it will help balance
the weathervane.

He turns the crank of a press

To roll numerous creases
into the fletching.

The creases mimic feather lines.

He solders the feathered end
to the pointed shaft.

It has a hole for installing it

Onto the weathervane's
turning rod.

As the weathervane spins
with the prevailing wind,

The arrow will point
in its direction.

A waddle below the beak
and a comb atop his head,

And this rooster
is ready to rule the roof.

Exposure to the elements
will weather the copper

And give it a blue-green patina.

For customers who don't
want to wait a few years

For this to happen,

Instant results can be achieved
by applying a special acid.

Depending on its complexity,

A copper weathervane can take
up to two days to build.

With luck, it could last
a century or more.

Like the weather,

Predicting a weathervane's
long-term viability

Is not an exact science.

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