Steel Shipping Drums/Police Whistles/Miniature Train Cars/Glass Blocks

As an alternative to leaky wooden barrels, steel shipping drums were invented in the late 19th century for the oil industry. The production of the shipping drum begins with the forming of steel discs for both the top and the bottom, with the use of a punch press which forms and cuts in a single move. Next, we visit a Police whistle factory to learn that the same design of this invention from the late 19th century is still being used nowadays. To make the whistle, workers start from its body which is made from high-grade brass tubing in which two sound slots are punched. As the show continues, we discover the detailed making of miniature train cars, a process that begins with historical photos or drawings of actual trains that craftsmen scale them down to 1/48 size. With the use of melted polystyrene pellets, nozzles inject into moulds the plastic which hardens almost instantly into the shape of a car. Finally, we learn about the production of glass blocks which begins with just four ingredients: recycled glass fragments or cullet, sand, soda ash and limestone. After the exact portioning by a computerised system, the mixture is fed to a furnace which transforms them into molten glass. —Nick Riganas