How It's Made

Today on How it's Made.

Peaked caps.

Custom Water Heaters.

Electric boats.

And fencing foils.

Throughout Europe in the late 1700s,

peaked caps were traditionally worn by industrial workers.

Today they're worn by professionals such as security personnel,

members of the military

and police officials that wear uniforms.

In the United Kingdom,

some police officers still wear the classic custodian helmet.

But now many officers have chosen to wear the lightweight,

comfortable and practical peak cap.

To make these caps a hat maker or a milliner

assembles a number of components,

using patterns to cut out the required pieces of wool,

foam and plastic.

A milliner bends a strip of polypropylene plastic into a circle.

She sews the joint with a high strength thread,

creating the hat bend that will go around the heat.

She positions a smaller piece of polypropylene,

known as the badge support,

and sews it in place.

The support will prevent the weight of a police badge

from distorting the shape of the hat.

These crescent shape components are pieces of wool

glued to thin flexible form.

She sews the crescents together

creating a circular piece which will form the bevel.

She uses a specialized long arm sewing machine

which has been customized to make hats.

The seams are carefully ironed flat to prevent any bulging.

If the iron is too hot the foam will melt,

too cool and the wool won't flatten.

She aligns two strips of 100% wool fabric

and sews them together at the ends.

This piece will cover the plastic stiffener forming the outer band.

To ensure the sizing is correct,

the milliner places the wool cover over the stiffener.

The stiffener is installed at the end of the production process.

Next the milliner irons the seams of the band covers.

She finishes the band covers on a sewing machine known as a flatbed,

and creates a fold to hold the plastic stiffener.

And sews the edges together.

Then the band cover is sewed to the bevel.

While it's difficult to attach two pieces of cloth at different angles,

this step creates an even seam that runs 360 degrees.

It takes at least six months of training

to learn how to make hats.

The crown is made from three materials,

a combination of wool and foam,

a polyester lining

and a protective gray PVC layer.

Once the three materials have been sewn together,

the machinist trims the perimeter of the crown.

She marks the side edges

and aligns them with the seams on the bevel.

Then she sews the crown to the bevel.

Having spent a great deal of time perfecting her skills,

this milliner makes it look easy.

Finally,

the components begin to resemble a hat.

Using a polypropylene template

the machinist positions and marks two spots on the bevel.

She places two small brass rings on a special device

and aligns the marks with the device's posts,

which cut out two holes through the fabric.

Then she places two cup shaped rings on the posts

and the machine punches them down forming eyelids for ventilation.

Next the polypropylene stiffener is inserted into the hat.

Finally the hat begins to take on its final shape.

The tag containing the hat's size is sewn onto the hat bend.

She places a checkered pattern band on the brim of the hat

called dicing, or the INAUDIBLE tartan.

The milliner inserts a replica badge through holes in the badge support

and secures it with a pin.

This is a replica,

since we can't show real police badges on TV.

Next the milliner sews the peak onto the bend.

It took a highly skilled milliner

more than half an hour to sew this hat.

They might look straightforward,

but peak caps are surprisingly complex.

A home water heater stores and heats water in a tank,

this is how it works.

When you turn on a faucet hot water flows out of the tank from the top,

while cold water flows into the tank from the bottom.

Conventional water heaters are fueled by natural gas,

electricity,

propane or oil.

This company custom builds several types of water heaters

for use with different types of heat sources,

such as boilers,

heat pumps and solar panels.

Each work order includes a picture

outlining the pipe configuration and the connecting valves,

along with a list of the water heater specifications.

To make a copper tank,

a technician cuts a thick sheet of copper to a specific length.

He aligns the end of the sheet to the gradation on the table

that corresponds to the tank's circumference.

Then he activates the guillotine blade with a foot pedal.

A computer guided machine punches holes through the valves.

This water heater requires two valves

at each end of the heating coil,

and one that will connect the water pipe to the tank.

The technician inserts the copper sheet into a mechanical roller.

The rollers apply pressure,

forming the sheet into an open cylinder.

One end of the cylinder is clamped into a machine

that welds linear seams.

The technician inserts the other end of the cylinder

through the machine and joins it against the clamped end.

The machine is programmed to weld a seam

to the length of the connected ends.

The technician monitors the welding arm

through a UV lens to protect his eyes.

The machine stops automatically

when it reaches the programmed seam length.

This process closes the cylinder

with the strong pressure resistant seam,

creating the water heater tank's structural component.

Another technician places the tank's top on a press.

The press punches a hole for a threaded pipe fitting,

the fitting connects the pipe to the hot water.

Using a different press,

the technician makes another hole

into the cylinder for a threaded fitting.

This fitting connects to an electrical element that heats water

in conjunction with the boiler.

Another technician makes the tank's heating coil

but running a straight copper tube through three rollers.

The tube is bent under pressure,

forming it into a coiled shape.

The heat from the boiler,

pump or solar panel flows through the heating coil,

heating the water stored in the tank.

Since the copper tube wall is too thin to weld,

a technician uses a fusing technique known as brazing.

This metal joining process

brazes a flow fitting on one end of the heating coil

and the return fitting on the other.

Next the heating coil is placed in the tank.

The fittings protrude through a hole at the top and bottom.

The technician secures each one with a nut

and then tightens the nuts with an impact wrench.

Like the dome top,

the bottom components edges are grooved,

allowing the tank to fit perfectly into the cylinder base.

Once the top and bottom components are installed,

the tank goes back to the brazing station for final assembly.

A welder brazes the top and bottom components to the cylinder,

then he brazes a feed fitting to a hole near the bottom of the tank.

This location is where cold water enters the tank to be heated.

Next a technician conducts a quality control test,

he blocks the three fittings,

fills the cylinder with air,

then submerges the tank in water to check for air bubbles,

which would indicate a leak.

A stainless steel water heater is

constructed just like a copper heater,

except that they don't require any brazing.

A robot sprays the tanks with expandable

polyurethane foam for insulation.

The customer selects the degree of insulation

one to four inches thick.

.The foam takes just five minutes to cure.

As the tank stores hot water,

the insulation reduces the amount of heat

the tank loses over time.

Today on How it's Made...

Throughout Europe in the late 1700s,

peaked caps were traditionally worn by industrial workers.

Today they're worn by professionals such as security personnel,

members of the military and police officials that wear uniforms.

In the United Kingdom,

some police officers still wear the classic custodian helmet,

but now many officers have chosen to wear

the lightweight, comfortable and practical peaked cap.

To make these caps, a hat-maker, or milliner,

assembles a number of components,

using patterns to cut out the required pieces

of wool, foam and plastic.

A milliner bends a strip of polypropylene plastic into a circle.

She sews the joint with a high-strength thread,

creating the hat bend that will go around the heat.

She positions a smaller piece of polypropylene,

known as the badge support, and sews it in place.

The support will prevent the weight of a police badge

from distorting the shape of the hat.

These crescent-shape components are pieces of wool

glued to thin, flexible foam.

She sews the crescents together,

creating a circular piece which will form the bevel.

She uses a specialised long arm sewing machine

which has been customised to make hats.

The seams are carefully ironed flat to prevent any bulging.

If the iron is too hot, the foam will melt.

Too cool and the wool won't flatten.