CONVEYORS CARRYING COMMERCE

[Music] Putting together a conveyor system involves a broad range of component parts that make today's conveyor systems capable of handling anything. From tiny electronic components to giant transformers, from minute quantities of pharmaceuticals to thousands of tons of mineral ores. Because of today's demands, one of the most important parts of a conveyor system is the method of controlling its movements. Some control devices are relatively simple, but most include elaborate electrical panels involving sophisticated electronic devices and in many cases computerized controls. This is the story of today's conveyors. [Music] 300 miles north of the Canadian border, a combination of deep has produced a conveyor system to move logs destined for lumber and paper products across 7 miles of for eventual ship loading. [Music] Specialized conveyors to handle the logs are combined with nature as a flute utilizing water is employed in the middle of the huge system to transport the logs. Many of today's most advanced conveyor systems make effective use of gravity to expedite the movement of materials whenever possible. [Music] Modern technology is combined with nature to create the most efficient material movement. United States conveyor manufacturers are providing worldwide installations either directly to companies in every free country. [Music] The process involves every aspect of our daily lives. Today's newspapers require immense quantities of newsprint and these roles weigh nearly 1,000 lb. In our large cities, conveyors expedite the flow of paper rolls to feed the nation's presses and provide the public with their daily papers. Conveyor systems in such newspaper plants handle paper rolls from railroad cars or ships into the printing presses. And then other conveyor systems move the printed editions to waiting delivery trucks. [Music] Public utilities rely extensively on conveyors. This industry requires vast quantities of fuel to light the nation's cities and power its industries. Conveyors move coal from the mine through processing to rail or water shipping points. At the power plant, conveyors then move the coal from rail or ship unloading points into storage and then to the steam boilers where the production of electricity begins. In these installations, conveyor manufacturers also include air pollution control devices which eliminate one of the problems faced by industry today in maintaining proper environmental control. There are landmark installations in the field of pollution control. The manufacturer of cement creates intent in the process to meet the challenge posed by today's needs. This installation of specialized enclosed screw conveyors removes the dust from the dust collection system, thus preventing it from exhausting into the air. [Music] Such built-in safeguards are becoming more necessary in industry today. Conveyor manufacturers are providing such devices regularly. Specialized problems are commonplace to the conveyor industry, such as developing a sizable system to unload and store cement, handling some 8,000 barrels of cement an hour. This system lifts this heavy product vertically 140 ft for eventual storage in silos. Bulk cement has characteristics which make it difficult to handle. A properly designed conveyor system does the job efficiently and economically. Today's home building industry has developed efficient techniques for mass- prodducing new modular homes. These homes are built in factories in sections and then brought together as a completed unit or module. Their 27,000 lb weight makes movement difficult. So, an embedded track conveyor system was designed to move the individual units down the assembly line and out of the factory for eventual transportation by truck and crane to their site and final assembly as a finished home. [Music] Probably no other industry relies as much on conveyors as does the automotive industry, which uses conveyor systems to pace and maintain high production rates in all of the manufacturing and assembly operations. Taking a cue from this industry, toy manufacturers utilize an overhead conveyor for assembly of toy trucks and cars for children. Here, conveyors are coated to deliver the right number of pieces of the same color to final assembly. On the Caribbean island of Jamaica, a 3m long conveyor extends from a boxside mine in the mountains across a welltraveled highway to a doside loading station for shipment to aluminum refining and smelting plants. More than 30% of the world's boxite is mined here and it is the second most important industry on this island. [Music] And a related industry, petroleum coke manufacturing, uses conveyors to facilitate the shipment of this product to users around the world. Arriving by railroad car with a unique unloading principle, the Coke is carried and distributed to storage piles. reclaimed from the piles and loaded on ships for final delivery to customers. An aluminum smelting plant depends upon complex conveyor systems to take 900 lb carbon block anodess used in the smelting process through preparation and into storage prior to use. The sheer weight and abrasiveness of these blocks dictates a rugged conveyor system capable of maintaining production in this process without interruption. Innovative control devices are an inherent part of such a system enabling special orienting and transfer movements to be made for the most effective manipulation and transport of the blocks. [Music] In a stone quarry operation, a conveyor system must handle huge quantities of limestone destined for use in road construction and in the production of concrete. These aggregates are transported by heavy bulk conveyors into storage prior to shipment. Certain sizes of this stone are shipped to steel mill blast furnaces as one of the basic ingredients in the steel making process. Such extensive conveyor systems make it possible to handle large volumes of basic materials economically. [Music] The processing of copper from these 700 lb billets heated to temperatures of 1,500° is made possible by a system of conveyors which carry the bullets through throughout the country with the help of an elaborate conveyor system. [Music] The worker's jobs are eased and both productivity and working conditions are improved by the proper application of conveyors to the task to be performed. Another instance of man and machines working together. [Music] The textile industry makes extensive use of conveyors not only in the movement of bolts of fabric but also in subsequent processing such as the printing, coloring and finishing of fabrics. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] These bolts of material are being transported to other areas of the plant for color process. processing and shipment to garment manufacturers. [Music] One of the unique applications for conveyors is in the dry cleaning industry where overhead systems move garments through the process and then into final storage prior to delivery to the customer. [Music] This system handling heavy appliances makes use of the sophisticated computerdirected controls as well as conveyors designed to handle heavy loads while meeting the demands of a high volume warehousing operation. A combination of horizontal and vertical conveyors moves these refrigerators from the end of the assembly line to warehouse storage and then out to sales outlets. The control provided with this conveyor system utilizes color coding to sort out and route the appliances to the proper order and shipment destination efficiently and on schedule. [Music] The volume of castings produced by the modern high production foundry can only be attained through the use of rugged dependable conveyor systems. In this foundry producing farm machinery parts, conveyors are an integral part of all phases of the casting process. From pouring of the molten metal into molds through accumulation and storage of the castings while they are cooling and then through cleaning operations. Fringe benefits acrewed through conveyor use are better working conditions and a better end product for the ultimate customer. [Music] Barges laden with grain from the heart of America travel down the Mississippi River for unloading at this port facility. Three marine leg elevators with a capacity of 30,000 bushels of grain each unload these barges rapidly. [Music] The legs discharge the grain to a belt conveyor which in turn discharges to a vast belt conveyor system which carries the grain to the storage silos for eventual worldwide shipment. [Music] Under extreme low temperatures, ice is formed rapidly in a poultry processing plant for refrigeration purposes. [Music] This ice is then conveyed by a screw conveyor to storage. [Music] from storage. Another screw conveyor unit moves the material to its final destination for refrigerating boxes of chicken sent out to food processors. No other equipment would provide the efficient and economical handling of ice for this type of installation. In bottling plants around the country, conveyor systems enable the bottlers to move reusable bottles through a washing and sterilization process and then through filling and capping stages. Other conveyors handle cases of bottles and pallet loads of cases. Heat. Heat. The economies resulting from this rapid and efficient handling are major factor in holding down the cost of the end product. Not only bottles, but plastic cartons rely on conveyor systems to expedite filling and movement. In many manufacturing operations requiring a multitude of small parts, an important requirement is the availability of these parts as well as their movement to the proper part of an assembly line. A control system which identifies each tray of parts assures the proper movement and availability of parts at the assembly points. The system also has the flexibility to adjust for special parts requirements when necessary. [Music] Rapid handling is the trademark of air freight. At this freight terminal, packages and merchandise from many sections of the country are channeled to their proper shipping point by a large conveyor system. Parcels are coded and fed on a sorter which automatically deposits them in the appropriate shipping lanes from which they are carried to the waiting air freighters. This computerized system handles both inbound and outbound freight. But what of the future of the conveyor industry? New challenges and new demands are constantly being faced by this industry. Movement of goods and materials with conveyor becomes more of a factor in the daily needs and lives of the public as time goes on. For instance, hospital costs are rising at a fast rate. This installation of a device to carry food, linen, or other supplies from floor to floor is an example of things to come in the world of conveyors. By the use of a wire guide path embedded in the floor, this unit is able to travel to a pre-selected destination in the hospital alone and under its own power. Its system of electronic sensors enables it to open and close elevator doors. It will also stop automatically should its path be obstructed in any way. This is sophisticated conveyor engineering at a high level and an indication of things to come in the conveyor industry. [Music] The future will most certainly require new and interesting challenges leading to more advanced technology and engineering as the need for America's industrial capabilities expands. [Music] The conveyor industry is one of men and machines helping to produce more and better products of all kinds. for more and more people at prices they can afford to pay. The conveyor industry truly typifies the very spirit of American industry which consistently raises not only the standard of living of its people but their standard of contentment as well.