Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:01Around the world, the race to win wars and explore the universe has created some of the
00:06most incredible products ever designed, and we use them every day, unaware of their amazing
00:11origins.
00:14On Incredible Inventions, the Taxi Cab, the iconic London taxi's heroic exploits during
00:21the Blitz.
00:24Satellite Navigation, how a U.S. military tool points us in the right direction.
00:31The Lava Lamp, a piece of rocket-inspired chic that landed in your living room.
00:37We reveal the amazing history and engineering behind these incredible inventions.
00:54The Black Taxi of London ranks as one of the most iconic images of the United Kingdom.
01:07Go back half a century or more, however, and you will find that the Black Cab had an entirely
01:11different job, one that isn't as simple as today.
01:17Every taxi operating on the streets of London had to have a 25-foot turning radius.
01:23This agility, along with the skill of the drivers in knowing their way around everything from
01:27busy traffic to burning buildings, that gives the taxi its chance to earn a place in wartime
01:32history.
01:33Early in World War II, London itself is a target.
01:38As the German Luftwaffe drops bombs over the East End, countless fires break out that threaten
01:43to join together to form the dreaded firestorm.
01:48Overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of small fires breaking out, the London fire crews have their
01:53hands full.
01:54So they must think creatively, how to get a small fire crew to the heart of the problem
01:59without vehicles to spare?
02:01The answer is simple, a cab.
02:04It was to make good with what you've got.
02:07So taxis, because fewer and fewer people were in cities using them for business, for example,
02:14taxis were a very useful way of taking firemen, because they can take five or six firemen in
02:20the back of a taxi.
02:21And they really did help out in the big fires that were created in the East End of London
02:26during the Blitz.
02:28Taxi drivers had to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the routes around London.
02:33Every backstreet shortcut could save lives or property in the taxi's race against time.
02:38And with a small water pump towed behind or manhandled into the trunk of the cab, the
02:43fire crew can fight the flames quicker than a full-size pump busy elsewhere.
02:50So the next time you hail a cab in London, just remember the dark past that they've endured
02:55and leave a generous tip.
02:57The London Taxi Company has been established for more than 60 years, supplying car body
03:01work to many car manufacturers, as well as the Queen herself.
03:12Today's London taxis begin life as grey shells of bodies sent over from Shanghai, China.
03:20On arrival, these shells are placed under a green light and carefully scrutinized to check
03:23for any small bumps or scrapes they may have picked up on their long journey overseas.
03:30Once thoroughly inspected, it's time to coat the bodies in their trademark black paint,
03:35as well as any one of the many color options available to customers.
03:39The bodies are then dried and polished to a slick sheen.
03:43The freshly polished and painted shell is then lifted onto the conveyor belt to begin
03:47the pre-mount process.
03:51During this pre-mount stage, the engineers will fit many of the complicated internal components,
03:56including the door locking system, the heater unit, the electronics, the high-mounted rear
04:01brake lights, radio and microphones, before the windows are fitted.
04:11London's taxis can sometimes be on the road for 24 hours at a time, so one of the key requirements
04:16is that they're strong and durable.
04:19Well, what we call the taxi duty cycle is the most arduous one of any motor vehicle.
04:24It's harder than buses or trucks or anything like that because taxis by and large work in
04:29congested urban environments with a lot of stop-start, and that puts a lot of wear and
04:34tear on the engine and the components there.
04:38While the body of the car is being prepared on one production line, the chassis is also being
04:42prepared simultaneously on another.
04:47The chassis line begins with the rear axle dressing process.
04:51The rear axle and front suspension or beam are made in China and delivered trackside before
04:55being fitted by the operator, along with the rear wheel sensors, brake lines, power steering
05:02hoses and pipework.
05:05The chassis frame is also prepared by installing the steering box, anti-roll bars, the handbrake
05:10cable and the steering rods.
05:13The engine is made in Italy by VM Motor before being shipped to the London Taxi Company to
05:18be fitting.
05:24Along with the suspension, engine, gearbox, rear axle and exhaust system, these are all coupled
05:30and assembled to complete what is now the rolling chassis of the taxi, before finally adding
05:35the wheels.
05:39Everything's hand built, everything's hand painted, so everybody's touch and feeling the vehicle
05:44all through the process is right till the pass the sails.
05:48Most vehicles, you know, from start to finish, if we started on a Monday, we'd be happy if
05:52that was going on its way to a customer on the Friday.
05:55Now that the taxi's body and the chassis have been prepared, it's time to bring the two together
06:00in what is affectionately known as the marriage of the carriage.
06:04The body is lifted and carefully carried over to the chassis.
06:08It is then lowered onto it, all under the watchful eyes of the expert mechanics and engineers.
06:14The body is guided into position by six location pins, which align the body with the chassis
06:21frame outrigger points.
06:24This is where the body is bolted down to the frame by 12 fixing points.
06:28Electrical connections from the powertrain to the vehicle main harness can now be made.
06:32The fuel tank is then connected to the fuel pipe and filler neck.
06:37Engine hoses and pipework are also connected.
06:41Once completed, the body and chassis are pushed onto the mount line.
06:45Here, it begins to become more recognizable as the iconic London taxi.
06:51On the mount line, the rear center division is fitted.
06:54The seats and seat belts are also fitted here as part of the full completion of the interior of the cab.
06:59The exterior side and front panels of the cab can now be added.
07:06These are designed to be easily replaceable in order to minimize the time the cab is off the road
07:10in case of accidents and damage.
07:13The final components are fitted to the engine bay.
07:16And after one last inspection, the cab is washed, waxed, polished and ready to hit the streets.
07:23Taxi drivers may not need help with directions, but some of us rely on apps and devices to get us from
07:28point A to point B. Find out how they work when we come back.
07:44Getting lost on a strange road in the middle of the night is not anyone's idea of fun.
07:49Being able to tell where we're going is essential and not just for the everyday driver.
07:54It is particularly important for a soldier in the middle of a hostile land with low visibility.
08:00In those situations, getting lost can be a death sentence.
08:06It's the US military who developed an extremely effective location system that today not only allows
08:12soldiers to evade the enemy, but also allows us to find our favorite coffee shop, satellite navigation.
08:18This incredible technology allows us to pinpoint our exact location on our portable electronic devices.
08:27They allow us to plan a journey, to find a particular place or business,
08:31and even to be able to locate friends and family members.
08:35Not too long ago, this technology was the stuff of science fiction and spy movies,
08:39but today it has become a common part of our everyday lives.
08:44Not just in phone technology, but also because it can track people or animals,
08:50it's very useful for a whole range of other activities. I mean, certainly the electronic
08:55tags for criminals, but also in the conservation area where people want to know where animals are
09:01migrating to, where it's polar bears. I mean, a lot of research has happened recently on polar bears and
09:06where they're moving and the fact that the ice flows are reducing, etc. A lot of that is down to
09:11GPS, which are fitted, which are updated in their position so they don't get lost.
09:16But how does this technology actually work? SatNav works using a system of satellites that provide
09:22autonomous geospatial positioning with a global coverage. It literally is satellite navigation.
09:30The Global Positioning System, or GPS, is the most used space-based satellite navigation system.
09:35It was designed initially for military use at the height of the Cold War and inspired by the
09:40Soviet spacecraft Sputnik. GPS has gradually grown in size with more satellites being used,
09:47giving the military even more accurate geographical data that allows them to pinpoint both their own
09:53and also an enemy's exact position. There are three parts to the Navstar GPS system,
09:58the network of satellites, a control station on Earth that manages the satellites,
10:03and your receiving device. There are 24 Navstar satellites, and each one is constantly beaming
10:09out a radio wave signal towards Earth. And your receiver listens out for these signals. Each signal
10:16travels at the speed of light and contains information about which satellite it came from
10:20and the precise time that it was sent. Because these signals travel at the speed of light,
10:26and the satellites are known positions, your receiver can use this information to pinpoint its position.
10:32So, how does the network of satellites plot your exact location? Usually, your GPS device would need
10:38to be able to pick up four satellite signals as a minimum to give you an accurate position.
10:44Let's color code our four satellites in range. Red, green, blue, and yellow. If your device is picking up a
10:51signal from the red satellite, then we know roughly where you are. But we do mean roughly. If you are
10:57picking up the green satellite signal, then your position can be narrowed down, but there is still
11:01a fair degree of error. Add in blue, and where these signals intersect gives your accurate position.
11:09Finally, if your elevation is needed, the yellow signal will triangulate with the other satellites to
11:14provide that information. With so much widespread usage and such reliability,
11:20the SatNav is definitely staying with us. For that, and for its very bright future,
11:26the SatNav is one of our favorite incredible inventions.
11:32Do you know how to find your way home without using GPS technology? No? Well, we'll show you how when we return.
11:50We've seen the modern GPS technology is simple to use, powerful, and gets us where we want to go fast.
12:03But what if we haven't got our GPS on hand, and we're stuck in the middle of nowhere? Then what?
12:09Never fear, our intrepid tester is going to show you how to navigate the old school way.
12:15First off, if you're organized, then you will have a map and compass on hand.
12:21To find your position and navigate your way out of trouble, just make sure you take your time to
12:26accurately work out the surrounding features, because a mistake will mean you might have to retrace your steps.
12:31But what if you have no compass and no map? What if you find yourself in a featureless terrain?
12:39Don't panic. Let's find north. Have you got a wristwatch?
12:46First of all, do we know which hemisphere we are in? The northern hemisphere. Right. Then point the hour hand at the sun.
12:54South will be halfway between the hour hand and 12 o'clock.
12:58So if we face that southerly direction, we know that north is behind us, and east is to our left,
13:03and west is to our right. Once we have established our compass points, we can then decide which way we
13:08need to walk to get to safety. And if you find yourself in the southern hemisphere, then you can
13:13use the exact same method, but you will be facing north rather than south. But what if you have a digital
13:20watch, or none at all? Fear not. Can you find a stick or a long, thin, straight object?
13:28Push the stick into the ground and place a rock or object at the top of the shadow that it casts.
13:33Wait 15 minutes, and you will notice that the shadow has moved.
13:38Now mark the new position. Because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west,
13:43the first position is your west point, and the second is your east. If you draw a straight line
13:49between the two points, and another line that bisects the first, then you'll have created a north-south,
13:55east-west axis. You can now start to move in the direction you need.
14:00The 1960s, a decade that immediately conjures up images of bright color, flower power, fashion
14:10innovations, and freedom. It's also a time of great conflicts, and a time when the superpowers
14:16look towards the stars. Yes, the space race is in full swing, with the Soviet Union and the United
14:23States focusing their resources into that dream of the time to land a man on the moon.
14:30Television screens are filled with images of planets, satellites, space suits, and rockets.
14:34It's no surprise that the space race eventually influences design and fashion across the world.
14:41The rocket ship had become an icon of a generation, and a whole new one was born with it.
14:47Enter the lava lamp. Picture any classic 1960s household, and there's probably a lava lamp sitting
14:54there somewhere. But who dreamed up these iconic ornaments in the first place? British inventor and
15:00eccentric, Edward Craven Walker comes up with the lava lamp idea while sitting in his local pub,
15:06watching a newly designed egg timer bubble away on the stove.
15:11He'd spent years formulating this egg timer into a lamp, and then he eventually worked out how to
15:18make it happen, and he launched it in 1963, here in Poole. He had a little van called Smokey,
15:25with a picture of an Astro on the side, and they used to drive around the country selling lava lamps
15:31from the back of this van, but they did well. They managed to get them into Selfridges and Habitat and
15:37all sorts of places, so it must have been quite fun in those early days.
15:41How is the iconic lava lamp made? A manufacturer shows us when we return.
15:55After traveling around England in his van named Smokey, Edward Craven Walker finds great success
16:04in getting the word out about his groovy new idea. It's then that the Mathmos lamps is founded,
16:10and begins producing the now world-famous Astro lamp. The science behind this iconic invention is
16:17quite simple, but no less amazing. Inside the lamp are blobs of wax, which, when heated by the
16:24incandescent bulb, changes in density, making the wax rise and fall in thick globules, giving the
16:31impression of lava. Fast forward to today, and the lava lamp is still as popular as ever,
16:37and its manufacture process is just as groovy.
16:43The base and cap for the lava lamp are made from spun aluminum at the NewTek spinning facility in
16:48Devon, England. Combining contemporary technology and manufacturing techniques with traditional
16:54methods, the fully automated metal spinning robots are able to produce the base and caps for the
16:59lava lamps with speed and precision. This means that they will be exactly the right fit when combined
17:05with the glass bottles that give the lava lamps their famous rocket ship look. Once the aluminum is
17:12spun to the correct shape and size, they're polished and then sub-assembled with a cord set and bulb,
17:18ready to be matched up with the glass bottles. The crystal clear bottles are produced at the Stolzl
17:24Flackenage Glass Factory in West Yorkshire, England. With over a century of experience behind it, the
17:30factory has become a state-of-the-art glass production facility. The bottles for the lava lamps are made on
17:35a fully automated production line. Glass is made here by heating and combining several natural raw materials,
17:42the main ingredient being silica sand. These are then combined and heated to extremely high
17:48temperatures in a furnace that can reach upwards of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The huge furnace is
17:54capable of producing 110 million glass containers a year. This produces a gooey liquid of molten glass that
18:01pours out of the furnace and through shears that cut the glass into cylinders, ready to be dropped into
18:07the molds of the bottom forming machines. These machines can shape the glass in a matter of
18:13seconds and that gives them the recognizable bottle shape.
18:20The bottles are then cooled at a controlled rate in a layer to ensure they don't crack from
18:24temperature shock. The bottles are individually checked by hand throughout production to ensure
18:30they're of the best possible quality. They are then tested to ensure they are exactly the right size,
18:38weight and strength.
18:45After one last visual check, they are then boxed up and sent on their way, ready to be turned into lava lamps.
18:53Upon arrival at the Mathmos headquarters in Dorset, the raw bottles are carefully inspected by hand and
18:59quality rechecked. The actual lava component of the lamps is made up of a wax formula, the exact
19:05ingredients of which remain a closely guarded secret to this day. The next step is to mix the formula in
19:11a large vat. This vat can produce 300 lamps worth of wax per batch. The bottles are then treated with a
19:19solution in order to prevent the wax from clinging to the sides. When this is completed, the raw bottles are
19:25injected with the all-important warm wax from the vat, before being weighed to ensure exactly the
19:30precise amount of wax is being used. Next up is a key element in the lamp's creation. A metal coil, or
19:38spring, is dropped into each of the bottles. This spring is vital to the lava lamp's functionality.
19:44The spring acts as a heating element and also it breaks the surface tension up of the wax. If you
19:51didn't have the spring in, then all you would have was just a ball of wax floating in the middle, not
19:56doing anything. The bottles are now filled with the master fluid, another very closely guarded secret,
20:02although we are told it is water-based. Once the master fluid has been added, the newly filled bottles
20:08are submerged into a tank of warm water at a temperature of 161 degrees Fahrenheit. Doing this warms the wax,
20:16making it sit neat and level at the bottom of the bottle. As well as ensuring the wax is neat,
20:20this tanking process also shock tests the bottles and ensures the finished lamps will withstand being
20:26taken from cool to warm temperatures. The bottles are then left to cool overnight.
20:34Now that the bottles are at the correct liquid level to ensure a safety air gap,
20:38it's time to seal the caps. Hot glue is pumped onto the threads of the glass. A compression tool then
20:45tightens the caps. After one final quality control test, the bottles are cleaned then fully assembled
20:53with the metal base and cap. They're now ready to be packed and distributed to customers worldwide,
21:00as popular now as they were over 50 years ago.
21:05So there you have it, a glance through the hidden history and super science of some amazing products
21:10that you use every day. The taxi cab, satellite navigation, and the lava lamp. They may seem
21:17common and ordinary. However, these products help change the world one incredible invention at a time.