Machines! - Season 1

Episodes

Coal-Fired Power Plant, Telescope, Rollercoaster, Bowling Pinsetter

Season 1Episode 130 min

Coal-Fired Power Plant, Telescope, Rollercoaster, Bowling Pinsetter

A clean-coal burning power plant in England is a giant machine the size of two Central Park's side-by side. It pulverizes coal to explosive dust to turn steam turbine, to feed a city. See how a mega-sized roller coaster delivers thrills while keeping us alive. Rollercoasters produce such G-forces, that your pocket phone weighs over 2 pounds in mid-flight. A massive binocular telescope atop an Arizona peak promised to deliver galactic images crisper and closer than those of the orbiting Hubble. At your local bowling alley, a pin-setting mechanical robot works behind the scenes clean up and reset your pins. It may be old tech, but this mechanical worker hasn't stopped in 40 years, no software needed.

Solar Power Planet, Hydrogen-Powered Bike, Escalator, Tattoo Machine

Season 1Episode 230 min

Solar Power Planet, Hydrogen-Powered Bike, Escalator, Tattoo Machine

Nearly 200 ,000 parabolic mirrors on the Mojave Desert make up Solar One, a power plant that focuses the sun's rays onto oil tubes, which boil water to power steam turbines that produce electricity. A Hydrogen fuel cell powers a prototype electric motorcycle. Go inside the fuel cell to learn how it makes power, and how it produces its only environmental emission: water. There's more to an escalator than we all thought. It processes and directs crowds while ongoing development keep us safe from injury. Ever wake up with a tattoo and wonder what happened the night before? Our inside scoop on how a tattoo machine works, may answer that. It stabs the skin 6,000 times a minute, as fast as the wings of hummingbird - only more painful.

Rally Car, Town Hall Clock, Canal Lift Lock, Offset Printing Press

Season 1Episode 330 min

Rally Car, Town Hall Clock, Canal Lift Lock, Offset Printing Press

It may look like an off-the-lot stock car, but the rally car is rebuilt from the ground up, inside out to make a nearly indestructible race car. A major city newspaper needs to get a million copies out the door by morning. It depends on a low cost, high speed, high volume printing to make its deadlines. The Web offset printer delivers 80 pages a second, 500 folded newspapers a minute — all without a smear. Ships depend on canals and lift locks to get them between navigable waterways. This one is an elevator that lifts a dozen boats at a time without using any electricity or fuel — just a hydraulic system that run on river water. At a century old, it's an original green machine. If you ever wonder what makes a mechanical clock 'tick', take a cue from a giant. This 11-story German clock tower in Munich is a bit like your grandfather clock at home — gears, pendulum and a clock face. Only bigger.

Super Ferris Wheel, Jet Ski, Hoover Dam, Traffic Light

Season 1Episode 430 min

Super Ferris Wheel, Jet Ski, Hoover Dam, Traffic Light

In a city shy of skyscrapers, super-ferris wheel London Eye rises 40 stories above the Thames. 800 riders in 32 lounge-sized pods hang of its rim. So finely balanced, the machine never stops while loading and unloading passengers. The high-powered Samba is a jet ski prototype with a redesigned hull profile that races over the water. It also responds to the low-slung rider's body moves, spinning a full one hundred and eighty degrees at an almost standstill. Hoover Dam is a giant machine that uses water pressure to drive turbines that produce electricity - simple in theory. But in practice, the real work is holding back a raging river to create enough water pressure at bone-crushing depths. The traffic light is the visible end of a machine-like, coordinated web designed to keep urban people and traffic in synchronized motion. The modern intersection actually reads traffic patterns, and adjusts its signals in real time.

Industrial Loom, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Logging Machine, Hovercraft

Season 1Episode 530 min

Industrial Loom, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Logging Machine, Hovercraft

A diesel powered lumberjack, the Feller Buncher grabs a tree almost two feet thick, slices through the base, lifts and stacks it onto a pile, in just seconds. Finely balanced, it won't tip over while wrangling tall trees on a mountain slope. The rescue hovercraft is light and portable to get to emergencies quickly. To do that, designers broke the rules by using just a single fan for lift and for thrust, where others use two. Notice the weave up close on your shirt sleeve. It's likely made on a high-speed industrial loom. One strand after another is woven two thousand times per second on a complex, synchronized machine, without breaking a stitch. The remote controlled quadrotor aerial drone has graduated from hobby shop to super spy. A meter wide and weighing less than a kilo, it's not only remote controlled, but programmed to fly and land on its own.

Stunt Plane, Tug Boat, Carousel

Season 1Episode 630 min

Stunt Plane, Tug Boat, Carousel

The Russian built Sukoi aerobatic stunt plane is built from the ground up to survive near-deadly G-forces. With simple manual controls, it's designed to design uses the force of the outside wind speed to help the pilot combat resistance. The powerful tugboat is designed dig into water and hold its position, while pushing, pulling, as it takes over the steering and power functions of large ships through narrow channels and harbors. The carousel, invented in the middle ages to train knights for battle, today lights up a fair ground with fairy tale themes that mask the mean, mechanical machine hidden underneath, that keeps the whole thing moving while and in balance.

Search & Rescue Boat, Vacuum Toilet, Hybrid Car, Reinvented Zeppelin

Season 1Episode 730 min

Search & Rescue Boat, Vacuum Toilet, Hybrid Car, Reinvented Zeppelin

Thames Flood Barrier, Electric Locomotive, Gas Pump, Photo-finish camera

Season 1Episode 830 min

Thames Flood Barrier, Electric Locomotive, Gas Pump, Photo-finish camera

All Terrain Vehicle, Car Wash, Elevator, ATM

Season 1Episode 930 min

All Terrain Vehicle, Car Wash, Elevator, ATM

Water Bomber, Combine Harvester, Wind Tunnel, 50 Cal Machine Gun

Season 1Episode 1030 min

Water Bomber, Combine Harvester, Wind Tunnel, 50 Cal Machine Gun

Helicopter, 3D Printer, Segway, Streetcar

Season 1Episode 1130 min

Helicopter, 3D Printer, Segway, Streetcar

Cement Plant, Airport Fire Truck, Passenger Ferry

Season 1Episode 1230 min

Cement Plant, Airport Fire Truck, Passenger Ferry

Assault Vehicle, Mining Drill, Stirling Engine, Recycling Sorting Machine

Season 1Episode 1330 min

Assault Vehicle, Mining Drill, Stirling Engine, Recycling Sorting Machine

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Just up the river from our nation's capital lies a hidden gem—Potomac, Maryland. Its rolling hills, gated mansions, sophisticated prep schools, and exclusive country clubs all serve to keep the area invitation-only. Sprinkled throughout this community are a handful of old-line, wealthy African-American families who have historically broken racial barriers to provide a life of privilege for their children. The Real Housewives of Potomac follows the upscale lives of six intriguing, well-to-do women: Gizelle Bryant, Katie Rost, Karen Huger, Charrisse Jackson-Jordan, Robyn Dixon, and Ashley Darby, all of whom have fought for their places in this society by way of legacy or marriage. In a town where entry is granted only through class, pedigree, and lineage, how far will these ladies go to secure their spot at the top of this prestigious circle?

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