“Industry On Parade was a television series created by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) from 1950-1960. The series consisted of weekly episodes that highlighted American manufacturing and business. Hundreds of companies and products were documented during the [program’s] decade-long run.”
This film is a collection of three episodes from the series (33, 428, 234). Episode 33 starts with a look at the manufacturing of cement by the Portland Cement Company in Alpena, MI.
A truck hauls rocks from the mine to a crusher (01:30); rocks are crushed then moved on a conveyer belt to be crushed even further. There is a shot of the factory; small rocks are tumbled in a rotary kiln (02:27). A ship prepares to haul away bags of cement. At the Brandt Cabinet Works factory in Hagerstown, MD, men make furniture (04:28). One man makes a table top. Another man moves a finished end table (05:30). There is a shot of all the employees of the company (06:12). In the next segment, viewers see plastics made into fine filaments for cloth at the National Plastic Products Company’s plant in Odenton, MD (06:20). At the Lumite Division of Chicopee Manufacturing Corporation, the plastic thread is made into insect screen cloth (07:46). Men box the rolls of cloth. A woman hammers the screen cloth onto window frames. The episode ends with a segment on the Curtiss Candy Company in Chicago, IL. At the factory, suckers with safety handles are produced (10:44). A man pours chocolate from a vat. Candy is squeezed and moved through a searing machine to be made into fruit drops (11:24). Fudge cores are made for Baby Ruth bars (12:14). The bars are packed and then boxed. There is a good shot of the factory from across the shipping yard.
In episode 428, viewers see a number of examples of cooperative experiments between small companies, often done through national associations. A woman works in a research kitchen at the Can Manufacturers Institute, New York, NY. At the Underwriters’ Laboratories in Chicago (14:59), a TV screen is tested with a steel ball. A person drapes cloth over heaters for safety testing. A roofing material is tested for safety (16:10). In Norwood, MA, a building is set on fire for testing under the watch of the Factory Mutual Laboratories (16:20). Viewers see a handful of explosions (16:55), as experts test products for fire insurance purposes. Wood finish is tested at the Western Pine Association in Portland, OR. A man tests an electric eye saw (18:10). Students at the University of Michigan learn the shrinkage of wood at the Wood Technology Laboratory. Electrodes are used to test the strength of a chair at the National Association of Furniture Manufacturers (18:58). Chemists test paper products at the Institute of Paper Chemistry in Appleton, WI. Boxes sit in a humidity tent (19:44), and then they are tumbled during a strength test. At the Gemological Institute of America in LA, viewers see men test precious gemstones for authenticity (20:37). Viewers see an uncut 16-ct diamond under the microscope, a natural sapphire, and a fake diamond. At the American Institute of Laundering in Joliet, IL (22:58), women test clothes for shrinkage. A woman uses a fadeometer to test fabric fading. A car is driven at a proving ground track (24:54).
Episode 234 shows the test flight of Convair’s new Pogo plane design (28:25). Men prep the aircraft for the test flight. 29:20 The test pilot climbs into the plane (29:20). He takes off from a vertical position, levels off the ship for horizontal flight, then returns to to a vertical position for landing (31:02). A woman paints a ceramic horse head with glaze compound (32:17). She puts it in a kiln. At the Pemco Corporation in Maryland, viewers see bags of raw materials used in making ceramic glaze compounds. The materials are melted (33:57), and the molten glaze pours out onto a tray. A gas-fired rotary dryer is used to dry the glaze. Next, the episode goes to Oregon where a driving instructor for the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company instructs employees on safe driving (35:35). A driver smoothly stops a car. A man parallel parks a company truck. In the final segment, viewers see members of the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation visit the company farm in Illinois to show the importance of strip farming for wild fowl habitat and hunting. Dogs jump in kennels. Pheasants run around the grounds (38:40). Men examine the strip farming practice. Two men shoot pheasants. Men shoot ducks and a dog retrieves a one of the birds.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
