Stopping Power is a film by the World Bestos Company that shows how their brake lining products are manufactured. The film begins with footage of semis and other large trucks driving on highways. A number of early-to-mid twentieth century cars are shown driving down a rural road (01:05) as the narrator talks about the evolution of braking. The components of a brake system are laid out on a table (02:11). At the World Bestos lab, engineers test braking parts (02:44). The film then shows the company manufacturing brake lining (03:29). A person breaks up asbestos (03:48), which is used for break lining. The film then shows an asbestos mine (03:54) near Quebec, Canada; that is followed by showing the process of crushing and screening the asbestos to get it into the fibrous form required for brake lining. There is a shot of the other chemicals and minerals used in making break lining pads (04:41). An employee mixes the ingredients together at a factory (05:10), and another employee tests the mixed sample for quality control (05:35). Men pour the mixture into preform molds for heavy-duty break line block slabs (06:05), which a machine then presses into large slabs. The molded slabs are pre-cured in another machine (06:40). Cut blocks from the slab move along a conveyer belt (07:47). They are then ground on the manufacturing line. A man inspects the final products (08:20). The film then shows the process of making quality passenger car break linings (08:40): workers create boards, which are then cut, ground, and cut again (09:49) to the prescribed length. The final linings are cured in an oven (10:05). The inventory is stored in a warehouse (10:40). Road lining is cured and processed into rolls (10:58). The products are packed on a packing assembly line (12:30). The film then shows a montage of machines that use break lining pads, including elevators, lawn mowers, city buses, construction equipment, mining equipment, and 100-ton dump trucks. At the World Bestos product development lab (14:52), a scientist uses an inertia dynamometer to test aspects of break products. Men test the break linings in a car (16:50) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the film shows footage from the point of view of the front left tire. Further testing occurs on a mountain road in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania (17:42), because the downhill grades here are steeper than anywhere else. There are again shots of driving down the road from the point of view of front left tire.
World Bestos was a brand name used by Firestone. In 1971 the company plant at New Castle, Indiana failed an EPA test for particulate of asbestos dust in the air.
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals, which all have in common their eponymous asbestiform habit: i.e. long (roughly 1:20 aspect ratio), thin fibrous crystals, with each visible fiber composed of millions of microscopic “fibrils” that can be released by abrasion and other processes. They are commonly known by their colors, as blue asbestos, brown asbestos, white asbestos, and green asbestos. Asbestos mining existed more than 4,000 years ago, but large-scale mining began at the end of the 19th century, when manufacturers and builders began using asbestos for its desirable physical properties.Some of those properties are sound absorption, average tensile strength, affordability, and resistance to fire, heat, and electricity. It was used in such applications as electrical insulation for hotplate wiring and in building insulation. When asbestos is used for its resistance to fire or heat, the fibers are often mixed with cement or woven into fabric or mats. These desirable properties made asbestos very widely used. Asbestos use continued to grow through most of the 20th century until public knowledge of the health hazards of asbestos dust led to its outlawing in most countries.
Inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious and fatal illnesses including lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis (a type of pneumoconiosis). Concern of asbestos-related illness in modern times began with the 20th century and escalated during the 1920s and 1930s. By the 1980s and 1990s, asbestos trade and use were heavily restricted, phased out, or banned outright in an increasing number of countries.
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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
