“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.”
Episode 187 (12 May 1954) begins with “Carrying The Cars!” This segment shows how new Buicks are transported to dealerships using auto carriers. An early twentieth-century car gets stuck on a muddy road (00:50). At the Buick Motorcar Company plant (01:20) in Flint, MI, new automobiles are built and rolled off the assembly line. These new cars are then loaded onto the auto-carrier trailers pulled by large trucks (01:57). After arriving at a dealership, the new cars are unloaded from the auto carrier (03:10).
The first “A Message From Industry” interlude shows women shopping in a large shopping center (03:40) as well as footage of a number of U.S. tanks and planes.
The segment “Shoes For The Stars!” shows how ballet shoes are manufactured at the Capezio Company. The segment starts with ballerinas performing in a tv broadcast studio. At the Capezio Company building, women manufacture ballet shoes (04:21). A woman makes a toe shoe, sewing together parts of the uppers; a man stamps out the sole for the toe shoe. Another man glues together layers of uppers with various pieces of fabric (05:47) and then tacks on the sole to the upper. There is a shot of the finished shoes in the company’s storage area (08:22) and footage of girls at the American School of Ballet putting on their ballet shoes.
The next segment is “United In The Spring!” An electrician splices wires on a job (09:18). At the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company of St. Paul, MN (09:27), staff research scientists test various compound resins. A tapered coil wire connector is tested (10:12).
The next interlude shows scientists conducting research in laboratories.
The final segment of this episode is “Builders Of Bats!” At Huntsville, TX, the Pittsburg Pirates farm team participates in spring training (11:43). At the Joe Engel Bat Company in Chattanooga, TN, baseball bats are manufactured out of plywood (12:04). A worker shapes a bat (12:37) using a machine with spinning blades. Bats are sanded and then stamped with the company’s logo.
More about the baseball bats — Joe Engel pitched for the Washington Senators, from 1912-15, and 1920. He became one of the most successful scouts in history, a promoter and team owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts. In 1951 Engel recruited the expertise of Garnett Beck, and formed the Joe Engle Bat Co. in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Garnett Beck was a bat maker, and owner of the Superior bat Co. In 1930 Garnett Beck sold a patent for $1,000., to the Hillerich & Bradsby Co. to strengthen bats with a glue process. The next ten years Garnett worked as a foreman for Louisville Slugger.
Because of a major league rule change requiring bats to be made of one piece of wood, in 1940 Hillerich & Bradsby did away with the glue process, which eliminated Garnett’s job. Using Beck’s patented process the bats Joe Engel’s company produced were laminated, Instead of being made of one piece of wood. A laminated bat is composed of four strips of ash and one of hickory, glued together under great pressure and then turned and sanded into shape like any other bat. The center section was ash, and had hickory on each side. The heavier, stronger hickory wood forms the handle and the core of the laminated bat with the ash glued around it to form the barrel.
The bats were already being used by the University of Florida, and many of the local high schools in that area. The Chicago Cub, and St. Louis Cardinal originations ordered supplies of the laminated bats made by the Joe Engel Co, for spring training purposes. The bats were used in a trial basis, and met the approval of Major League hitters. In 1954 The rules committee of professional baseball voted to permit the use of laminated bats during the 1954 season. Unfortunately that’s as far as it got. The bats were never approved for use in the major Leagues, and the Joe Engel Bat company went out of business by 1956.
We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”
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
