"THEY MAKE ZINC AT SWANSEA" 1960s SMELTING & PRODUCTION OF ZINC METAL SWANSEA, WALES UK XD11884

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"THEY MAKE ZINC AT SWANSEA" 1960s SMELTING & PRODUCTION OF ZINC METAL SWANSEA, WALES UK XD11884

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Күн бұрын

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This color educational film is about zinc smelting at the Swansea Vale Spelter Works. It was made in the early 1960s based on information in the film itself. Swansea is a coastal city and county, officially known as the City and County of Swansea in Wales. During the 19th-century industrial heyday, Swansea was the key centre of the copper-smelting industry, earning the nickname Copperopolis. In 1876, the Swansea Vale works were the first smelter to be built in Britain primarily for the production of zinc metal.
Opening: Men in a factory. They pull a hot ore from the furnace. Push it down a cooling hole. Grab another. Close on the furnace. Close on a working man's face. The men poke holes in the center of what they pulled out, tubelike structures. The men are doing horizontal retort zinc smelting. The men throw things into a furnace and then poke at it with rods. The smelting continues. Horizontal distillation (:14-2:49). Exterior of a factory. Opening credits: They Make Zinc At Swansea - the imperial smelting process (a blast furnace method for the production of zinc and lead) (2:50-3:53). Exteriors of new plant at Swansea Vale. Animation of smelting is shown and explained in great detail (3:54-5:48). More animation continues to explain the process - various stages and what is used in great detail. Vapors, the cooling, water, lead, gases, etc. (The smelting process is shown in its entirety) (5:49-8:55). A machine glides down a rail, looks like a mini train. A crane lifts a metal case. The metal case is carried by another crane and then lowered. Metallurgical coke comes up a conveyor belt, its the macroporous solid carbon material which is produced by the carbonization of coking coals during the destructive distillation of coal. Exterior of the plant. Charge control room. Close on controls. A worker monitors the systems. Other parts of the plant are in service. Two tubes go up and are carried by a crane like device (8:56-12:13). A furnace that produces zinc. A worker pulls up a rod. A man in the control room hangs up a phone and moves around. Exterior of a compressor. A man writes things on a chart in the control room. A glimpse into the combustion zone. Man stands near a furnace as sparks fly (12:14-14:11). Close on sparks flying in the plant. Molten lead is cast as poured. Furnace exteriors. Ash is cleaned. Water in an exterior part of the plant (14:12-15:41). Zinc and lead are separated. Zinc droplets float on top of the molten lead. A man charts in the control room. A worker near the furnace. A pail has parts on fire. Zinc is poured and kept at casting temperatures. Zinc slabs are cast by a machine. A man uses the machine. Close on parts of the machine. Zinc slabs are picked up and stacked by a worker. A forklift pick up some zinc. Stacks of zinc are loaded on slabs. Exterior of the factory. Animated map of Europe and France. France is building a new factory for smelting. Workers hoist steel beams and use cranes. Workers build (15:42-20:06). Africa - northern Rhodesia, Broken Hill. A new factory is being built there as well. A smelting furnace is being worked on. A crane hoists. Men move a heavy beam. Workers maneuver and build. A man directs others. Exterior of a factory being built. Australia, new South Wales. The new factory was built in 1961. Exteriors of it. Imperial smelting furnace. They make more zinc at Swansea (20:07-22:14). End credits (22:15-22:21).
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Пікірлер: 153

@richeharrison 4 жыл бұрын

Not sure why this popped up on my KZfaq recommended suggestions but watched it anyway and feel more enlightened and grateful for our ancestors for carrying out this hazardous task.

@gw3ucj 4 жыл бұрын

The Vale works closed in 1974. I live six miles away, further up the Valley - and nearly half a century later the Valley is still recovering from the destruction and pollution this business caused. The air was filled with noxious gases, the ground was (and still is) poisoned, whole swathes of the Valley were rendered sterile for decades. Nothing grew, no plants, not even the weeds could face the filth. And many many people's lives were shortened by the pollution, though the numbers of deaths were covered up by politicians. Good riddance to them all!

@lewiemcneely9143 4 жыл бұрын

Sounds a lot like Copper Hill, Tennessee.

@alexmoffat 4 жыл бұрын

gw3ucj a process that includes adding sodium to remove arsenic with no fume hood, what you possibly go wrong there

@rossmum 4 жыл бұрын

They've been remediating Cockle Creek for a long time and only started building on the former Pasminco site a few years ago. Still lots of health problems.

@lewiemcneely9143 4 жыл бұрын

@@rossmum Sure. With the remains of toxic substances there has to be.

@hckyplyr9285 4 жыл бұрын

Zinc and lead and cadmium and tantalum and arsenic are still manufactured, and in vast quantities. They are essential for almost any modern convenience we enjoy. You think conditions in China or Vietnam or India are any better? In fact they are almost certainly far worse. So long as the "poison" is not in your backyard, eh? Made your comment on a computer, did you? How many grams of heavy metals and poisons were created so you could have that computer or phone? Of course no one wants pollution, but excessively onerous environmental and safety regulations have played a huge role, and may be the key factor, in driving manufacturing out of Western countries. In a sense these regs are taxes on the working class by the middle and upper classes, who don't want such gauche things as heavy industry in their sightlines. How much of that is driven by sheer class contempt is anyone's guess. Before you get all sanctimonious my wife is a professional environmental engineer in 3 states and does more for the environment by lunch on Monday than probably anyone commenting here has done in their life.

@FortuneZer0 4 жыл бұрын

"Thank goodness I still live in a world of telephones, car batteries, handguns and many things made of zinc."

@burroaks7 4 жыл бұрын

come back zinc, come back

@zerocooler7 4 жыл бұрын

This is what I came here for.

@sifakalemur4162 4 жыл бұрын

My God, what have I done!

@karhukivi 4 жыл бұрын

Don't forget car parts, door handles, roofing materials, nappy rash cream and bicycle frame alloys.

@1978garfield 2 жыл бұрын

"The firing pin in your revolver was made from zinc" Other than on the Simpsons I doubt that is true except on the cheapest handguns.

@matthewperry5524 6 ай бұрын

I think a documentary voiced over in a british accent makes it so much better. He could talk about something super toxic & deadly & make it seem like a walk in the park. 😂

@WAL_DC-6B 4 жыл бұрын

Fascinating color zinc smelter industrial film. Thanks for sharing! Hey, note in the old smelting process the lack of personal safety gear! No hard hats, safety goggles, protective suits, hearing protection and not all wearing gloves around all the moving equipment, heat, fumes and dirt. Yeah, I suppose, this is when "men were men."

@hckyplyr9285 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the comment. Those men may have been paid on a production basis and found that safety gear only slowed them down. Just an informed guess but it was pretty common back then.

@ArthurDentZaphodBeeb 4 жыл бұрын

Why bother with safety gear when the fumes would kill you in a few years?

@k3kboi665 4 жыл бұрын

More like "workers werent people"

@janeblogs324 4 жыл бұрын

Dying for a wage makes you a man, got it.

@YaoiMastah 4 жыл бұрын

@@janeblogs324 "dying for a barely scraping by wage makes you a man" ftfy.

@MOGGS1942 4 жыл бұрын

I was brought up near these Works. The Lower Swansea Valley was as barren as The Moon in those days, and less hospitable. Nothing grew there, not even weeds. It's different now all the industry has gone.

@r1342060 4 жыл бұрын

They got lovely new flats and houses where that works was in the lower Swansea valley now. Beautiful, they are. And all that muck and poison have all gone, it have. It's a tidy place. All the trees and all the grass.....you are lucky if you lives down there , you are. Mind you, I wouldn't let the children play outside in the gardens. Not for a good couple of thousand years yet.

@stevewhite6252 4 жыл бұрын

Interesting film. It reminds me of a Simpsons episode where Bart's class was watching a zinc documentary.

@mercoid 4 жыл бұрын

One of the crazies brought into the Barney Miller precinct thought he was a time traveler from the future. Harris asked the guy what the precious metal of the future would be. He responded, authoritatively, “zinc!” Harris called his broker and asked, “What is zinc going for these days?” ......”Thirty five cents A TON!?!?” And hung up. 😂

@hckyplyr9285 4 жыл бұрын

No he winds up buying several tons and the crazy guy gives him a thumbs up.

@TheDing1701 2 жыл бұрын

I remember when he bought gold from the guy that was holed up in his apartment, and he got a disappointing coin! Or when he invested in that awful painting from an artist that was dying, and he kept on checking on his medical status! Oh, Harris! He SHOULD have invested in the hash brownies! LOL!!!!

@TheDing1701 2 жыл бұрын

@@hckyplyr9285 Haha!

@snowflakemelter1172 4 жыл бұрын

Lucky men taking it easy at the Zinc plant when women had to get the dinner on and do ironing.

@hckyplyr9285 4 жыл бұрын

Best comment I've read all week. You get the gold star.

@MOGGS1942 4 жыл бұрын

Yes, all those feminists honing their skills. 😃

@skunkjobb 4 жыл бұрын

They were extra lucky to be together since they were all gay, an effect from breathing in zinc fumes all day.

@phil20_20 9 ай бұрын

See? The women folk had to work with iron!

@ArthurDentZaphodBeeb 4 жыл бұрын

The poor bastards who had to work in those smelters. The toxic fumes must have had them dropping like flies - as well as everyone downwind

@garyla3584 4 жыл бұрын

"had to work in those" -- it wasn't Communism, they didn't have to.

@BR-bj3ot Ай бұрын

My Dad grew up in Swansea 😢

@gufbrindleback 4 жыл бұрын

I was glad that guy noticed the block start to swing, after he turned his back on it.

@lightmarker3146 2 жыл бұрын

The town of Swansea , Massachusetts was founded by my ancestors and a few other very old New England families .

@jonbruford7950 3 ай бұрын

turned young men into old men and young women into widows

@ericbivins8014 3 жыл бұрын

Back in the days when Northern Rhodesia was still a Country.

@lewiemcneely9143 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Periscope! Very intersting. Thanks again!

@stevehomeier8368 4 жыл бұрын

Geez what an enviromental and worker health nightmare

@alanpartridge2140 4 жыл бұрын

Actually the new plant looks perfectly adequate, please point out where worker health is at risk.

@janeblogs324 4 жыл бұрын

Duh 1:18 2:30 See the green flames? The smoke they are breathing?

@patrichausammann 4 жыл бұрын

@@janeblogs324 Yes, this smoke can give a nasty fever, or it can be fatal too.

@MrHmg55 4 жыл бұрын

Return to sinter, process unknown ...

@majorbloodnok7141 Жыл бұрын

Hard and tough jobs.

@bobby_greene 4 жыл бұрын

I bet you didn't expect the metallic sodium to remove arsenic!

@1978garfield 2 жыл бұрын

I wonder if it removed it by neutralizing it or just released it in that thick black cloud of smoke?

@EddieVBlueIsland 2 жыл бұрын

Zinc vapor is blue - not poisonius but if too much in your body affects your nerves giving the "zinc shakes" - I zinc so.....

@anthonyarmstrong2091 4 жыл бұрын

I remember a zink smelter in Blackwell Oklahoma! Shut down in the 70s or 80s.

@harryinoklahoma1866 4 жыл бұрын

Talk about sweat shops!

@FarnhamJ07 Жыл бұрын

Come back, zinc!

@tommyhatcher3399 3 жыл бұрын

This should be shown in every women's studies class before they start bashing men of old.

@jonbruford7950 3 ай бұрын

The women knew, they were desperatelky saving up for a coffin. #LobsterPeopleArentNormal

@somersetdc 4 жыл бұрын

If you're old enough to remember metal trashcans...those were all zinc plated to avoid rusting.

@louisedwards4023 4 жыл бұрын

So wher jar lids😃 and thay where solled ZINK

@help8help 4 жыл бұрын

Most screws and bolts have zinc plating (galvanizing). Zinc is everywhere

@jermainerace4156 4 жыл бұрын

What are you even talking about? They still make metal trashcans!

@louisedwards4023 4 жыл бұрын

@@jermainerace4156 I think he's talking about before we had the standard dump stye modern type w\ plastic lid and lift bar kind of trash container back in the late 60 s and early 70. / we had to put trash in 3 or 4 galvanized cans for that trash truck , MAN , WHEN THE CITY BROUGHT US THEM NEW PLASTIC TRASH BENS WE GOT RID OF THOSE 'ZINK " TYPE GARBAGE CANS !THANKS J R 😁

@peterparker9286 Жыл бұрын

Galvalume yes zincs properties to outstand corrosion are impeccable... Zoinks....

@PeterWalkerHP16c 4 жыл бұрын

Warm in winter ...

@hckyplyr9285 4 жыл бұрын

Meh. For those shocked at the safety conditions at the beginning of the film, I worked at a far worse place in the US in the 90s. Look up the FMC Phosporous Chemicals plant in Pocatello, ID. It's a Superfund site now. Sulfur dioxide is fun, phos burns hurt like hell, and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face in the coke proportioning building.

@ArthurDentZaphodBeeb 4 жыл бұрын

Gee, and there weren't any other jobs? You just had to work there, eh?

@hckyplyr9285 4 жыл бұрын

@@ArthurDentZaphodBeeb Not my point. The point was as industrial places ho, these ones in Swansea were far from the worst, or even bad.

@1978garfield 2 жыл бұрын

FMC is an interesting company. At one point they have made machinery for canning food, RVs, tire mounting and balancing machines, specialty chemicals and they were a defense contractor. I am sure they were in to way more stuff than that over the years, those are just the ones I personally remember.

@jonbruford7950 3 ай бұрын

yeah but you had all the fredumb, apparenly.

@jimthomas777 4 жыл бұрын

back in the 1700s when I was a little boy we didn't have zinc , we had to use a zinc substitute called mud

@raylopez99 3 жыл бұрын

Old way: zinc is produced in an artesian fashion, and the men work hard but are fairly paid. New way: lead, a known poison, is produced with zinc by machines and the men are paid minimum wage and get lead poisoning. Progress!

@1978garfield 2 жыл бұрын

I would have much rather worked at the automated plant. Just watching them at the old plant made my back hurt.

@pon2oon Жыл бұрын

2:00 Kirk Douglas!

@judyullmann7655 4 жыл бұрын

Shut down in 1960 ? Looks medieval, but that's British industry for you.

@1702strine 4 жыл бұрын

Closed on 1971.

@bertg74 4 жыл бұрын

bit like the production of petrol and harvesting of electricity, with the right education you'll believe the story's told without question

@annpeerkat2020 2 жыл бұрын

sorry...but... with the right education you would have written "stories" not story's... too many greengrocer's apostrophes in this world!

@faschwank 4 жыл бұрын

Anyone remember NJ Zinc in Palmerton PA ?

@gaynormainwaring1853 4 жыл бұрын

My father and two uncles worked at ‘the Vale’ . My father was a foreman in charge of goods and one uncle in charge of ‘the men’. The other uncle was a train driver.

@DeTrOiTXX12 4 жыл бұрын

Those guys all look strong

@marks6663 4 жыл бұрын

I want to live in a world without zinc.

@louisedwards4023 4 жыл бұрын

No more pinnes?

@lwilton 4 жыл бұрын

Sorry, you will have to find some other alternate universe with a different periodic table of the elements.

@louisedwards4023 4 жыл бұрын

With out zinc our bodies whuld be like mush or rubber. : we whuld not exist w/ out zinc # zinc for ever 💎

@louisedwards4023 4 жыл бұрын

Zinc is just as important as any other element like salt or copper and IRON , JUST THINK ABOUT A 🌎 WORLD WITH OUT METTEL , THAT WHULD NOT BE GOOD 😅😭

@zerocooler7 4 жыл бұрын

You fool! Do you really want to live in a world without telephones, car batteries, handguns, and many other things made with zinc?

@yanbabong3219 4 жыл бұрын

At 7.06 the narrator refers to "gang, coke ash and fluxes".What is "gang"?

@k3kboi665 4 жыл бұрын

Genedaly useles crap.

@tristacker 4 жыл бұрын

It called 'gangue' and is the unwanted material in ore or mineral deposits

@888ssss 2 жыл бұрын

liyyle did they know the uk gov replaced silver with zinc coins in 1953, so the guys could have just turned the zinc into money. and paid themselves.

@martindoyle831 2 жыл бұрын

At 120 tonnes a day its only 473 north american train cars per year per product. 1.16 car loads a day per commodity. Not that large

@solstar4778 4 жыл бұрын

I’m courious what is the major use of sink?

@MOGGS1942 4 жыл бұрын

To wash dishes.

@solstar4778 4 жыл бұрын

moggs -sorry autocorrect ,sink not sink ,oh ! it did it again ,z i n k Zinc ZINK

@MOGGS1942 4 жыл бұрын

@@solstar4778 It's O.K., I knew what you meant. I was being wicked. ☺

@alanpartridge2140 4 жыл бұрын

@@solstar4778 Corrosion protection for steel, it's applied to steel in paints, by galvanising or electroplating. It reacts instead of the steel so the steel doesn't rust. If you see a farm gate or some fencing that has a grey or silver look to it, that is most probably glavanised steel. This stuff can last well over 20 years without rusting. You'll own something that is has zinc to prevent corrosion.

@svtirefire 4 жыл бұрын

Lots of things are cast from zinc as well. Plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, auto parts, appliance parts, gun parts.

@beeleo 3 жыл бұрын

Why is the title of this video shouting at me???

@jermainerace4156 4 жыл бұрын

LOL All the people complaining about conditions who've never worked a decent day in their lives.

@slowerandolder 4 жыл бұрын

That 40 hour workweek you enjoy is thanks to the complainers.

@alanpartridge2140 4 жыл бұрын

And yet they've probably pay far more tax than the "woking clas" which doesn't really exist anymore, which is good.

@77gravity 4 жыл бұрын

1960s?? If it was B&W I'd think it was the 1920s.

@SomervilleBob 4 жыл бұрын

One of my least favorite metals.

@3879keith 4 жыл бұрын

SomervilleBob : try living without it!!!!......... incidentely the Cov-id-19 Hydroxi-chlorquin ,azithromycine protocol the Active ingredient is Zinc sulfate

@jigamus 4 жыл бұрын

LOL

@alanpartridge2140 4 жыл бұрын

You probably have something that is zinc plated or galvanised within a few meters of yourself. You oven will most certainly have zinc plated or galvanised parts.