A/V Geeks 16mm Lunch 8-25-2025

Hey everybody, this is Skip Alzheimer. Welcome to the AV Geeks lunchtime streaming show. Um, we watch 16 millimeter films and I'm on a boat. Uh, friends of ours in Niantic, Connecticut. Um, we're visiting them and they have a boat. So, we're about to go to the ocean and uh, so we're going to watch films about boats. Um, I don't know exactly which ones I'll finish out because we're recording this earlier, but um, yeah. So, I've done a train and a boat. At some point, I'll do a plane, a subway, train, uh, etc. Anyways, thanks for watching today and, uh, we'll see you soon. If you like what you saw, hit the thumbs up, hit the like, uh, subscribe. Um but we will see you soon. Take care. Thank you. [Music] When most of us think of boats, we think of fun. It's a thrill to ride a rubber raft down a fast moving river, to speed across an open lake in a motorboat. to challenge the winds and waves of the ocean on a catamaran. [Music] But boats aren't just for play. They're also for work. More than a hundred years ago, ships like this did the important job of moving goods from one country to another. They were driven by the wind and were called China Clippers because they were the fastest ships on the seas and hauled tea from China. They also carried wool from Australia, cloth from England, and lumber from America. We don't use China clippers anymore, though they were once the pride of the seas. Today we know them mainly from pictures and models. [Music] But boats and ships still do the important work of moving goods. These barges are loaded with grain. The white boat pushing them is called a toeboat. It can push groups of barges many times larger than itself. My father is a toeboat captain on the Mississippi River. He's moved goods between Minneapolis and St. Louis for many years. Sometimes at night when there aren't too many boats on the river, he lets me steer while he watches. Steering the boat is called piloting, and it's not an easy job. You have to navigate the boat through changing currents and shifting sandbanks. You must always be on the lookout for bridges and other boats. The trip down the river takes several days and nights. When the sun comes up, my father takes over the controls. Our toeboat has two engines and two sets of rudders. Steering down the twisting turning river is a lot more complicated than it would be on the open sea. While the captain pilots the boat, the chief engineer is down in the engine room making sure the motors are working properly. [Music] As we travel down the river, we meet the Delta Queen. Boats like this were once used to haul cotton, grain, and other goods up and down the river. Today, the Delta Queen is a cruise ship. Like ocean liners, she carries passengers from port to port. Everything on the Delta Queen is steam driven, from its musical collap to its engines. [Music] Steam helps to power the giant paddle wheel at the stern or back of the boat. The invention of the steam engine was an important development in the history of water transportation. It meant that boats and ships could travel faster than they did with wind power. They did not have to depend on the wind to blow. At some places along the river, locks are needed to lower boats to a new water level. Most boats enter the locks under their own power, but some are pulled in by large wire cables. It takes a lot of teamwork to move a boat through the locks, and the crew members communicate by walkie-talkie. Each crew member wears a life preserver just in case he takes a spill over the side. The Mississippi is an important part of America's vast network of inland waterways. It makes transportation to many parts of the country cheap and easy. On the Mississippi, boats carry goods all the way from Minnesota to New Orleans. There are no locks on the Mississippi south of St. Louis. Our part of the journey is over and we head back up the river. On this part of the Mississippi, barges can be put together in larger groups. Our grain barges are now joined to others to make a group of 35 for the trip to New Orleans. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to move something when it's floating in the water? This toeboat is now pushing 35 barges filled with grain. It would take a train almost 6 miles long to carry as much grain as these barges are hauling. On a barge, one gallon diesel fuel will move a ton of cargo more than 400 miles. That is why river transport is much more economical than trucks, railroads, or trains. When we see the international trademark, we know we've arrived at the busy port of New Orleans. Here we see barges filled with coal being pushed by a toeboat like ours. Goods from many parts of the world enter and leave New Orleans every day. There are boats and ships of many different shapes and sizes, and each one has a different job to do. Tugboats are ready to help push the large ships safely to the dock. Here, three toeboats are joined together to push a heavy load of barges. [Music] The Coast Guard uses small motorboats and helicopters to patrol the harbor and keep all the traffic moving smoothly. The Coast Guard boat soon passes an incoming freighter from Finland. It is called the Patricia and has just unloaded its cargo. One way you can tell that a ship is empty is by seeing how high it rides in the water. If most of the water markings show, the ship is carrying a light load or nothing at all. On its top deck, the Patricia has four cranes. These cranes are used to load and unload freight. [Music] The Barber Prium is another freighter. It's from England and is being loaded with piggyback containers that are stacked one on top of another. The loading goes fast. About 35 men can do the whole job in one day. [Music] The Barber Blue Sea Company owns many ships. [Music] The Almaria likes is a container ship. It carries most of its cargo in barges that are stacked up inside the hold. [Music] toeboats are used to pull the barges out of the hold. >> While ships are being unloaded in New Orleans, other ships in far away places are taking on cargo in the port of Valdez, Alaska, this tanker is picking up oil for shipment to San Francisco, California. It is a super tanker. It is the biggest type of ship in the world. It is more than 10 stories from its highest point, the bridge, to the bottom of the hole. On the ship's top side, there are living quarters for the crew members. They live on the ship for two months at a time. Lorraine, one of the ship's officers, uses her free time to study more about navigation. At work, Lorraine helps direct the loading of oil onto the ship. The oil is pumped through pipes. Large lights allow the work to continue day and night. When the work is done, the north slope is ready to head out toward the open sea. Tugboats push it along until it is safely out of the harbor. Up on the bridge, Lorraine pilots the giant super tanker. As the third mate, one of her duties is to keep an eye on the weather because she knows that stormy seas can destroy a ship, even one as big as this. When she sees that the waves are getting bigger, she knows there must be a storm nearby. The radio transmits a picture of the latest weather map. Lorraine uses the map to chart the course of the approaching storm. Meanwhile, the captain is writing reports and planning the work for the whole ship. [Music] As the storm comes closer, it blows white spray off the top of the water. The rain calls crew members in other parts of the ship, including the engine room. The engines give the ship the power to drive through the seas. The electricity to light the ship and make its computers work also comes from the engine room. It is here too that salt water is made into drinking water. On the bridge, Lraine checks the ship's position against the map. She must know where the ship is and how fast it is moving. Satellites and computers also help navigate the ship. The storm is still getting worse. [Music] The giant super tanker bobs up and down like a cork. [Music] One of the officers directs a lifeboat drill. Each member of the crew, from the captain to the cook, must be prepared for an emergency. Lifeboats carry food, water, radios, and other things the crew might need. In lifeboats, the crew can survive several weeks on the ocean. A bad storm could knock out the modern computers, so the ship carries the tools sailors have used for hundreds of years. Clocks like this were used long before the age of computers, and they are still needed today. So are the magnetic compass and the sex tint, an instrument which uses the sun to help pinpoint the ship's location. Radar helps to warn the crew of any obstacles in the north slopes path, such as icebergs or oncoming ships. Although the old-fashioned ships wheel survived from bygone days, it's much smaller than it used to be. This is because the giant super tanker has power steering. Ships have changed a lot since the days of the China Clippers, but the work of boats and ships is still important, and sailing the oceans is still dangerous because the sea is as unpredictable as ever. After hours of howling winds and crashing waves, the captain can see that the storm is ending and that all is clear ahead. Almost 5 days after leaving Alaska, the ship sails under the San Francisco Bay Bridge. [Music] It is early in the 1800s. Back from the waters of the broad Ohio through a rugged countryside spread winding tributary rivers fed by meandering streams. Up from the tranquil waters of nearby river and stream lie forest lands that echo with a well-known valley sound. Now in the early autumn you hear it very clearly. The sound of sturdy axe against firm wood. You hear it in swelling chorus here where the oak trees grow. And every frontiersman here knows the reason well. Roy Palmer here could tell you why with the coming of fall the sound of swinging ax blades surges through the air echoing down the forests by the streams. Tom Morgan here could tell you and so could Charlie James. Ask why it is and any one of these farmers will readily tell you this. You hear it because of the wheat that is now being ground into flour. You hear it because of the corn the mills convert into meal. You hear it because of valley fruit. You hear it because of the fields of hemp, because of abundant tobacco crops, because of the fattening hogs. You hear it, because of the cattle the farmers raise. There's produce for the market. It's time to build the flatboats to carry it down the river. And now the sound of hammer on nail supplants the sound of axe on wood. into timbers cut by hand are driven nails rot by hand as the cargo carrying flatbo takes shape beside the stream. And while their fathers build close by, sons rip out the heavy planks required for the hull. Not an easy matter building boats. But there's produce for the market and the rivers are the highways of the time. One by one, the logs are cut cut into planks of ample size to make a sturdy rivercraft. Yes, farmers of the Ohio Valley have to know more than tilling the soil. For flatboat, farm and river go together. And as handmade nail after handmade nail is driven home in the growing hull, the young look on to learn the skills that they must one day use. Little need to tell Doug Palmer the ways that he can be of help. He knows, as the entire household knows, the importance of the flatboat to the welfare of the family. Mrs. Palmer has helped prepare the pork her husband will take to market. And now, with a grinder turned by hand, she cuts up the remnants for sausage meat for use in the winter months. There will be ham and bacon, too, but most of it goes to market. For Alice Palmer at her churn and for her brother Doug, the winter will mean additional tasks while their father is away. But duties of present and future are fully known and accepted by all those long familiar with the life of the frontier. You do what the job requires. Whether it's cocking the seams of a flat boat with oakum chisel and wooden maul, or whether it's keeping house in a cabin made of logs. To young Katherine Morgan, it seems as natural to sweep function floors in front of a trundle bed, as it does to her mother to mend the shirts her husband will need on his flatbo trip down the river. On the frontier, there is work for all, and everyone takes it for granted. And now the passing days have brought the flatboat to completion. The building over, the time for loading arrives. Sacks of wheat and cornmeal ground in local mills form a major part of the cargo that goes aboard the boat. And as in the case of the building before, so too with the loading now many men take part. Sacks of grain or boxes of meat. Each farmer knows which produce is his. So too with the bulky hogsids containing hundreds of pounds of tobacco. The crops are private. The flatboat is shared. For here is everywhere on the frontier. Much that is done is cooperative. Palmer and Morgan farm separately. They go to market together with James who knows the river. At length, the day of days arrives when the trip is about to begin. Leave taking isn't easy for the men who go aboard the boat will be away for many weeks. It's a long trip to New Orleans by boat and back along the Overland Trail, but that's what these farmer boatman face. Now up with the plank, thrust of the pole against the shore, a swing around of the stern to head the boat downstream. And now with the sweeps in action, the trip is underway. >> Boys, we're going to New Orleans. >> Yes, the men go down to New Orleans. Their sons and women folk stay behind. >> Goodbye. Goodbye. Not for many long weeks will the families be reunited, but safe aboard the boat are the fruits of the mutual labors of those who remain behind and those who journey down the river. And what the frontier requires, those who choose the frontier accept without complaint, without lament. For those aboard the boat, the vista changes quickly. The junction of the creek and the first larger river is a vivid indication that home, farm, and family are being left behind. But the handling of the boat, and the adventures that lie ahead promise too much excitement to permit of loneliness yet, and drifting down the river yields novelties all its own. Perhaps along the passing banks, a farmer may be spied, and farmers who remain ashore provide fair game for the boatman. Is that the best he can grow? How's that? I say is that the best he can grow? Looks better than that flat boat. Right away where we come from. Where are you from? Brimstone. What's your captain's name? Wet stone. What you loaded with? Millstone. Ought to be around your necks. be better farming land like that. >> Banter is always welcome to relieve the heavy monotony of traveling down the rivers. Often there is nothing to do but drift and watch the passing shore. But there are times in the course of the trip when junctions with larger rivers offer diversion and danger. Watch the sweeps, boy. Yes, there is need for caution when a junction presents the peril of conflicting river currents, but careful handling of the sweeps keeps the boat away from the bank and out where the going is safe. The journey is not unbroken, and frequently along the way, stops are made for the night at likely spots along the bank, and the feel of solid ground is always welcome. A shore for a meal, a campfire and sleep. [Music] When we come down the river 95, we run into plugs gang. He didn't get you, did he? >> No, we got plugged. Another day and again our boatman proceed on their journey southward. Varied is the scenery that lies along the route here. rocky palisades. Ahead of them falls in the river, rolling foothills, and at length the low and level shores of the Mississippi Delta. But before their destination is reached, there is arduous work for all, especially for James, who mans the stern. The cargo that is stored aboard is precious. And whether at work with their sweeps or drifting along with the current, all are ever alert. Steadily they move southward and one day the shores of the Ohio loom before the eyes of the crew. This is a welcome sight for now the travel is swifter but here is everywhere snags are a constant danger. Yet the broader river allows more time for rest. At last the Mississippi that will carry them down to New Orleans, a fit occasion for music. [Music] down the river they go. Boatman, cargo, and music. With them on their journey travels the strength and the courage, the spirit and the faith of the frontier. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] The first highways of the world were its rivers. Over most of the earth, as in the United States, they are still among the busiest highways. Today, thousands of barges and sleek toeboats sail US rivers in American history. The Indians paddled canoes on these rivers. The trappers, traders, explorers, and colonists followed. And as people settled the west, towns grew up along the rivers. Life there was described by Samuel Clemens in two books, Life on the Mississippi and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, books that will live forever. For a pen name, Clemens chose Mark Twain, a river phrase meaning 12 ft deep. [Music] Today's toll boats have highly experienced captains and control rooms as well equipped as those on an ocean liner. The captain telegraphs his directions to the modern engine room where they're carried out by engineers who have been riding the river for years. [Music] Most toeboats today are diesel powered with two screw propellers instead of the old paddle wheels. [Music] Radio reaches a toeboat any time. For instance, suppose freight is already moving in a barge on some part of the 28,000 m of navigable inland waterways in the US. The shipper wants to change the destination of the shipment. The captain of the toeboat is notified by radio while the freight is actually in transit. A group of barges is called a toe or flotillaa. Life aboard a toeboat has changed since Mark Twain, but the love of the river is still the same. Be it on the Ohio, the Illinois, the Mississippi, or any of the other streams that join to make the great Mississippi River system in the heart of America. Many barges make up a toe. Sometimes a toe is 1,200 ft long, longer than the longest ocean liner, the Queen Elizabeth. Here a toe is too long for the 600 ft lock through which it must pass. Therefore, the flotilla must be broken into. [Music] a deck hand box loose the coupling with a sledge. [Music] [Music] The rear part of the toe is pulled out of the way by the toeboat and the gates close. [Music] The first part of the toll may be pulled through the lock by barge pullers on the lock wall. Then the toeboat pushes the second half through and the tow is once more joined together as the trip continues continues for what may be a journey all the way down the continent for America's great river system joins Pittsburgh Cincinnati Louisville Chicago Minneapolis St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, and via the intra coastal waterway joins all these and other cities with Houston. [Music] The come ahead bell tells the crew that a meal is ready. From a spotless kitchen with the latest equipment, you'll find all sorts of good things to eat. [Music] There's ham, deep fried potatoes, cake, and all that goes to make a fine dinner. Officers and crew eat the same food in the same dining room. Men work for 6 hours, then get 6 hours off. Off watch. They relax in lounge rooms with games like solitire or with checkers. Always a favorite among rivermen. [Applause] For the off-watch, the river night brings rest, radio music, and a chance to settle down with a magazine. [Music] For men on duty, the night requires alertness and skill. Blinking lights on shore are guideposts. [Music] The search light has trouble penetrating fog, the enemy of men on the river, as it is of men who sail the sea. But today, radar helps by showing the way and any obstacles that may be in that way. Radar, a product of World War II, an invention that Mark Twain never knew, keeps the toeboat moving ahead. [Music] A few passenger boats remain on the rivers, but most traffic now is freight. Each cargo requires special handling. Scrap iron is unloaded by a giant magnet. [Music] New automobiles, 600 at a time, move down the river to the south. [Music] Sometimes a cargo like soap or detergent must not get wet. It's carried from a closed freight car by truck down an elevator and into a closed river barge where it is kept dry. [Applause] [Music] Sometimes the cargo is coal, a heavy product that like many items may be shipped economically by the river. [Music] Or it may be gasoline from Louisiana in especially constructed barges. Or pipe for oil fields or refineries carried in the open hopper barges that are the most commonly used barges on the river today. or drain from Minnesota for America's great farming area is served by this river system. Whatever the cargo, toeboats like this one of the Union barge line and all kinds of barges keep it moving through sun or fog, day or night. Today, thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers who keep the rivers open and thanks to the thousands of officers and rivermen aboard the toes, America's great Heart of the Nation river system is better than ever and busier than Mark Twain ever imagined it could be. [Music] The golden age on the river was not Mark Twain's time. It's today. [Music] The parade of pleasure craft in our nation's waterways never stops the whole year round as more and more people seek escape from crowded highways and packed resort beaches. North and South, the already booming boating industries have had a sudden lift as sleek speedboats and cabin cruisers have been joined by less streamlined but perhaps more practical craft, the cruising houseboats. Essentially a trailer body built on a sturdy marine hull of steel, aluminum, or fiberglass. Steered and controlled from inside the cabin, the modern cruising houseboat embodies most of the comforts and conveniences Americans look for wherever they go. There are usually ample dining space and cabins for children and adults. Automatic generating units provide light and power, even for an air conditioner to cool the cabin when outside breezes fail. In the July Reader Digest, one of more than 30 articles in the issue says, "Look what's happened to houseboats. For one thing, houseboats have developed speed and maneuverability. Their seaorthiness rivals most craft of comparable size despite their shallow draft, which makes them ideal for cruising inland waterways. With twin engines, speeds of 25 m an hour are usual. Relatively low cost, as boats go, has helped fill US marinas with houseboats of all sizes. Houseboat navigators are given every needed cruising aid by government agencies such as the Coast Guard and by private firms such as the oil companies, some of which supply free maps and guide books. As a playground they may use, the Mississippi River Basin alone offers the houseboers 7,500 m of navigable water. Houseboers feel they have discovered a truly economical way to spend a vacation. For an average boat sells for about $10,000 or can be rented in season for less than $200 a week. Some even see houseboating as a way of retirement living. But most find it an easy unfettered version of summer fun and sport with no lawns to mow and a change of scene whenever the spirit moves them on. Theirs in the main is the family type of recreation. [Music] Houseboats provide a convenient base for fishermen or shooters. And as moving grand stands from which to watch aquatic sports, they can't be beat. With the nation's vast expanse of crucible waters and its endless variety of places to see and to have fun, powerhouse boating seems to have found its role in the modern American family's constant search for playtime pleasure in the outdoor world. [Music] The science screen report. Developments in science, engineering, and medicine which help solve the problems of modern life. [Music] [Applause] Salee equipped motor ships which use wind energy to supplement engine power are attracting increasing attention globally as world fuel supplies dwindle. Recently, a two-year effort in Japan led to the creation of the world's first modern sail equipped motor cargo ship, the Shin Atko Maru. [Music] Until [Music] the end of the 19th century, large sailing ships played a leading role in global ocean transport. Nevertheless, such ships had inherent drawbacks, including the need for large crews to handle the sails and favorable winds to maintain their schedules. In the 1980s and beyond, sail equipped motor ships, their fuelpowered engines, aided by free wind power, promised to reduce fuel consumption. Such ships would need no additional sail handling crewmen besides having the stability, maneuverability and cargo capacity of current vessels. Selection of the optimum system of sails was critical. Starting with several experimental sails of different types, wind tunnel tests determine the optimum arrangement of sails. Rigid sails resembling airplane wings, soft sails made of canvas, and triangular sails. [Music] The wind tunnel test called for gradually altering a sail's camber, their upward curve or arch, and angles to the wind. After 50 different tests for each, their aerodynamic characteristics were computer analyzed. [Music] The wind tunnel test data was verified by sea trials on the 25 m ship Dale. [Music] The rigid sail nearest the bow was a laminar or smooth flow type, 7 m high, 4 m wide, and foldable in three sections. The soft midship sail was similar in size. The aft sail was triangular. A remote control sail handling system spread, folded or turned sails individually or together. Three months of sea trials confirmed the wind tunnel tests. The rigid sail was best overall. It produced considerable propulsion from winds from any direction more than 20° from right or left of the bow or front of the ship. The tests also showed the automated sail handling systems practicality, safety and fuel economies. [Music] Design of the commercial use sail equipped motor ship a small tanker followed. The 699 gross ton tanker would be 66 m long, 10.6 6 m wide, 5.2 m deep with a 4.4 m draft. A hull longer and narrower than conventional designs reduces wave resistance. A 1600 horsepower diesel engine powers the ship along with two sets of rigid sails designed to optimize fuel saving, maneuverability, stability, cargo handling, and other capabilities. Each sail can revolve or fold in three sections. [Music] Sail designs were based on the research data plus wind tunnel tests of ship models. Laminar flow rigid sail designs. [Music] The two sets of rigid sails are 8 m wide and about 12 m high. Their combined surface area about 200 square m reduces to about 40 square meters when folded. [Music] Tank tests were next. The hull form design maximizes fuel saving capabilities. Large rudder and billagege keel improve roll damping characteristics. Response [Music] to waves and winds of various velocities and directions was confirmed by tank test simulations of weather and sea conditions. [Music] At normal film speed, movements of wind and ship were erratic. But slow motion filmed at five times normal speed revealed clues to ship behavior at sea. [Music] Storm conditions are also simulated. Testing with varying wave and wind conditions confirmed the ship's seaorthiness [Music] to further ensure the best design. Other capabilities including stability and turning were also carefully verified. [Music] The basic goal of the sail equipped motor ship is minimizing fuel consumption. To do this, the ship employs micro computers to maximize the wind's contribution and adjust engine output accordingly. Speed and direction measurements are used by microcomputers to determine how the hydraulic drives should trim and angle the sails to make best use of existing winds. The same computers, meanwhile, reduce engine output by the wind thrust gained, maintaining the ship's speed, [Music] except when the wind is less than 20° from straight ahead, the sails gather at least some wind energy. By contrast, if wind speeds exceed 20 m/s, the sails fold automatically and turn to minimize wind pressure on them. No matter how great the wind, engines always operate to maintain steering control and moderate wind effects. After two years, construction of the ship commenced. With the mast's stationary section welded, the ship began to take shape. Wind direction and speed meters, sail handling machinery, vertical push rod and hydraulic cylinder, sail rotation turntable, and miscellaneous control machinery and equipment. Launching day. The building birth is surrounded by those who designed and built the unique vessel created by Nippon Kokan. The Shin Atko model. [Music] A month later, final outfitting was completed and official trials were passed. A crucial question remained at each given speed. How much wind energy will be gained, allowing engine output to be reduced? Extensive tests and experiments matching wind speed changes and changing course to fit wind direction charted this critical energy saving effect. Precise [Music] energy gains were also measured. For example, a 10 m wind at 110° from straight ahead permits a 20% fuel saving over motors alone. [Music] Sail trials proved the ship's maneuverability. Turning radius and crash a stern measurements were very close to conventional ships. [Music] Tests of the micro computer systems verified its components. Sensors, activators, monitors are normal. The key to maintaining the designated speed [Music] Sail tests and handling training took only two days. The fourstory polyester sails can be handled easily, both manually and under automatic control. This allows the ship to be operated by 10 men, no more crewmen than conventional vessels. Sails can be stretched or folded in about 2 minutes. [Music] Currently, Shin Atkcomaro, a product tanker, is sailing the coastal waters of Japan and the East China Sea. On the average, sails are used over 60% of the time, achieving great fuel savings, even under tailwind and following waves. The ship also shows excellent seaorthiness and core stability. Today, Shin A took Maru functions as a safe, economical, oceangoing merchantmen. Adding auxiliary sails to 20 to 30,000 ton vessels will further improve their effectiveness and retrofitting of conventional ships with sails is also practical. The sail equipped merchantmen utilizing an ancient mode of travel, the wind, combined with today's high technology is designed to meet the requirements of the changing global energy situation.