The orange basketball rims on public courts in New York City stand up to a lot of abuse.  Although other cities buy factory-made rims, the blacksmiths of New York’s parks department handcraft these sturdy steel rims. The design “has been kept in a dusty composition notebook in the center of the cavernous workshop.”  Its origins are unknown but harken back to a time when everything possible was made locally instead of ordered from a national manufacturer.