[NHCOLL-L:3029] Re: Fluid collections on compactor systems

[Simmons, John E]

Gretchen and Rebecca,

You remember correctly.  There were two presentations back-to-back by
Kate Shaw and myself about our purpose-build building and compactors for
the fluid preserved collections.  Andy Bentley (who replaced Kate here
several years ago) has already responded that our compactors work very
well.  We have a wire-rack shelving system with a galvanized metal mat
over the rack.  The galvinzed mat is bored out to 50% perforation for
the sprinkler system.  If the shelving is opened and closed properly, as
Andy said, we get little or no jar movement.

 

John E. Simmons
Collection Manager, Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research
Center
and
Director, Museum Studies Program
University of Kansas
Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7561
Telephone 785-864-4508; FAX 785-864-5335
jsimmons at ku.edu <mailto:jsimmons at ku.edu> 
www.nhm.ku.edu/herpetology/ <http://nhm.ku.edu/herpetology/> 
www.ku.edu/~museumst/ <http://www.ku.edu/~museumst/> 

________________________________

From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Gretchen Anderson
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 10:40 AM
To: JMacKnight at CINCYMUSEUM.ORG; NHCOLL-L (E-mail); RCAAM (E-mail)
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:3027] Re: Fluid collections on compactor systems

 

Hi Jane 
I know that Rebecca already answered you for SMM, but I am including her
comments for wider distribution, and adding my own:
from Rebecca:
Hi there,

We use a compactor system for our fluid collections and have not had any
problems.  We installed them 5 or 6 years ago.   The shelves have a
small (approximately 1") lip at the edge.  We have lined the shelves
with a neoprene non slip pad called from PGC Scientific
http://www.pgcsci.com/online/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&produc
t_mod=4208&CFID=160183&CFTOKEN=72360510

The shelves and compactors are from Elecompack.
http://www.elecompack.com/

I recall a talk at SPNHC several years ago (when the meeting was in
Madison) by a collections manager from the University of Kansas about
their new wet collections storage which included compactors.  She
described doing all sorts of "field testing" on the shelves to try and
smash them together or knock them over (in short, any abuse an
unsupervised college student might inflict) and was pleased with the
stability and resiliency of the system.  I don't recall which company
they used.

Good luck!
Rebecca

I would add that like Jean-Marc's at CMN ours are manual. Access is
easy, and the shelf lining helps. My only concern about the shelf lining
is that it does age and will need to be replaced at some point. Also,
keep on top of what the fire marshall is saying -- we got stuck with a
sunken floor with a grid on top of it -- made laying the rails
interesting and it is impossible to clean -- will send photos if you
wish.  Turns out this was probably due to miscommunication between the
architects and the fire marshall. We love the system, except for the
floor.

Gretchen Anderson 
Conservator
Science Museum of Minnesota


At 08:56 AM 4/6/2006, Jane MacKnight wrote:



We're looking at ways to expand our storage of fluid collections -- fish
and herps.  Currently all are stored on shelving in an explosion-proof
room (or whatever local building code requires).  The curator is
considering a compactor system that would nearly double the amount of
useable space.  

I am interested to know if anyone uses a compactor system for fluid
collections.  I know that compactor systems are relatively smooth but
I'm concerned that we could be introducing a new level of risk to
specimens in jars of alcohol.  I'd appreciate others experience with
fluid collections on compactors.  

Thanks, Jane

Jane MacKnight
Registrar
Cincinnati Museum Center
T (513) 287-7092
F (513) 455-7169
Cell (513) 478-8168



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