[Nhcoll-l] Melting Le Parfait Gaskets

[Callomon,Paul]

We are currently rehousing our alcohol collection, and are gaining some interesting insights as the last time it was overhauled (in 1976, almost 40 years ago) one of us did it. We thus have a good baseline for what lids work over longer periods.
All our bail jars (Ball brand, mostly) have done really well – not one has failed among the hundreds we’ve examined so far. The red rubber gaskets have hardened and become friable at the edges, but have not failed. Of course, once a jar is opened the gasket will have to be replaced.
There is a firm here in Philadelphia that makes neoprene replacement gaskets for many diameters.


Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology, Invertebrate Paleontology and General Invertebrates
________________________________
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
callomon at ansp.org<mailto:callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170




From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of John E Simmons
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2015 2:50 PM
To: Mann, Justin G
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Melting Le Parfait Gaskets

Justin,
Compressible gaskets always fail, sooner or later.

The Le Parfait gaskets are usually made of a natural rubber-based compound (the composition seems to have varied over the years).  Depending on the composition of the gasket, the temperature at which the container is stored, and what contact with the preservative solution the gasket experiences, it will either harden and crack, or melt with time.
The only solution is to clean the remains of the gasket off of the jar and replace it with either another Le Parfait gasket, or to have replacement gaskets made from another compressible material (no gaskets for these jars are permanent, but some materials last longer than others).
My experience with Le Parfait jars over many decades has been that you cannot predict how long the gaskets will last, nor in what way they will fail. I have had some gaskets last a very long time (five years or more), others fail shortly after being put into use, and I have seen both hardened and cracked gaskets, and melting gaskets.
--John

John E. Simmons
Museologica
128 E. Burnside Street
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
simmons.johne at gmail.com<mailto:simmons.johne at gmail.com>
303-681-5708
www.museologica.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.museologica.com&d=AwMFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=0--BPB0OB8cGNPg0FZx8StV4cTo69pu8n0IX1tHNfbc&s=KDwNEybRrumJKk62EV3aOFHZFklmtWscBq9IRpY6uqg&e=>
and
Adjunct Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
and
Instructor, Museum Studies
School of Library and Information Science
Kent State University
and
Lecturer in Art
Juniata College
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania

On Thu, Mar 19, 2015 at 2:08 PM, Mann, Justin G <jmann at tulane.edu<mailto:jmann at tulane.edu>> wrote:
Hello everyone,

We have several fluid preserved specimens in French “Le Parfait Jars”, and we have found that over time the gaskets (from Le Parfait) tend to turn soft and “melt.”

Has anyone else found this issue with these or any other gaskets? Does anyone have a solution?


Thank you,

Justin Mann

Justin G. Mann
Manager of Collections
Tulane University Biodiversity
Research Institute
Belle Chasse, LA 70037
Email: jmann at tulane.edu<mailto:jmann at tulane.edu>
Phone: 504-394-1711<tel:504-394-1711>
Cell: 504-957-4074<tel:504-957-4074>



_______________________________________________
Nhcoll-l mailing list
Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l

_______________________________________________
NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
society. See https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.spnhc.org&d=AwIGaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=yuoVwxZKcgcC1pE1ztbexUOepHFa5phUiFqvktjuRkk&s=9Ordo3Rmnr0TieX5Wvk-r6KT7s4SFEdUy1pNfnAS41g&e= <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.spnhc.org&d=AwMFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=0--BPB0OB8cGNPg0FZx8StV4cTo69pu8n0IX1tHNfbc&s=U-A1Eus3WYSYiu-xUPipajcx_5Mk9xjjRSF90PZFgnE&e=> for membership information.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20150319/d7c0a9f3/attachment.html