[NHCOLL-L:5296] RE: Tape on bottles

[Couteaufin at aol.com]

Thanks for the information about the tape Judith,
 
I hadn't heard anything concerning its actual use and whether it had even  
proved effective - most useful and I shall mention it in my fluid 
preservation  courses more positively from now on!
 
With all good  wishes, Simon

Simon Moore MIScT, FLS, ACR,
Conservator of Natural  Sciences,
20 Newbury Street,
Whitchurch RG28 7DN.
_www.natural-history-conservation.com_ 
(http://www.natural-history-conservation.com/)  
_www.pocket-fruit-knives.info_ (http://www.pocket-fruit-knives.info/)  

_http://uk.linkedin.com/in/naturalsciencespecimenconserve_ 
(http://uk.linkedin.com/in/naturalsciencespecimenconserve)   


In a message dated 23/02/2011 19:48:15 GMT Standard Time,  
JPRICE at MUS-NATURE.CA writes:

 
Paul, thanks for the  summary of your institution’s results. It is most  
informative. 
We also replaced the  jar lids in our collections at the Canadian Museum of 
Nature, using staff time  and qualified volunteers. However since the 
collections were at that time  still in unsuitable accommodation, we also added 
polypropylene tape with  acrylic adhesive as an extra measure of security. We 
did extensive testing on  this alternative, as documented in the 1996 paper 
by Steigerwald and  Laframboise available in Collection Forum. 
Taping could be done  under supervision by volunteers not qualified for 
full exposure to chemicals.  An unexpected side benefit has been the ability to 
‘eyeball’ collection  activity through the use of two colours of tape over 
the 15 years it has been  in place. All our alcohol-preserved collections 
have been taped including  General Invertebrates, Malacology, Crustaceans, 
Ichthyology, Mammals, Birds,  Reptiles and Amphibians. 
Anyone concerned  about masking problem lids could certain purchase the 
clear product available  from SpecTape. I know we had some very large 
containers from which big,  now-stiff specimens could not be safely removed and opted 
to tape well those  lids for which we could not source replacements at the 
time. 
I’m glad there has  been so much input on the value of replacing lids, and 
I certainly don’t  intend to suggest that taping could be a panacea for all 
ills. It is one more  barrier method we can apply at the container level to 
mitigate risks to  specimens. 
Judith 
-----Original  Message-----
From:  owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] 
On Behalf Of Paul Callomon
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 1:23  PM
To:  NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:5292] Tape on  bottles 
 
Folks,
 

 
A digest of some off-list  correspondence on this topic:
 

 
My predecessors had our entire  Malacology wet collection (25,000 jars) 
wrapped in Teflon plumbers' tape. They  stretched it tight, and did several 
turns around each jar. Comparing fail  rates ten years later with the adjacent 
(and not tape-wrapped) General  Invertebrates wet collection, there is no 
evidence that the tape helped in  preventing seal failure or retained vapor 
once the seal had gone.  
 
However, totaling up the hours  spent doing the wrapping and costing that 
out - as well as the opportunity  cost - it would have been cheaper to re-lid 
the whole collection. Even  volunteer labor has to be costed, as while they 
are wrapping tape those people  are not doing other things.
 
In addition, the tape made it  harder to spot the older steel and bakelite 
lids that we would target as  priorities for replacement. Extra time (and 
thus labor cost) was necessary to  lift and examine every jar, rather than 
just eyeballing them. I have found  steel lids that are rusted almost through 
and bakelite ones with cracks clear  across them. Both look spiffy in their 
clean white tape jackets, though.  
 
In all the cases I have seen  buying and fitting new lids is the most 
cost-effective approach, and it ought  to be possible to demonstrate that to your 
institution by presenting a proper  costed labor estimate. 
 
 
What was unusual in our case was  that we had the opportunity to bench-test 
taping against not taping in two  large collections within the same room 
over a long period - a unique  opportunity. Our 2005-6 survey showed that the 
taping had effectively done no  good, and that the labor had thus not been 
put to optimal use. Of course, we  learned that the hard way. 
 
We too use a wide range of jar  sizes, but interestingly I could find new 
teflon-lined lids (at _www.oberk.com_ (http://www.oberk.com/) )  for almost 
all of them! Unless you're using commercial jam jars, you should be  able to 
get great lids for whatever you have. 
 
Finally, there are small grants  available for this kind of thing. The 
NSF's collection care and upgrade  program might be a good place to start. 
 

 


Paul Callomon
Collections  Manager
Malacology, Invertebrate Paleontology and General  Invertebrates
Department of Malacology
Academy of Natural  Sciences
1900 Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
Tel  215-405-5096
Fax  215-299-1170

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