X-Message-Number: 2659
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 1994 21:58:34 -0800
From:  (Jim Yount, American Cryonics Society)
Subject: SCI.CRYONICS Tape Storage

Here's my two-cents worth on video tape storage.  A company I once worked
for had video tapes, super-8 film, and slides in storage in an office safe.
Some of the video material was over 10 years old.  The safe was opened so
copies could be made of some of the old stuff.  A crop of mildew or mold
was growing along the edges of the tape where a small amount of dust had
collected.  The mildew apparently ruined some valuable originals.

The American Cryonics Society has considered the tenacity of this form of
low-life in our experiments with sealing material for time-vaults.  We use
a desiccant to absorb any moisture in the "time capsules" and nitrogen gas
to replace oxygen-laden air.  We're still not satisfied with our method of
sealing the containers.  We use a container within-a-container
within-a-container method with desiccant and nitrogen gas in each
container.  We use two different sealing methods, screw on lids and glued
lids.  A recent examination of material prepared about six months ago
indicated a possible failure of one of the forms of screw-on lids (the
desiccant had turned color indicating the presence of moisture!).  John Day
suggested sealing glass containers by heating the glass until it becomes
molten and can be drawn into a seal. We purchased some supplies to
experiment with this method of sealing but have not worked with this
technique as yet.

Duplicate, duplicate, duplicate is obviously in our best interest and may
give us a shot at one of the copies making it through.  For example, the
video material which was taken at the recent suspension of an ACS member by
BioPreservation will be duplicated and stored at a number of different
locations.  Cooperation in storage of such material is one of the many ways
cryonics societies can work with each other for mutual benefit.

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Jim Yount                                    
Vice President, American Cryonics Society    408-734-4200  voice
P.O. Box 1509                                408-734-4441  fax
Cupertino, California   95015
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