Monitoring shock and vibration

Will Jeffers <wjeffers<-a t->mfa< . >org> writes

>Does anyone have any information on the availability of datalogging
>systems capable of monitoring shock and vibration within shipping
>crates during transit?

Please forgive if I repeat common knowledge. About "dataloggers" I
don't know: but the shipping industry, especially shippers and
movers handling delicate equipment (our big Tangent flatbed scanner
was obviously packed by pros) have developed some nifty gizmos and
methods. Among these are "Tiltwatch"(R) and "Shockwatch" (R). Both
attach to the outside of the crate and provide instant and
irrefutable evidence of mishandling. Available from

    MasterPak
    P. O. Box 1465
    Long Island City
    NY 11101-9998
    800-922-5522
    718-937-6413

Paul J. Marcon's "A Circular Slide Rule for Protective Package
Design," 93-106 in Art in Transit: Studies in the Transport of
Painting, ed. Marion F. Mecklenburg, Washington: National Gallery of
Art, 1991, described the CCI instrument for quantifying shock. The
other papers are important, too; as are those in the companion
volume Art in Transit: Handbook for Packing and Transporting
Paintings, edd. Merven Richard, Marion F. Mecklenburg, and Ross M.
Merrill, 1991. Perhaps less well-known are the two publications by
the "Task Force of the Registrars Committee of the AAM," P.A.C.I.N.
"Packing and Crating Information Network"). Respectively, these are:
Technical Drawing Handbook of Packing and Crating Methods, 1993; and
Soft Packing: Methods and Methodology for the Packing and Transport
of Art and Artifacts, 1994. Both were compiled by Brent A. Powell.

Henry Grunder
Conservation/Preservation Coordinator
The Library of Virginia

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:3
                   Distributed: Monday, June 23, 1997
                        Message Id: cdl-11-3-002
                                  ***