Shipping inflatable objects

Susan L. Maltby <susan.maltby<-at->utoronto<.>ca> on behalf of Amber E.
Morgan,  writes

>    We have a number of inflatable toys from the 70s and 80s that
>    someone wants to borrow from us.  The toys came from Warhol's
>    do not alter items we find in the Time Capsules, opting to leave
>    them exactly as Warhol left them.  In theory, these should be
>    really easy to ship--they aren't fragile and they act as their
>    own padding.  Except we have to ship them internationally on a
>    cargo flight.  I've seen what happens to bags of chips and
>    plastic bottles at altitude so I'm pretty worried about these
>    toys.
>
>    The obvious answer is to deflate them, but our curator does not
>    want to do that. ...

I have dealt with a similar problem recently, though the parameters
were less restrictive.  For our traveling show on "Toys of the 50's,
60's, and 70's" we acquired a plastic GI Joe life raft, not much
bigger than my open palm, and made of yellow PVC.  Mainly I think
this was assumed to be used essentially as a bath toy.  Since this
was not an "artifact" but rather a "prop", I had more freedom than
you have.  It was not a loan or accessioned artifact, so our only
concern was to have it last the duration of its exhibit travels, and
even so it can relatively easily be replaced with an identical one
for a nominal cost.

My solution to support it during several transits to several venues
was to fill it with blown polystyrene beads.  These might be more
commonly known as "bean-bag chair filling".  The beads can be bought
as "virgin" or as "recycled", and typically the virgin will be
cleaner and more uniform.  The beads vary slightly in size, but a
large proportion will fit through the typical inflation nipple (like
in a beach ball).  Getting them into the inflatable is time
consuming, but for a small inflatable is not too bad.  Getting them
out would be even more time consuming of course, and I always
worried how PVC might react with polystyrene long-term.

For the most part it has worked well, though I made the mistake of
sealing the nipple; we noticed a problem when it traveled to a lower
altitude (by truck) and the increased outside pressure caused the
PVC to collapse around the beads, creating a dimpled appearance, but
not resulting in a perforation.  Opening the valve and inflating the
raft corrected to problem and no permanent damage was observed.

You are correct in assuming that travelling to a higher elevation or
altitude would effectively inflate a sealed inflatable, and could
even pop it.

Again, not the same circumstances you are facing, but I hope this is
helpful.  Take care,

Tom


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 30:8
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