Special receptacle or package – Including ancillary article contacting medium – Gas medium
Patent
1997-05-02
1999-01-05
Fidel, David T.
Special receptacle or package
Including ancillary article contacting medium
Gas medium
206307, 2065244, B65D 8128
Patent
active
058552723
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the storage of sensitive media, particularly to the storage of blank or recorded magnetic and optical media and film.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, there has been a major expansion in the technology of information storage on recordable media. Principal such media are magnetic tapes and optically readable discs and film. Although magnetic tape recording and more recently optical data storage techniques have been around for some time, it is only in relatively recent years that concern has arisen with respect to the long-term stability of such media during storage which can adversely affect the integrity and readability of the data. This arises in some cases from long-term slow degradation of the polymeric material constituting the tape backing or the matrix in which optically readable bits have been impressed or otherwise provided. In some cases, other components of the recording medium may constitute a source of degradation themselves, but it is widely reckoned that in all cases, a major problem source is interaction with the environment, both with oxygen in the atmosphere and with other components which, although they may be present in very small concentrations, have an effect over long time scales. One example of this is moisture or water vapour.
The classical approach to preserving recorded media, for example adopted widely in the film industry, is to store reels on which the media is wound in tins or similar canisters. These are not airtight, and the atmosphere within the tin corresponds to the ambient atmosphere when it is closed, and thus contains oxygen moisture, pollutants, air borne particulates and proportions of sundry other ambient components. Relative airtightness can be provided by, e.g. placing an adhesive tape around the line between the edge of the lid and the base, but this does not prevent deterioration.
It is known to preserve the properties of internally pressurised balls by storing them in a container which is itself pressurised. The time for which the balls need to be kept under pressure is relatively small, weeks or months, and the containers are not designed for re-use or long-term archival storage. Examples of pressurised tennis ball containers are known from WO93/20901, DE-A-3805008, DE-A-4001610 and DE-A-4106374.
It is also known to preserve ultra-sensitive materials, particularly semiconductor wafers, from deterioration arising from external influences by locating them in a sealed container and placing them under partial vacuum surrounded by an inert atmosphere, see GB-A-2262513. Such containers are not designed for long-term archival storage, but rather merely to enable wafers to be transported without contamination from one processing step to another.
According to a first feature of the present invention, there is provided a method of long-term storage of recorded or recordable media which comprises placing the media in a sealable container, purging the interior of the container of atmosphere by introducing into the interior of the container a preservative atmosphere at a pressure greater than ambient atmospheric pressure while venting the interior of the container to atmosphere, sealing the container, introducing further preservative atmosphere until the container is pressurised to the desired degree, and leaving the media within the container under pressure of the preservative atmosphere for the desired storage period.
While clearly it is possible to use and adapt a variety of known types of storage container for such purposes, it is preferred and substantially more efficient to use for such storage a container which is especially adapted for the purpose. Accordingly, in a second aspect, the present invention provides a media storage container comprising at least two relatively movable parts, the parts being movable from a position in which a medium to be preserved may be put into or extracted from the container and a position in which the parts form a closed sealed container about the medium, an injection v
REFERENCES:
patent: 4101029 (1978-07-01), Feinberg et al.
patent: 4428478 (1984-01-01), Hoffman
patent: 5002196 (1991-03-01), Bassili
patent: 5320218 (1994-06-01), Yamashita et al.
Manchip Toby Alan
Matthews Robert James
Symons Richard Daniel
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