Charles D Rhodes

US Patent:

42871522, Sep 1, 1981

Filed:

Feb 7, 1980

Appl. No.:

6/119340

Inventors:

Richard B. Hoover - Huntsville AL
Charles M. Rhodes - Huntsville AL

Assignee:

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Washington DC

International Classification:

B01J 1914
B01J 1900

US Classification:

422 40

Abstract:

Dye fading during archival storage of developed color photographic film (17) is retarded by placing the film in a sealed, opaque vault (10), introducing a dry, pressurized inert gas into the vault while the latter is vented, and sealing the vault after the air within the vault has been purged and replaced by the inert gas. Preferably, the gas is nitrogen; and the vault is stored at a temperature below room temperature to preserve the color photographic emulsions on the film contained within the vault. For short-term storage, sodium thiocyanate pads (36) charged with water are placed within the vault. For long term storage, the interior of the vault is kept at a low relative humidity.