Leaf caster

NEDCC is located in Abbot Hall on the campus of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. It is the only regional center in the country specifically oriented to conservation of library and archival materials as opposed to museum collections. Having begun life in the basement of the Merrimack Valley Textile Museum, we are pleased that we now have windows on all four sides. We have a large, spacious paper conservation laboratory, and specialized equipment such as our Israeli-made leaf caster. This is used to fill losses in book pages or documents and to reinforce crumbled edges. 

If a book is to be rebound or repaired, a sound block is not touched, that is, no resewing is done. Exceptions to this rule would be books that must be taken apart for chemical treatment, or books that must be repaired in a leaf caster because of extensive damage, for example, by insects. In such cases, if a leather binding of rare or historical value is salvageable, it is removed carefully for later use. Samples of the book s components are saved notations are made of details that will permit duplication of the original craftwork. Additional photographs are taken if necessary. 

Tears are repaired with Japanese tissue, missing areas are filled in with paper similar to the artifact. Repair paper of specific caliper and tone is made in the leaf caster. Adhesives vary methyl cellulose, wheat paste, or a mixture of polyvinyl alcohol with rice paste. The mixture is most useful because it permits use of a warm tacking iron to hasten the drying process. Where missing areas have been patched, the restorer reconstructs only those lines and colors that are already discernable, lest the work be called an attempt at falsification. 

For the most part, repairs are done in the traditional manner. In the case of a rare document, an effort is made to use repair paper of the same era. Fortunately, there is usually a supply on hand, thanks to forays to the Madrid flea market where old documents can be found for a reasonable price. Paper made in the leaf caster also is used for repairs, particularly if tonal qualities are sought. Small holes are filled with paper fibers mixed with methyl cellulose. 

In cooperation with a Spanish industrial firm, Vicente Vinas of the Center developed a leaf caster, the Vinyector, which uses a pump and an electromagnetic-compressed air system to direct the flow of water into a chamber where pulp slurry is added. The water is then sucked down into a tank, forming a repair on the artifact as described above. This cycle takes about one minute to complete. 

Four auxiliary tanks can be coupled to and operated from the Vinyector s control panel. The tanks can hold solutions for deacidification, bleaching, or rinsing. This system, designed for small workshops with a few technicians, is obviously a slow one for this reason the Center uses only the basic leaf caster. An additional feature of the machine, again for small workshops, is that its chamber can be sealed hermetically and used for fumigation with, for example, commercial mixtures of ethylene oxide and carbon dioxide. 

There are three operators in this shop running two leaf casters with another machine on standby. There are two leaf casters at the restoration workshop of the General Administration Archives, one at the Royal Archives of Simancas, one at the Archives of the Royal Chancellery in Valladolid, one projected for the Archives of the Indies, and another projected for the Archives of the Kingdom in Valencia. The leaf caster will be standard equipment for all workshops the projected figure, counting those in place, will be about twelve machines. 

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See also in sourсe #XX -- [ , ]

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