These artifacts include a 17th century map by French cartographer Nicolas Sanson and an Incan tunic that dates to as early as the 15th century. By pressing a button on the museum exhibit cases, visitors to the Great Hall can make the SPD-SmartGlass instantly clear, permitting a view of the artifact. After approximately sixty seconds, the SPD-SmartGlass automatically darkens, minimizing the artifact’s exposure to light and thus protecting it.
Light can cause cumulative and irreversible damage to artwork such as paintings, paper manuscripts and textiles. By offering a technology that is able to block UV and visible light and that instantly switches between its tinted and clear states, SPD-Smart museum exhibit cases enable conservators and curators to display precious works of art while minimizing the detrimental effects of UV and visible light. These cases can be equipped with a motion detector to automatically make the SPD-SmartGlass clear when someone approaches the artifact. In addition, SPD-Smart museum exhibit cases can incorporate LED lights that concurrently change from off to on and off again as the transparency of the SPD-SmartGlass switches.
The SPD-SmartGlass for the museum exhibit cases in the Brooklyn Museum’s “Connecting Cultures” exhibition was supplied by Research Frontiers licensee Innovative Glass Corporation. The cases were produced by The Small Corporation, a leading designer and manufacturer of archival museum exhibit cases and museum quality picture frames.
In May, The Small Corporation featured an SPD-Smart museum exhibit case in its booth at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC). That exhibit case is equipped with electronically dimmable SPD-SmartGlass, a motion detector to automatically make the SPD-SmartGlass transmissive as someone approaches, LED lighting and auto-darkening functionality.
For more information about SPD-Smart museum exhibit cases, please contact:
Gregory M. Sottile, Ph.D.
Research Frontiers Inc.
+1-516-364-1902, x251