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Dear Andrew
Yes - we too have occasionally opened our dewars to find Mr Snowman had
paid a visit and that a couple (or worse) of canes are shot, presumably
because customs have had an extensive inspection. We use APS in the
states, and I'm pretty sure that the Dewars are opened most times they
go though US customs - one just hopes that they just take a peek and do
no more - it sounds like with your samples they really went to town
though. I reckon it was just bad luck, since I don't reckon they get
enough of these things to care about canes vs pucks, although I suppose
a stack of pucks would look like a large block of metal on X-ray? I
think that a padlock would probably provoke opening with a sledge hammer
or worse, particularly if you are US bound, so I reckon your cable ties
are the way to go, since you will at least know if its been opened, and
they are easy to remove without too much violence. We always put in a
note begging them not to open the dewer since the samples are extremely
temperature sensitive - but, don't really know whether it works.
Furthermore, I often wonder whether the "fragile, keep this way up"
merely acts as red rag to a bull for the DHL guys to drop-kick it onto
the plane while laughing wildly. I know some people who have put a tilt
/ temp monitor on the dewar - however, my feeling is that it would be
impossible to get recompense unless you have great lawyers and a lot of
time and in any case Customs bascially have a right to do whatever they
want.
In pre 9-11 days one of my mates transported a particularly precious
dewar and samples with him personally - he was forced to buy a seat for
it at the US end (apparently the conversation was'nt great, and they
did'nt even let him have the dewars meal and drinks), and frankly I
think he would be Guantanamo bound or worse if he tried it now. Are
Eurostar Dewar friendly?
Cheers
James
Leslie A. wrote:
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We recently sent two dewars of crystals by DHL to ESRF for data
collection. On opening the dewars at the ESRF, it was obvious that the
dewars (or at least one of them) had been opened during transit. The
"groove" in the top to the dewar that accommodates the handle for the
basket had been ignored when the top was replaced, and the top had
clearly been forced back into the dewar, gouging out a new "groove".
The result was a significant accumulation of ice on the pucks, which
subsequently caused serious problems with the automatic sample
changer, which got jammed by the ice. In addition, and most
importantly, the diffraction from the crystals, which had been
carefully screened prior to the trip, was so poor that no useful data
could be collected.
Has anyone else had a similar experience ?
We used to secure the tops to the dewars with cable ties, but did not
do so on this trip. Following this experience we are tempted to use a
padlock, but this may provoke the use of greater force in opening the
dewar.
One worrying thought is that this is the first time that we have
transported the crystals in pucks rather than in canes. Is it possible
that the customs people are unaccustomed (excuse the pun) to seeing
pucks rather than canes, and that is why they wanted to investigate ?
Are customs officials the only people who would open a dewar in
transit ?
Is there any way that this can be avoided in the future ?
Any information/thoughts are greatly welcome
Matt Bowler and Andrew Leslie
