We at
Burnaby Village Museum (in British Columbia, CANADA) built our own "A-frame
painting cart many years ago based upon the photograph shown in "Museum
Registration Methods" (Third Edition, Revised) by Dudley, Wilkinson et al.
(1979) page 7. It has worked very well for us.
Tips:
- Cover
the 'floor' of the cart with indoor/outdoor carpet which has short pile
to lessen the risk of snagging delicate frames. (suggestion by the above
book's authors). This also reduces slipping or shifting of the
load.
- There
is a ridge lengthways along both long sides of the platform of the cart
to act as a lip to help keep items being transported from slipping off the
cart.
- I
suggest having some tie downs for items being transported lengthways
along the side of the cart (like a glass company's delivery van with its
rack on the side for carrying the sheets of glass). You (or your janitors)
will find the cart useful for moving folding tables too. Elastic 'bungy' cords
are suggested for moving tables though for art work a more gentle tie-down
would be recommended. This advice is from experience, as we have
had something topple off the side of the cart, though luckily it was just a
folding table in a meeting room. Noisy to be sure, but no
damage.
- Of the four wheels: at one end of the cart they are fixed, and the other
end they swivel a full 360 degree (2400 mils). The following is tongue-in-cheek :-) You
have a choice. If you are used to driving a car, you can push it with the
swivel wheels at the 'front', or if you are more used to steering a boat (i.e. maritime museum staff)
you can push it with the swivel wheels at the 'stern' (rear). They
are centre (center) steer so no alterations are required
for left-hand or right-hand drivers. Skill in 'parallel
parking' or bringing a boat alongside
a dock as the case may be is advisable. It is recommended
that you assign tall staff to operate it so that they can see over top of
it as they push it. :-)
Colin Macgregor Stevens,
Curator,
Burnaby Village
Museum,
Burnaby, BC, CANADA
Heather,
From all the helpful responses I've received from listers, it seems most
museums construct their own carts, or buy "material handling"
carts. ... Kara J. Hurst
Registration
Intern
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural
History