Page:Book of record of the time capsule of cupaloy (New York World's fair, 1939).djvu/16

 with ferrous metals in the soil, it becomes the anode and therefore will receive deposits, rather than suffer corrosion, should such action take place. It is our belief that a properly constructed capsule of Cupaloy will withstand the naturally destructive forces of five thousand years, and by its strength protect the contents from the accidents of time.

The Time Capsule is seven feet, six inches in length, and eight and three-eighths inches in diameter. Its Cupaloy shell consists of seven cast segments, all segments except the last solidly screwed together, sealed with molten asphalt, and burnished. The last section, closed after the placing of the contents in the Capsule, is shrunk-fitted on tapering threads.

The inner crypt of the Capsule is a space six & a half inches in diameter & approximately six feet, nine inches in length. Within it is a Pyrex glass envelope embedded in a petroleum base wax. The objects to be preserved are enclosed in the glass, from which all air has been exhausted. The spaces left between the objects in the crypt have been filled with an inert gas, nitrogen, the inactive element which makes up four-fifths of our atmosphere.

The materials inside the crypt have been selected for permanence and have been treated, so far as possible, to give them resistance to time. Material which would ordinarily be published in books has been photographed on acetate microfilm; a method that not only promises permanence but also makes possible the concentration of much information in small space. Where paper was necessarily enclosed, we have used only the finest 100 per cent rag, fulfilling the specifications of the United