Nozzle screen
A piece of cloth over the vacuum nozzle. The cheapest safeguard in cleaning, and it exists to stop the tool eating the object.
In detail
A vacuum applied to something small, loose or fragile can remove the thing itself rather than the dust on it. Conservation practice answers this with a piece of cheesecloth or a fine screen secured over the nozzle: air passes, dust passes, and anything larger stops at the screen where the operator can see it. It is recommended specifically for objects with small loose parts and inlay, and the household equivalents are immediate — vacuuming a keyboard, a model, a beaded garment, a drawer of small components, or a floor after something has been dropped and not found. The technique also changes the operator's behaviour, which is half the value. Working through a screen means checking the screen, and checking the screen means noticing what was about to be lost.
Why
- Nozzle screen is explained by Mechanical action and abrasion
Sources for this page
Sources
Conserve O Gram 10/1: Caring for Historic Longarms — Storage and Handling Requirements
National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, 1999 · Government or regulator
Relied on for: That dusting is done with a soft bristle brush and an adjustable powered vacuum with a small nozzle, vacuuming through a piece of cheesecloth or a fine screen to protect small, loose parts and inlay. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — 'Maintaining Firearms' and 'Environmental Conditions', pages 2-3. The safe-handling, unloading and glossary sections were read and are out of scope. Supports the claim as stated. Supplies re-lubrication, a fingerprints-on-metal method, a leather-against-metal storage incompatibility, and the vacuum-through-a-screen technique for any object with small loose parts.
Conserve O Gram 1/6: Choosing a Museum Vacuum Cleaner
National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, 2003 · Government or regulator
Relied on for: That museum vacuums are used for dusting collections and that suction must be variable and low for fragile material. (background and mechanism only)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The sections headed Filtration System — Dry Vacuums, Wet Vacuums and Wet-Dry Vacuums, plus the physical-feature checklist. Supports the claim as stated. Gives the vacuum record a filtration standard and, more usefully, a ranked comparison between three machine types that consumer coverage treats as equivalent.
Last reviewed by a person on .