Radium - a key element in early cancer treatment - RSC Education I am looking to get an approxmiate value of this clock. When did they stop using radium on clocks? Westclox Big Bens and Baby Bens are full of the stuff. In terms of my own collection, Im still trying to find some of the really early Big Bens. This Christmas (1930) ad illustrates 61-F Dura Case, style 2 crackle finish Big Ben and Baby Ben, Auto Clock, Pocket Ben and Country Club pocket watches. Its got a round brass dial and a painting in the door, really neat. Despite Westcloxs deep German roots, the Illinois factory was a huge contributor to the U.S. military again during World War II, supplying upwards of a billion small parts for use in various defense products. This end has been achieved by what is known as the Western Processa process in which the component parts of a clock are cast, or, so to speak, cemented together with an alloy, instead of staked, and in which all hand labor is replaced by automatic machinery., [Automatic machinery certainly sped up the manufacturing process, by plenty of human skill and attention was still required to make the Big Ben. LandmarkHunter.com | Westclox clock factory, La Salle, IL Then my friend and I went around the neighborhood asking people if they had anything they wanted to give away, like old clocks and cameras and tape recorders. How do you set the time on a old fashioned alarm clock? As my first name is Ben, I started to collect these alarmclocks since about 1970. I know very little about clocks in general. Before we get to that, though, we have to start with the issue of geography as it concerns the business in question. . George Kern died on July 27, 1918 from a ruptured appendix, but his basic clock design lived on for years. When did Junghans stop manufacturing Westminster Chimes, and when did Keinzle stop manufacturing Westminster chimes. With George Kerns new alarm clock, specifically, Le Roy decided it would be wise to craft a new brand name, and to leave the Western name off of the clock face entirely, since the company was overly associated with cheap goods at the time. The radium isotope (226Ra) used has a half-life of about 1,600years,[6] so radium dials remain essentially just as radioactive as when originally painted 50 or 100 years ago, whether or not they remain luminous. It is a Medbury-4W #4910. Style Information: Plain dial: 1918 - 1935 Black luminous dial: 1921 - 1935 There are variations in the lettering on the dial and back. The style 8 Big and Baby Bens were introduced in 1964. Could you suggest how I could go about finding out this information. The trademark "Westclox" which had appeared on their Big Ben alarm clocks as early as 1910 was officially registered in January 1916. 1970s Many of these workers developed bone cancer . She was 107 when she died on March 1 in Middlebury, Conn . [3] The Radiolite series, made in various sizes and models, became a signature of the Connecticut-based company. Nowadays, Super-LumiNova, which is entirely non-radioactive and non-toxic, is the most used lume in watchmaking. Instrument dials painted with radium-based paint, United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, "WWII Military Watches 'Potentially Pose Serious Cancer Risk,', "Health Effects of Radium Radiation Exposure,", "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Radium Dials,", "Lume 101: Watch Luminescence Explained,", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radium_dial&oldid=1123475907, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Jane Brickman, "Radium Girls: Women and Industrial Health Reform, 19101935,", This page was last edited on 23 November 2022, at 23:30. In 2006 I started collecting vintage advertisements. Westclox style series. Your email (will not be published) (required), The Timeless Appeal of the Westclock Big and BabyBens, The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Not Your Grandmas Cuckoo: Decapitating, Rat-Eating Clocks of the Black Forest, The Care and Repair of 19th-Century American Clocks. By Dave Margulius At the top was a clock covered with a glass door. The alpha particles emitted by the radium, which is taken up in bone, will kill off surrounding bone tissue, resulting in a condition loosely referred to as radium jaw. If you do not expect to work hard and carefully, you are in the wrong place. credit: Northern Illinois University]. Among the rarities on display is a Westclox-made National Emergency Alarm Repeater. WHAT IS A Moonbeam clock? - Thecrucibleonscreen.com Sometimes Ive seen them for 300 to 600 dollars. Recently Ive seen people taking an old Baby Ben thats worth a few bucks or so and gluing rhinestones around the bezel on the clock. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. I have an antique mantle clock given to my Aunt & Uncle for a wedding gift (approximately 1949) FROM my great grandparents. I'll start with a 19j Bunn, Looking for Somebody with Some Bandwidth to do a Repair. Many folks might not realize that early vintage clock dials were painted with radioluminescent paint, which is a mixture of fluorescent salts (these produce the glow) and radium-226, which is a dangerous and highly radioactive element. But the chances that you have a radium clock are slim, unless it is very old. Westclox Big Ben and Baby Ben Identification Guide ClockHistory.com, Keeping Time in Peru Chicago Tribune, October 18, 1998, Remembering the Great War and The Clock That Caused a Near Riot WestcloxMuseum.com, For That Healthy Glow, Drink Radiation Popular Science, August 17, 2004, The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of Americas Shining Women, by Kate Moore, 2o17, The Forgotten Story Of The Radium Girls, Whose Deaths Saved Thousands Of Workers Lives, by Kate Moore, Buzzfeed.com, One-Day and Alarm Clocks Commercial America, Vol VI, 1909, A Rude Awakening: The History of Alarm Clocks ThroughoutHistory.com. Well, the company certainly maintained some major salesrooms here, and many of their employees came from the city and its suburbs. I am trying to determine the age. Radium dials were typically painted by young women, who used to 'point' their brushes by licking and shaping the bristles prior to painting the fine lines and numbers on the dials. These clocks were produced in the thousands and many can be bought on eBay for under $10. My clothes, hanging in a dark closet, gave off a phosphorescent glare. On March 31, 1980, the Peru-LaSalle plant was officially closed, narrowly missing its 100-year anniversary. Westclox made an excellent, almost exact, reproduction of the style 1a Big Ben in 1970. Westclox Radium Dial Clock. Stoddard: Pay attention to quality. She was 18. I have a Seth Thomas Mantle clock that my older sisters husbands Aunt had on her mantle for years. In a few short years, thanks to Dr. Douglas's efforts, the amount of radium available in the US more than quintupled. England. In the United States there does not seem to have ever been prohibitory legislation passed banning the use of radium in clocks and watches. It might be the only one in the country, Spayer said. . Radium dials were produced throughout most of the 20th century before being replaced by safer tritium-based luminous material in the 1970s and finally by non-toxic, non-radioactive strontium aluminatebased photoluminescent material from the middle 1990s. Westclox made an excellent, almost exact, reproduction of the style 1a Big Ben in 1970. styles to organize them There are also some other makers clocks Ive gotten into, like the Seth Thomas 30 hour ogee, which is a weight-driven shelf clock. But hes taken some that are really rusty and had the backs replaced beautifully and reproduced some dials, and hes actually had some selling for several hundred dollars, so thats a totally different thing. Technically speaking, though, Westclox did still produce clocks during the gap years that followed. dated:1990 ,decorated :hong cong.made in japan.cocacola tradmark. We pay his railroad fare on all orders for a dozen or more, we brand him with your name in lots of 24., unconsciously characterized the manunaffected, direct, devoted to his cause., Radiums luminosity was part of its allure,, The dial painters soon became known as the ghost girls because by the time they finished their shifts, they themselves would glow in the dark. 226RA has a half life of about 1600 years and the glow of the paint used on dials and hands decreases because of the damage the alpha particles emitted by the Radium do to the ZnS . All the rods in my clocks are verticle that is from top to bottom of the case, four on each side at the back of the movement. In all my research I can not confirm that The Style 1 models every had 1) and 2) above. CAN SOMEONE TELL ME HOW TO RELEASE THE CLICK ON A WESTCLOX MANS WRISTWATCH MODEL A-201? Sep 23, 2011 I would like to find out about this clock. The style 7 Big Ben and Baby Ben (1956 to 1964, the first Bens with concentric alarm hand) has minute markings. Were finally at a point, where were ready to do more than just sit here, said Ruth Spayer, curator for the museum. In 1931 it merged with Seth Thomas Clock Co. and both became divisions of General Time Corp. I was pained to learn how the girls had suffered while working here and sacrificed their lives to give the name of the company which it has today. var today = new Date() Inhaled or ingested particles may deposit a high local dose with a risk of radiation-caused lung or gastrointestinal cancer. My love is for the style 1 peg leg Big and Baby Bens; mostly Baby Bens. AD x Stoddard: I was pretty much on my own until college. How did I get interested in clocks? When did westclox stop using radium? With a half-life of only 3.8 days, radon "seeds" (Rn gas contained in thin walled gold tubing, crimped and cut into units up to 1cm in length) could be left permanently implanted in the body. I have a collection of clocks, and amongst my collection are Westminster chime wall clocks, I have two Keinzle and two Junghans. Was just trying to find out any information on this clock or if you may have ever come across one like it Thanks, I have come across a mantle clock that has been in my husbands family for as long as he can remember He estimates his bother purchased the clock around 1950. Art and Mary Ann Windy [pictured] have been married for 49 years, met as Westclox employees and were present for the open house. 514 Poplar Street I worked here for 28 years. Selling for $2.50 in the years before World War I (or about $60 in modern money), the 5-inch diameter Big Ben and its half-pint cousin the Baby Ben combined to move over 900,000 units in just 1913 alone, and the Western Clock MFG Companynot yet officially known as Westcloxwas producing more than twice that many clocks annually in total. thanks for your time, was doing research.. Appears from search engine a conversation about D batteries but cant find it in the text.. Can anyone inform me of the different size of D? When many of these early Big Ben advertisements were still running, Gaston Le Roys life took a sudden and dramatic turn. 1919 - 1920 on a small proportion of clocks, "Westclox" in Roman text, Wide lettering at bottom: 1923, "Westclox" in Roman text, Narrow lettering at bottom:1924 to 1927, "Westclox" in Roman text, Projection on the "x": 1928 - 1935, Luminous, "Westclox" in italics: ca. Unbelievable true story of the 'radium girls' - NZ Herald Thank you. Eventually, scientists and medical professionals realized that these workers' illnesses . Store - The WestClox Source They had one in Brazil for a while and I think also in Hong Kong. Seeking the Big 3 goals of convenience, cleanliness, and cheap production, Dreyfuss rolled out his new-look Big Ben in 1931. I spent many an evening here, watching him bowl.. That was the first antique clock I owned myself. Westclox closed its Peru factory 35 years ago. Posted on 1 second ago; June 24, 2022 . On the Style 9, they went back to actual minute markings. It is battery operated and takes a D battery. 1980 By the early 1950s, Westclox employed thousands of LaSalle-Peru residents. We would like to redo the entrances and lobby areas and show the history of the building right on site but have not found much anywhere. I like to find the ones before that and study their history. Apr 14, 2011 501 1 18. This fall, the museum will be open more frequently and for more events. Style 5 dial design]. Eventually we became best friends and started researching together. It has ingraved on it 2-20-31. I am a retired mechanical engineer, the quality has floored me, hats off to this company. He also recalled playing in the factory. Can someone get back to me as to what it is and possibe age of it. Soon, he was running the Western Clock Co. advertising department, and proving his worth with some clever marketing strategies. I have been searching for one like as the clock went with the house after my Grandmother passed away. $25.99. In its place, he ironically dubbed the little bedside clock Big Ben (apparently not copyrighted by the British Parliament), and introduced it to the public in early ads as a gendered he instead of an it., Big Ben is a handsome, well built, refined and bright looking fellow with a clean-cut open face and a deep cheerful voice, one ad read. bailey oceans tide clock dated 1880, with a Fusee movement. Dave, Your question about a Big Ben containing radium, and in fact about which clocks actually do contain radium, is a good one. A key point to bear in mind is this: the dial is still highly radioactive. But this is not how the story of Westclox began. Would you please direct me to someone that can do this for me? My dad was one of the top bowlers here, Ristau said. I recently added the Big Ben Style 1 and Baby Ben Style 1 Dial and Back types. However, there`s no easy way for you to tell; there were no labeling requirements then as we have now. Luminous Processes employees interviewed by a journalist in 1978 stated they had been left ignorant of radium's dangers. Gary Biolchini added more style series in his book Even if the Western Clock Co. wasnt born in Chicago or headquartered here, the immediate aftershocks of the companys cultural and industrial impact certainly reached our shores in a hurry, no interstate required. We are looking for any Westclox photographs, memorabilia etc between 1927- 1980s of the factory. I will be watching for more articles from Bill Stoddard Their Scottish factory was a full manufacturing plant, at which all their clocks were assembled from start to finish with only the basic raw materials being brought in by outside suppliers. WECKER (CW arrow)/UHR (CCW arrow) knob with ring: CW winds alarm; CCW winds clock. I also like some of the older American weight-driven clocks. Radium dials are watch, clock and other instrument dials painted with luminous paint containing radium-226 to produce radioluminescence. They had one in Brazil for a while and I think also in Hong Kong. I first saw the clock in 1957. The new company tripled in size by the turn of the century, employing 232 people at its growing Peru plant (145 men, 73 women, 14 children) and producing 500,000 clocks annually. I have a quite a few pieces of both of them I have even one big Ben pocket watch which is still working after , I do not know how many years. Immediately after, substances like promethium and tritium were used as a luminous material, and they're still being used today. theres the problem, there were two gears that were in backwards. Radium was also used until the early 1970s in "glow-in-the-dark" paints, e.g., for dials on clocks, and in other industrial applications such as instrument calibration. Henry Warren invented a little synchronous motor that could go inside a clock. Question: Are both 1) and 2) marriages of Style 2 mechanisms put in a Style 1A Big Ben and Style 1 Baby Ben. On 3rd January 2099, Terry Shields asked if anyone had information regarding his clock signed G .Falconer, Hong Kong. Omega stopped using radium around 1963. when did westclox stop using radium - Trustedacquisitions.com