These folks here that are responsible for this are doing a marvelous job, Ristau said. About 1931 they made the first electric Big Ben, and they were plug ins. Am I missing something here? Sep 23, 2011 Westclox History Database Main Menu However, there`s no easy way for you to tell; there were no labeling requirements then as we have now. Radium - The First Rolex Luminous Material. On 3rd January 2099, Terry Shields asked if anyone had information regarding his clock signed G .Falconer, Hong Kong. Radium dials are watch, clock and other instrument dials painted with luminous paint containing radium-226 to produce radioluminescence. Soon, he was running the Western Clock Co. advertising department, and proving his worth with some clever marketing strategies. Going back further in time, here is a pretty hypnotizing silent film released by Westclox in the early 1920s to promote the Big Ben and other products. In 2006 I started collecting vintage advertisements. [Left: The first national Big Ben advertisement appears in the. How did I get interested in clocks? Theyll take an old Big Ben from 1930 and make a new dial that says Indian Motorcycle or Victola, and put it on eBay. I have been searching for one like as the clock went with the house after my Grandmother passed away. knowledge about vintage and antique Westclox clocks and watches. We have photos of all the employees between 1927-1945 at the Peterborough Ontario Location but not much else. July 17th, 2008. Richard Tjarks introduced All I really want to know is about the raised horizontal single eye type decoration on this top removable piece. I believed it was manufacturing tag. Phone: 717-684-8261. . Western Clock MFG Co. (Westclox), est. 1888 - Made-in-Chicago Museum In fact, one of their designs for the military, the terrifying sounding WarAlarm, spurred a small shopping riot in Chicago in 1944 when a small batch of the clocks was made available for commercial purchase at a downtown store. It is made by The Sessions Clock movement, appears to be brass, a bucking horse with cowboy riderjudgeing from the clothes design of the cowboy it is quite old. styles to organize them German: WECKER (alarm); UHR (clock). In 1914, Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sochocky and Dr. George S. Willis founded the Radium Luminous Material Corporation. I have a mantel clock,its floral in color,made by Ansonia Cock Co.USA.New York. See the top of this page for a current list of Same as the nickel version but in a gold-plated case. Radium was even used in medical applications during the 20th century. During World War II they had some fantastic ads that you can see on my website like, Victory Wont Wait for the Nation Thats Late, and Guard Your Big Ben where they show a bulldog and a soldier with a gun guarding a Big Ben because during the war they stopped making clocks for the consumer market and totally switched over to military work. I am trying to determine the age. What is Radium Used For? - WorldAtlas Would you please direct me to someone that can do this for me? I am a retired mechanical engineer, the quality has floored me, hats off to this company. It had beneath that four long tubes and they were the chimes for the door bell. Radium dials held near the face have been shown to produce radiation doses in excess of 10Sv / hour. Entertainment & Pop Culture; Geography & Travel; Health & Medicine; Lifestyles & Social Issues; Literature; Philosophy & Religion; Politics, Law & Government The Westclox building remained there in all its glory well into the 21st century, as plans were tossed around for some sort of repurposing of the huge, historic facility. One of the objects on display in the Benton County Historical Society's Corvallis Museum is this Westclox Radium Dial Clock. Jessie, good observation. Dates Stamped on Big Ben and Baby Ben Clock Movements Dates were stamped on a movement plate of most Big Ben and Baby Ben alarm clocks made up until mid-1970's. Numbers are used for the month, day and year; or just the month and year (e.g. I am reading, studying, and learning more about the Westclox. Can someone get back to me as to what it is and possibe age of it. In a few short years, thanks to Dr. Douglas's efforts, the amount of radium available in the US more than quintupled. WECKER (CCW arrow) knob sets alarm time. Ruth Spayer at the Westclox Museum tracked down a newspaper story from the Daily Post-Tribune on March 21, 1944, describing a scene in which three women fainted, several clerks were trampled, and four showcase windows were shattered before police untangled a jam of 2,500 women and a few stout-hearted men who converged on the store.. I have an antique mantle clock given to my Aunt & Uncle for a wedding gift (approximately 1949) FROM my great grandparents. Annie Moussin designer intrieur. This will broaden my view in the clock. [9] The element was phased out of use by industry acting under its own volition as superior and safer luminous materials entered the marketplace. I have looked high and low in my attempts to find out how any of these resproduction style 1A were produced. They had one in Brazil for a while and I think also in Hong Kong. All the aforementioned to ask you if you know how many of the 1970 style 1As were made. Charles Crow Penn Valley, Ca, I have run across and old clock that I would like to know something about. Finally, with Catherine Donohue serving as a key witness from her death bed in 1938, a groundbreaking Supreme Court case finally delivered some long awaited justice to the victims. Radium Girls - Wikipedia hamilton radiation | NAWCC Forums Westclox also made about 5000 gold-plated reproductions. [citation needed] This rate probably only represents the dose rate from gamma emission, as the alpha emission will be stopped by the lacquer, or crystal, or case; hence, the dose rate following ingestion or inhalation of the dust could be much higher. Radium paint itself was eventually phased out and has not been used in watches since 1968. There are some blemishes on the wood on the right side. Like many East Coasters, he decides to pursue his fortune out West, but unlike many of his peers, he skips the bustling Second City in favor of a promising river & railroad region downstate; where the towns of Peru, LaSalle and Ottawa intersect. I think it is a clock made by Sessions. It looks like you mount it to the wall. Did westclox stop using radioactive paint by the 1960s? 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. It is in good condition and has the original pendulum and key. Im trying to determine if it is a legit or reproduction that someone made. Leg model with ring on top, dustproof case. On April 20, 1902, Marie and Pierre Curie successfully isolate radioactive radium salts from the mineral pitchblende in their laboratory in Paris. We pay his railroad fare on all orders for a dozen or more, we brand him with your name in lots of 24.. The Crystal blocks a significant amount of The radiation. One employee, R.D. Westclox Big Ben Style 1a Alarm Clock Date Summary: 1918 - 1935 (and a reproduction was made in 1970) Characteristics: Ring on top, two legs in front, no screws through the front of the bezel. Quite a few who try to get every basic model, but fewer who get into the rarer models and do research. How old is my Westclox? - Rampfesthudson.com Dreyfuss revised his changes at the end of the decade, designing the Style 5 and 5a Big Bens in 1938including the featured Loud Alarm dials from our museum collection. 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. Westclox Big Bens and Baby Bens are full of the stuff. I took it all apart and asked my dad to help me put it back together, but he cut his finger on the spring. The women also left a legacy to science that has been termed invaluable., shifting from serif to sans-serif typefaces and from slightly ornate to more streamlined minute and second hands, all of which eased legibility; setting the clock face closer to the glass, reducing shadows; and creating a slightly smaller form overall., three women fainted, several clerks were trampled, and four showcase windows were shattered before police untangled a jam of 2,500 women and a few stout-hearted men who converged on the store., For That Healthy Glow, Drink Radiation . The standard operating procedure of their daily work involved literally placing radium flecked paint brushes between their lips to create a finer point before application. They made them with wooden works until about 1840, then with brass gears and I like some of the early brass-geared American clocks. 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. In the comprehensive Big Ben & Baby Ben Identification Guide, organized by researchers Richard Tjarks and Bill Stoddard, they credit the original brilliant marketing of these little wonders almost entirely to one mana 28 year-old French immigrant named Gaston Le Roy. I think the clock was electric but could have been a wind up or maybe even a pendulum. when did westclox stop using radium. Before we get to that, though, we have to start with the issue of geography as it concerns the business in question. Immediately after, substances like promethium and tritium were used as a luminous material, and they're still being used today. Sep 6, 2008. potz said: Afaik Radium was used right up to the 1950's. Some sources even say it was used up to 1968 in watches and 1978 in clocks. There is a small dial inside of the clock face that has roman numerals like another clock face. They made the most of the perk, wearing their good dresses to the plant so theyd shine in the dance halls at night, and even painting radium onto their teeth for a smile that would knock their suitors dead., When I went home and washed my hands in a dark bathroom, they would appear luminous and ghostly,, My clothes, hanging in a dark closet, gave off a phosphorescent glare. These paints were used on the dials of clocks and watches to make them glow-in-the-dark. It is too large (wide). My Grandmother had a Westclox in her house. Technically speaking, though, Westclox did still produce clocks during the gap years that followed. they played a deep rich tone. Stopping this practice drastically reduced the amount of radium ingested and therefore, the incidence of malignancy. UHR (CW arrow) knob sets clock time. It started early in the 20th century, around 1910, when some companies began to use radium on watch dials and hands to create a "glow in the dark" effect. I have a sessions mantle clock duet#1. I would also like photo and more details of his clock, since I intend to write a follow-up article. when did westclox stop using radium; when did westclox stop using radium. The Ghost Girls might have been the envy of the other girls in town, but no one yet realized just how much danger they were being subjected to. It led to life-saving regulations and, ultimately, to the establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which now operates nationally in the United States to protect workers. Is Westclox a good brand? Eventually, scientists and medical professionals realized that these workers' illnesses . When Did They Stop Using Radium On Clock Hands? The alarm mechanism was also improved as part of Kerns new patents, with an intermittent ringing that kind of acted as an archaic form of snooze alarm. All Rights Reserved. Through a friend I purchased an apparently antique key wind up long wooden and glass cased clock. The pioneering spirit is there, but the business skills soon appear lacking. Importantly, the health risks tied to these old clocks is generally believed to be quite minimal, so long as one avoids long-term exposure or directly ingesting the paint as the Ghost Girls had. 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. Ive been trying to compare lots of different clocks to find out what original parts go together. Their factory in LaSalle, Illinois closed down in about 1980 when they moved all their production down south, but the building is still there. Ref comment #10 from Frank Baker. The precise, delicate skill of painting clock dials with radium powder promised a much higher salary than most factory jobs available to women at the time (upwards of $18 a week), and the company soon employed as many as 200 female workers in its Ottawa plant. 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. Stoddard: My grandma gave me an old Baby Ben alarm clock that didnt work when I was seven. 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. So you find clocks where parts have been switched, so thats one challenge, determining originality. Radium was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898[1] and was soon combined with paint to make luminescent paint, which was applied to clocks, airplane instruments, and the like, to be able to read them in the dark.[2]. Even so, our case-less dials are certainly best left behind glass and out of reach, a sad reminder of a terrible and preventable episode in industrial history, the effects of which continued to plague the town of Ottawa for many years afterward. She was 107 when she died on March 1 in Middlebury, Conn . Before OSHA was set up, 14,000 people died on the job every year; today, it is just over 4,500. They typically have a round brass base with a glass dome over them; they were made in Germany from the 1890s up through the 1970s, and a lot of people collect them. Now I know that theres probably 14 basic shapes, but a lot more variations than that depending on how far you want to take things. It has a cracked front lens that I would like to replace. When I walked along the street, Iwas aglow from the radium powder., [Mrs. Charlotte Purcell, like Catherine Donohue, was one of 15 former workers at the Radium Dial Company who contracted cancer and sought justice in the late 1930s]. The first style 1a cases had double-hexagon legs, but after about a year they were changed to standard single hex form. Were finally at a point, where were ready to do more than just sit here, said Ruth Spayer, curator for the museum. For example, Big Ben Style 1 and Style 1a are the leg model, and Style 2 is the first base model. What You Want To Know About Watch Luminant - aBlogtoWatch They managed to extract 1 mg of radium from ten tonnes of the uranium ore pitchblende (uranium oxide, U 3 O 8), a considerable feat, given the chemically methods of separation available to them.They identified that it was a new element because its atomic spectrum revealed new lines. Eventually, scientists and medical professionals realized that these workers' illnesses were being caused by internal contamination from the radium they ingested. They did some limited production (less than 200) in 1908, when they were still perfecting the design, then quite a few in 1909, but it really wasnt nationally advertised until September of 1910. 1919 -1922, Luminous, Westclox in Roman text: 1923 - 1927, Luminous, projection on the "x": 1928 - 1935. England. Style 5 dial design]. Is this a product that the company would have made or something someone created? Theres a seller on eBay now whos doing some really outstanding restorations of Big Bens. This fall, the museum will be open more frequently and for more events. When did westclox start making clocks? 1970s Many of these workers developed bone cancer . Stoddard: Ive been there several times. AD x Stoddard: I was pretty much on my own until college. Westclox made an excellent, almost exact, reproduction of the style 1a Big Ben in 1970. They call it Shabby Chic and sell it on eBay for 60 to 80 dollars. the clock face is 16, ca 1900. the clock belonged to pheobe appersons family at their ranch in sunol california. WECKER (CW arrow)/UHR (CCW arrow) knob with ring: CW winds alarm; CCW winds clock. They asked me to give some programs myself at some of the chapter meetings so I became a little bit better at being a public speaker, and its been great meeting people. I love the Hamiltons in particular, probably some of the best watches made in America. . You do not want to open them up, lest you breath radioactive dust from old paint or spread it around. Museum Artifacts: Luminous Big Ben & Baby Ben Clock Dials (1940s) and Style 1A Big Ben Alarm Clock (1920s), Made By: Western Clock MFG Company, aka Westclox, 350 5th St., Peru, Illinois [LaSalle]. It was only with the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was given oversight of the use of radium. So yes. The incidents occurred at three different factories in United States: one in Orange, New Jersey, beginning around 1917; one in Ottawa, Illinois, beginning in the early 1920s; and a third facility in Waterbury, Connecticut, also in the 1920s. We thought it was 1890 or older. Vintage Clocks and Radium Risks - Ken's Clock Clinic Advertisement: Illustrates crackle green Tiny Tim, crackle blue Big Ben and crackle pink Baby Ben clocks. They arent hurting it permanently, its just kind of weird. That batch was in production non-continuously from 1939 to 1946, housed in gunmetal cases with nickel trim. . Style 1a has four holes in the back to access the movement cap screws; Style 1 has the legs and pendant riveted to the case, on style 1a they screw on. Dozens of radium dial painters around the country developed similar symptoms, although the effects could take years to manifest, making it more difficult to pinpoint the phenomenon from its first cases in the early 1920s. The whole clock seems to be origional and was maintained by my grandfather who was a watch/clock repairman. According to Chemistry Explained, radium is extracted today from uranium ores in much the same way that Marie and Pierre Curie did in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Similarly,

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