when did westclox stop using radium

Eventually we became best friends and started researching together. Omega stopped using radium around 1963. 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. Radium was discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie and Pierre Curie. Yet Mrs. Keane was a survivor who later conquered colon and breast cancer. I love the Hamiltons in particular, probably some of the best watches made in America. If you do not expect to work hard and carefully, you are in the wrong place. credit: Northern Illinois University]. 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. Sometimes Ive seen them for 300 to 600 dollars. How do you date a Westclox Baby Ben? Thanks so much I bought a 1970s Westclox pocket watch with a Hotwheels face that says authorized seller on it. When I walked along the street, Iwas aglow from the radium powder., The radium girls case was one of the first in which an employer was made responsible for the health of the companys employees. I just had it repaired & it works & looks great. The movement was then used with minor changes in Loud Alarm models until 1956. I tried selling some of my surplus electric Big Bens on eBay and they just didnt go, you could get only about $0.99 for them. [Workers assembling Big Ben alarm clocks at the Westclox plant, 1910s. They can be identified by having the modern type of flat head screws Westclox - An Identification and Price Guide, The Westclox Big Ben and Baby Ben Identification Guide, Clock Repair and Hermle Chime, Mantel and Wall Clocks for Sale at Bill's Clockworks. Charles Crow Penn Valley, Ca, I have run across and old clock that I would like to know something about. I Have a small brass alarm clock,which is 1-3/4 Hieght Length & Width. I know that it is electric and it requires a dime deposit to set the alarm on it. Once I was winding it and one of the main springs broke, so I decided to take it all apart and fix the main spring. when did westclox stop using radium old restaurants in lawrence, ma . I have a sessions mantle clock duet#1. 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. The story begins with a Connecticut clockmaker named Charles Stahlberg getting a patent for a new alarm clock design in 1885. 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. Just remember, old luminous clocks are full of radium! Westclox Clock Construction and Quality. 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. 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. . 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]. who can refurbush big ben still runs good perfect time purchased in 1950 cataloge #885(885). The end of the Great War began what was, in many respects, a halcyon time for Westclox, now arguably the best-known timekeeping brand in the world. Radium dials usually lose their ability to glow in the dark in a period ranging anywhere from a few years to several decades, but all will cease to glow at some point. The aim of the Western Clock MFG Co. in entering the manufacture of alarms was to apply to nickel clocks, features which were previously found only in high-priced timepieces, and prohibited in low-priced lever clocks by the high cost of production involved. Well, the company certainly maintained some major salesrooms here, and many of their employees came from the city and its suburbs. In clocks, as in all other lines of goods, there are two classes of consumersthe millions and the millionaires. The movement is a windup almost identical to the original. While most of our Big Ben dials are black with luminous numbers, there were also white dials with black numerals in production at the same time. I have been purchasing these clocks as and when I got an opportunity. I would like to know the value of a #4 black, #321(in original cardboard Christmas box), mint condition, Baby Ben alarm clock is. The NAWCC has an online forum with a lot of different categories. Thank you. 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. Big Ben style 1a continued in production until its discontinuation in 1935. About 1931 they made the first electric Big Ben, and they were plug ins. Located at 41.3275 N, 89.1290 W on the map, the companys former plant is admittedly on the absolute fringes of what would typically be designated Chicagoland turf. . I was told it was an antique at that time. 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. The Windys said their union confirms an old Westclox employee rumor about the long-lasting nature of a relationship struck up near a certain fountain. For at least four generations, the Western Clock Manufacturing Company, aka Westclox, was the lifeblood and largest employer in the small town of Peru, Illinois (with a mailing address in its twin city of LaSalle). Can you help I hung it on my wall and we tried to get it fixed but the repairman couldnt fix it. The Crystal blocks a significant amount of The radiation. There are some blemishes on the wood on the right side. Could you suggest how I could go about finding out this information. 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. 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 . My father (Richard Ristau Sr.) worked here for 48.. US radium dial painting factory. There are variations in the lettering on the dial and back. When I got out of college I started going to the watch and clock conventions and met a man who was giving a program about the history of Big Bens and Baby Bens. When Did They Stop Using Radium On Clock Hands? As radium luminosity came under attack in the 1930s, Westcloxs other updates to the Big Ben design were far more practical and uncontroversial. Quite a few who try to get every basic model, but fewer who get into the rarer models and do research. These efforts, combined with an ahead-of-its-time factory welfare department and employee benefits packages, led to a lot of workers spending their whole lives with Westclox. Any guidance or help is appreciated. They were, incredibly enough, instructed to ingest a radioactive poison all day, every day, and never properly warned of any potential hazards. Art and Mary Ann Windy [pictured] have been married for 49 years, met as Westclox employees and were present for the open house. All Rights Reserved. Over time, she contracted terrible cancerous tumors, lost most of her teeth, and suffered countless other health problems. . German: WECKER (alarm); UHR (clock). Luckily for Charles, however, he is living in the same small town as Frederick William Matthiessena fellow German, but one with a hell of a lot more money and business experience. I think the clock was electric but could have been a wind up or maybe even a pendulum. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The magical glow, as was widely understood by everyone involved, was created by radiuma radioactive element discovered by Marie Curie in 1898. About the only. When Westclox changed over to the style 8 Big Ben and Baby Ben in 1964, they used 4 divisions per 5 minutes, I believe to make the alarm easier to set. In terms of my own collection, Im still trying to find some of the really early Big Bens. His ideas were patented on as US patent #326,602. Charles Stahlberg had an idea for making a better, but less expensive alarm clock. 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. The center is in the shape of the world map. Radium dials are watch, clock and other instrument dials painted with luminous paint containing radium-226 to produce radioluminescence. The clock is several houndred pounds, and keeps great time. 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? But he only comes upon receipt of signed price agreement. It is something that we should know before everyone starts throwing away every luminous dial clock they own. My husband has a Big Ben clock that he inherited, it was took down from a mill and given to his grandma. This past weekend, thanks to the Westclox Museum, its doors were opened and former workers were welcomed back for Homecoming Day. In 1913, with help from the US government, Dr. Douglas formed the National Radium Institute, to mine radium from uranium ores recently discovered in Colorado. . I will be watching for more articles from Bill Stoddard I tend to be a nitty gritty detail kind of guy. The style 1a can be distinguished from style 1 in several ways: The movement was changed for style 1a so that the mounting nuts were on the back. In the United States there does not seem to have ever been prohibitory legislation passed banning the use of radium in clocks and watches. When the Radium Dial Company moved to Ottawa in the 20s to better serve its number one client, Westclox, they were welcomed with enthusiasm, particularly by the young, working class women in the town. I have a Seth Thomas Mantle clock that my older sisters husbands Aunt had on her mantle for years. With alarm clocks, they were so common that when people repaired them they did whatever they could to get them going. They make alarm and one-day lever clocks only, and with practically two different articles, known as the 4-inch and 2-inch movements, they have an output of in their factory at LaSalle, Ill., of nearly two million clocks a year. His bigger job was to design a system so the power companies could regulate their generator so the clock could keep time. 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. Westclox did make a couple of documented advertising clocks, but very few. The next month, Roth got a cablegram from London; his friend and valued co-worker Le Roy had died for his country. Those simple words, Roth later wrote in the November 1914 issue of the company newsletter, Tick Talk, unconsciously characterized the manunaffected, direct, devoted to his cause., [Images from a 1922 issue of the Westclox company newsletter, the very cleverly titled Tick Talk]. Thats another story. For my 14th birthday I got a book called The Treasury of American Clocks and there was a picture showing the seven types of Baby Bens. 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 standard operating procedure of their daily work involved literally placing radium flecked paint brushes between their lips to create a finer point before application. The company later changed its name to the United States Radium Corporation. My moms father had a small collection of antique clocks and when I was a little boy he showed me how to wind them and regulate them. Radium is an almost pure white alkaline radioactive earth metal, and is found in nature in uranium ores. Up until this point in time (pun intended), quality time pieces had been considered a rich mans game. [9] The element was phased out of use by industry acting under its own volition as superior and safer luminous materials entered the marketplace. Apr 14, 2011 501 1 18. 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. As the 1960s began, over 50 million Big Ben clocks had been produced in total, and additional Westclox plants were now in operation everywhere from Athens, Georgia, and Ontario, Canada, to Scotland and Australia. T. tkarter Registered User. We pay his railroad fare on all orders for a dozen or more, we brand him with your name in lots of 24.. Dont know if someone ingraved date on when took down or if the original. After several changes of ownership, it became . $38.00. I cant find out anything about him or any other clocks by him. At the start of the decade, the company brought in a skilled new industrial designer named Henry Dreyfuss; a true modernist. In 2006 I started collecting vintage advertisements. From 1942 to 1945, Westclox ceased all production intended for domestic civilian sale and dedicated its production resources to the war effort. Next to the original Westcloxes I have an interesting collection of European copies by a.o. Most importantly, they were forbidden to point the tip with their lips, and they avoided to ingest or inhale the luminous paint. When many of these early Big Ben advertisements were still running, Gaston Le Roys life took a sudden and dramatic turn. It was passed on to my sister and for years it was on their mantle along time until it stopped. One of the objects on display in the Benton County Historical Society's Corvallis Museum is this Westclox Radium Dial Clock. It has ingraved on it 2-20-31. Medical researchers extended the use of radium to cure impotence in men and women by creating fertility drugs with the element to "stimulate" reproduction. We are looking for any Westclox photographs, memorabilia etc between 1927- 1980s of the factory. That was the first antique clock I owned myself. I have a collection of alarm clocks, but slowly selling many. Its basically all forward momentum from here. Stoddard: My grandma gave me an old Baby Ben alarm clock that didnt work when I was seven. Annie Moussin designer intrieur. So I swapped them, and its worked perfectly ever since. knowledge about vintage and antique Westclox clocks and watches. Advertisement: Illustrates crackle green Tiny Tim, crackle blue Big Ben and crackle pink Baby Ben clocks. The first style 1a cases had double-hexagon legs, but after about a year they were changed to standard single hex form. (All images in this article courtesy Bill Stoddard, www.clockhistory.com), I found this article very complimentary to the Westclox company and an intriguing piece to read. Westclox Scotland produced its first clock on 21 September 1948; a spring wound alarm with a 4-inch (10cm) dial. By the 1960s production went offshore to achieve economies of scale . I was told it was long ago before even my aged family was servicing watches. When did Bulova stop using radium? They had one in Brazil for a while and I think also in Hong Kong. England. Stahlbergs company goes bankrupt not once, but twice, within its first several years. It is battery operated and takes a D battery. Westclox - An Identification and Price Guide, and I added even more in 2012. While the painting technique of the Ghost Girls was replaced with supposedly safer methods like silk screening, traces of radium were still used by many companies to get that desired glow effect throughout the 1940s and even as late as the 60s. He also recalled playing in the factory. I have an antique mantle clock given to my Aunt & Uncle for a wedding gift (approximately 1949) FROM my great grandparents. I read (but cant remember where) that about 40,000 were made. There are also some specialty chapters, like an alarm clock chapter and a 400-day clock chapter, one that specializes in wristwatches and one on early American pocket watches. I also like some of the older American weight-driven clocks. Based in Flora, Indiana, Bill can be reached via his website, clockhistory.com, which is a member of our Hall of Fame. Westclox began as the United Clock Company of Peru, Illinois in 1885. These clocks were produced in the thousands and many can be bought on eBay for under $10. Thank you. 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. I am sure I can give Mr. Shields further information about his clock. The clock can still give considerable amounts of radiation about 2-3 inches from the Crystal measured with a Geiger counter. When did Westclox stop using radium? We are very proud to be living in this building and would love to know more about this specific site. 1978. 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.. Were finally at a point, where were ready to do more than just sit here, said Ruth Spayer, curator for the museum. Initially hired as a low level clerk, Le Roy worked his way up the company ladder in the early 1900s as an on-the-road sales rep, soliciting business from Chicago to New York to parts unknown. thank you, My Husband and I just purchased an antique mantle/shelf clock at an estate sale. In this interview Bill Stoddard talks about collecting antique Westclox Big Ben and Baby Ben alarm clocks, and discusses clock collecting in general. [6] Decaying radium also produces the gas radon, recognized as the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States[6] and the United Kingdom. I was about 3ft high and recessed into the wall. . The whole clock seems to be origional and was maintained by my grandfather who was a watch/clock repairman. Instead, it would be better to take the box outside and remove the lid there, which would allow any built-up gas to rapidly dissipate." The watches tested were produced from the 1920s through the '60s, and are a mix of British, Swiss, and American origin. Even today, with the considerable help of a thing called Interstate 80, its still about a two-hour journey from LaSalle Street to LaSalle County. It sits on a small brass stand with Westclox on it. Its got a round brass dial and a painting in the door, really neat. Behind the light, theyd been left in the dark. Style 10 is the last numbered Not to mention theres the Big Bens so that doubles it right there. Welcome to the Westclox Clock and Watch History Database. I would like to find out about this clock. We have photos of all the employees between 1927-1945 at the Peterborough Ontario Location but not much else. I took it all apart and asked my dad to help me put it back together, but he cut his finger on the spring. Geiger counters could pick up readings from pants returned from a dry cleaner and from clothes stored away in a cedar chest. Any help would be appreciated. Hi I need the face plate for a black face big ben with the alarm dial on its face do you have any you could sell me alonf with the radio dials, it was probably outsourced meaning westclox sold some watches to hot wheels, I had a westclox electric dialite like that. By 1930, all dial painters stopped pointing their brushes by mouth. There are many Westclox alarm clock models named Big Ben. Because it was one degree removed from the radium business itself, Westclox seems to have largely dodged the controversy and lawsuits altogether. Theres a seller on eBay now whos doing some really outstanding restorations of Big Bens. 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. A radium dial clock from the 1930s. Ristau said he remembered when the Westclox factory was the heart of the city, and recalled enjoying his time with Westclox. 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. WECKER (CCW arrow) knob sets alarm time. "[5] However, radium is highly radioactive, emitting alpha, beta, and gamma radiation the effects of which are particularly deleterious if inhaled or ingested since there is no shielding within the body. Theres a clock called a Crystal Regulator which is about a foot tall with a brass case and glass on all four sides. [citation needed] After about 20minutes this delivers the equivalent of one whole day's worth of normal background radiation. I think we threw it away. Underneath the #12 on the face it says: G. Falconer & Co. LTD. Hong Kong. I have a similar clock. credit: Northern Illinois University], According to a 1909 article in Commercial America, In clocks, as in all other lines of goods, there are two classes of consumersthe millions and the millionaires. Never underestimate the value of an alarm clock when yours broke two years ago and nobody has manufactured a new one since. This was a wonderful article to read. Something about them has always been ingrained in me. All the aforementioned to ask you if you know how many of the 1970 style 1As were made. Helen. Ironically, the war that had cost them Gaston Le Roy had also stifled much of the companys European competition, opening up an even bigger share of the world marketplace in the 1920s. From that time on, Baby Bens first and then Big Bens were available with either the plain or luminous dial. A 'radium cow' or sample of radium would continually yield a supply of the nuclide. 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. Any information would be very helpful. The disease, radium-induced osteonecrosis, was recognized as an occupational disease in 1925 after a group of radium painters, known as the Radium Girls, from the United States Radium Corporation sued. Production was back in full force and at an all-time high by 1956, with 3,000 employees on staff. Back then, radium wasn't considered to be dangerous in small doses. The only marking I can find are the letters ST in old english style inside of a diamond thats inside of a circle, on the clock works. I have never seen this mentioned anywhere. In 1918 the Big Ben case was improved to make it dustproof, as described in patent #1,300,278 issued to Kern on April 15, 1919. Good old fashioned branding played a major role, as well. Baby Ben and other Westclox clocks and watches have been assigned styles. In the 1970s, radium was phased out of wristwatches and clockdials.

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