Although old radium dials generally no longer produce light, this is due to the breakdown of the crystal structure of the luminous zinc sulfide rather than the radioactive decay of the radium. Can someone get back to me as to what it is and possibe age of it. I never realized, even working here, they made so many different models.. hi, I have a cocacola square clock. Radium paint can be ingested by inhaling flaking paint particles. I love the Hamiltons in particular, probably some of the best watches made in America. 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. Jessie, good observation. The NAWCC is dedicated to providing association services, promoting interest in and encouraging the collecting of clocks and watches including disseminating knowledge of the same. I hope to document Style 5 Baby Bens this winter. when did westclox stop using radium. styles to organize them However, there`s no easy way for you to tell; there were no labeling requirements then as we have now. I thought, oh boy, I just need four more and Ill have them all! The phosphor deterioration means you can't see a glow anymore, but . We are looking for any Westclox photographs, memorabilia etc between 1927- 1980s of the factory. Phone: 717-684-8261. Thanks very mutch, I just acquired a sir w.h. In the United States there does not seem to have ever been prohibitory legislation passed banning the use of radium in clocks and watches. Stopping this practice drastically reduced the amount of radium ingested and therefore, the incidence of malignancy. Theyre making some really nice reproductions of it in China and if you dont know what youre looking for you could be fooled easily. I wonder if the younger generations are as interested in the older things as we are, although there are some younger collectors out there learning how to do clock repair. 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. A 2015 article by Ben Hohenstatt in the Illinois Valleys News Tribune included interviews with a few former Westclox workers who returned to see the museum and remember old times. Stoddard: Pay attention to quality. They had one in Brazil for a while and I think also in Hong Kong. People will still look for a good wind up but the quality declined in the later years just because the companies tried so hard to keep the prices low. This classic clock is known for its loud and distinct bell-like . 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. We are very proud to be living in this building and would love to know more about this specific site. While studying the types of Big Ben style 1 and 1A in WestcloxHistory.com, I noticed the reproduction style 1A, and have acquired about 5 of them. His ideas were patented on as US patent #326,602. She was 18. Eventually, scientists and medical professionals realized that these workers' illnesses . thank you, My Husband and I just purchased an antique mantle/shelf clock at an estate sale. 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. Ive recently acquired a New Haven decorative wall clock. George Kern died on July 27, 1918 from a ruptured appendix, but his basic clock design lived on for years. Theres a clock that came down the family, my great great granddad bought it used in about 1885, it was actually sold new in about 1839, one of the first of the weight-driven brass clocks. Any suggestions of where to get a replacement preferably in Canada? 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. The other thing is reproductions. It had beneath that four long tubes and they were the chimes for the door bell. It sits on a small brass stand with Westclox on it. 5 17 15 is May 17, 1915 . Its got a round brass dial and a painting in the door, really neat. Thank to several professionals who Ive met on Ebay, I have become quite skilled with my restorations plus making dials and alarm function indicators. I have been searching for one like as the clock went with the house after my Grandmother passed away. Westclox - An Identification and Price Guide, and I added even more in 2012. At one time they employed about 3500 people, making about 35, 000 clocks and watches per day. The magical glow, as was widely understood by everyone involved, was created by radiuma radioactive element discovered by Marie Curie in 1898. My husband has a Big Ben clock that he inherited, it was took down from a mill and given to his grandma. Westclox Radium Dial Clock. knowledge about vintage and antique Westclox clocks and watches. It is something that we should know before everyone starts throwing away every luminous dial clock they own. 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 . 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. 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. Condition is important, but clocks can be restored. Eventually we became best friends and started researching together. Radium dials held near the face have been shown to produce radiation doses in excess of 10Sv / hour. Can anyone tell me about this? As stated it is working and keeps time. This 1964 Westclox Christmas ad describes their features. I had developed some sort of fascination for Big Ben and Baby Ben clocks. The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint. When did they stop using radium on clocks? In clocks, as in all other lines of goods, there are two classes of consumersthe millions and the millionaires. A few years later my grandma gave me one that worked, and my aunt gave me another one. 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. This past weekend, thanks to the Westclox Museum, its doors were opened and former workers were welcomed back for Homecoming Day. Henry Warren invented a little synchronous motor that could go inside a clock. Stahlberg knows that no other noteworthy clock company has ever succeeded west of the Hudson, let alone smalltown Illinois, but he dives into the challenge, establishing his first factory. In the 1970s, radium was phased out of wristwatches and clockdials. Unfortunately, they also hint at a tragic chapter in American industrial history, when the appeal of a luminous new kind of paint wound up putting hundreds of workersmostly young womenat great personal risk. AD x Stoddard: I was pretty much on my own until college. This will broaden my view in the clock. I have a Seth Thomas Mantle clock that my older sisters husbands Aunt had on her mantle for years. I cannot date it. then 4 symbols a crown an 18 and to unkown symbols in a square patern but on its side square pattern. My dad was one of the top bowlers here, Ristau said. A Big Ben typical of those made from late 1910 to mid-1915. By 1930, all dial painters stopped pointing their brushes by mouth. A Westclox Museum has been opened within the original facility, showing off rare collections from the millions of timepieces once manufactured there. [left to right: F.W. Your email address will not be published. [Left: The first national Big Ben advertisement appears in the Saturday Evening Post in 1910: Big Ben is a thin, beautiful and punctual sleepmeter with a silent motor that will not annoy you on your lie-awake nights and a deep musical voice that will call you on your sleepiest mornings. Right and Below: A style 1A Big Ben from our museum collection, circa 1920s.]. Origin of the eye, forklore or legends surrounding????? Helen. 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. At the top was a clock covered with a glass door. I recently added the Big Ben Style 1 and Baby Ben Style 1 Dial and Back types. 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.. 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. People did some bad things over the years just to get them running. It can be found with some other clocks in a case in the second floor hallway. [7] A 2018 study by researchers from the University of Northampton found that a collection of 30 vintage military watches with radium dials kept in an small, unventilated room produced a radon concentration 134 times greater than the UK's recommended "safe" level. As seen below, the company made something of a symbolic gesture out of honoring the last Big Ben to roll off the assembly line on July 31, 1942, the day when all production shifted to government contracts for the duration of the war. They were, incredibly enough, instructed to ingest a radioactive poison all day, every day, and never properly warned of any potential hazards. Is this a product that the company would have made or something someone created? 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. WECKER (CCW arrow) knob sets alarm time. 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. 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. 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. var year = today.getFullYear() Clocks produced in the early 1900's are particularly concerning in this regard. It looks like you mount it to the wall. I was told it was an antique at that time. Created with WordPress. 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. 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. 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]. The women also left a legacy to science that has been termed invaluable.. I know Bill Stoddards name from other publications on Westclox. Thank you. I have a collection of alarm clocks, but slowly selling many. 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. Chronic exposure to high levels of radium can result in an increased incidence of bone, liver, or breast cancer. This eye is horizontally elliptical in general shape, about 4 3/4 long and 1 3/4 tall with a circle in the middle making it look like a single eye. This was a wonderful article to read. It would be greatly appreciated. National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors Inc (A 501c3 non-profit corporation). Seeking the Big 3 goals of convenience, cleanliness, and cheap production, Dreyfuss rolled out his new-look Big Ben in 1931. 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. 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. In the early 1920s, when the company introduced a new series of Big Ben and Baby Ben clocks with luminous dials, the work of painting on this special, glow-in-the-dark element was outsourced to the Radium Dial Companyan independent business located just up the road in the neighboring town of Ottawa, IL. Style 10 is the last numbered 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. How did I get interested in clocks? Richard Tjarks introduced I have purchased 1) Style 1 Baby and Big Ben with the Gold Leaf dial (seller stated raised letters); and, 2) a Style 1 Baby Ben with Baby Ben De Luxe on the dial. Stoddard: Some of the old American pocket watches are just beautiful so I have several in my collection. Next to the original Westcloxes I have an interesting collection of European copies by a.o. From 1917 to 1926, the United States Radium Corporation used radium to produce wristwatches and clocks. 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. My clothes, hanging in a dark closet, gave off a phosphorescent glare. If someone has restored it in the past, make sure the correct dial was put on it and the movements, which have probably been repaired a lot, have been done nicely. the clock face is 16, ca 1900. the clock belonged to pheobe appersons family at their ranch in sunol california. Thanks so much Stoddard: Its really hard to say. Underneath the #12 on the face it says: G. Falconer & Co. LTD. Hong Kong. I have a similar clock. Radium is an almost pure white alkaline radioactive earth metal, and is found in nature in uranium ores. I first saw the clock in 1957. and again 1243 is this an antique its gold but looks brand new but also an antique at the same time does anyone know what kind of pocket watch this is or if its gold or a replica of something or what it might be worth?? I hung it on my wall and we tried to get it fixed but the repairman couldnt fix it. 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. Westclox made an excellent, almost exact, reproduction of the style 1a Big Ben in 1970. Eventually, scientists and medical professionals realized that these workers' illnesses were being caused by internal contamination from the radium they ingested. 514 Poplar Street 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. The lume used on vintage Rolex watches was radium-based, and radium remained the standard for nearly all Rolex lume until 1963, when growing health concerns forced a shift away from it. Matthiessen, 1904 Western Clock MFG Co. catalog cover, and the original Peru factory in 1905]. Then, on New Years Eve, as 2011 became 2012, the unthinkable happened. . They worked in unvented rooms, they wore smocks that they laundered at home. It has a patent June 18-1882 and says Dakota on the back,can you tell me more? If you want to identify an item, try posting it in our Show & Tell gallery. In a few short years, thanks to Dr. Douglas's efforts, the amount of radium available in the US more than quintupled. . It was passed on to my sister and for years it was on their mantle along time until it stopped. When did Bulova stop using radium? Required fields are marked *. It is battery operated and takes a D battery. The use of radium was discontinued since the 1960s. it has a picture of a huck finn type boy,carying 2 bottles of coke& a fishing pole,with his dog. Dont know if someone ingraved date on when took down or if the original. Thank you, i have a pocket watch that says (inscribed inside) g. falconer ,,,rona & london or kona & london i dont know its in old english and says kona or hona it has 1243 all inscribed on the inside where when u open it u can see the gears, looks like an a8 and a crown with a 18 on the middle inside cover (that covers the gears) and also a 1243 and what looks like an 8 or an infinite symbol (sideways 8)then again on the part that clasps over everything on the inside an A3 or A8? Production was back in full force and at an all-time high by 1956, with 3,000 employees on staff. By Dave Margulius It is in the manufacture of alarm and one-day clocks that these results are the most noticeable, because in this field the quality of the product had always been subordinated to the market value, and the general feeling was one of let good enough alone., [Automatic machinery certainly sped up the manufacturing process, by plenty of human skill and attention was still required to make the Big Ben. They made them with wooden works until about 1840, then with brass gears and I like some of the early brass-geared American clocks. Style 1 has three screws through the bezel visible from the front, style 1a doesnt (compare figures 3 and 7); Style 1 has two screws holding the bell back, style 1a has three. 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. I am looking to get an approxmiate value of this clock. They have meetings every two months, and educational programs, so thats a really great way to meet collectors and get all kinds of advice. 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]. 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. Before OSHA was set up, 14,000 people died on the job every year; today, it is just over 4,500. Thank you for your input. For the town of Peruwhich had tied much of its identity to Westclox for the better part of a centurythe damage went beyond financial. Baby Ben and other Westclox clocks and watches have been assigned styles. 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. By the 1960s production went offshore to achieve economies of scale . At this moment I study horology at West Dean College in the UK. 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. With alarm clocks, they were so common that when people repaired them they did whatever they could to get them going. bailey oceans tide clock dated 1880, with a Fusee movement. "Westclox" in italics, double hexagon legs: 1918, "Westclox" in italics, regular legs: 1918 -1922, "Westclox" in italics, very narrow lettering at bottom: "MADE BY WESTERN CLOCK CO., LA SALLE, ILL., U.S.A.", ca. Old Rose (pink) crackle finish Baby Ben with luminous dial: 1929 1930. A lot of the American Shelf clocks from the 1820s up to 1900 have reverse paintings in the door, on the backside of the glass. its a Gold coloring and the bottom is well worn like it was slid into something regularily. Collectors Weekly: When did you discover that there were other clock collectors? Eventually, safer options were discovered, and the use of radium was discontinued in the 1960s. The Westclox Big Ben Alarm Clock Vintage is an iconic timepiece that has been around since the early 1900s. The Canadian Clock Museum (http://www.canclockmuseum.ca/) may have some information. Art and Mary Ann Windy [pictured] have been married for 49 years, met as Westclox employees and were present for the open house. You must log in or register to reply here. 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. The center is in the shape of the world map. I have a Westclox Bachelor alarm clock from probably the 50s as it was always there when I was growing up. They can be identified by having the modern type of flat head screws with shoulders instead of round head screws, and by having a 1910 patent date on the back even though the case is style 1a. These styles constitute the var today = new Date() Behind the light, theyd been left in the dark. Apr 14, 2011 501 1 18. The whole clock seems to be origional and was maintained by my grandfather who was a watch/clock repairman. [Workers assembling Big Ben alarm clocks at the Westclox plant, 1910s. When did westclox start making clocks? Radium is highly radioactive. 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. Westclox also made about 5000 gold-plated reproductions. Purchased from a man who claimed to have salvaged them from the backroom of an unnamed Chicago watch repair shop, each round and weathered face represents the lasting work of an international manufacturing giant at the peak of its powers. I like to find the ones before that and study their history. 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. The first style 1a cases had double-hexagon legs, but after about a year they were changed to standard single hex form. 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. It also says that the patent was re-issued March 31, 1868. In 1914, Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sochocky and Dr. George S. Willis founded the Radium Luminous Material Corporation. Through a friend I purchased an apparently antique key wind up long wooden and glass cased clock. But it had always just been a matter of time (pun less intended) before industrial mass production made a wide-scale phenomenon like the Big Ben possible. Is Westclox a good brand? Among the rarities on display is a Westclox-made National Emergency Alarm Repeater. 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. All I really want to know is about the raised horizontal single eye type decoration on this top removable piece. As my first name is Ben, I started to collect these alarmclocks since about 1970. The only problem is a standard size D battery does not fit. His bigger job was to design a system so the power companies could regulate their generator so the clock could keep time. The greater surprise, though, is that they didnt abandon the use of radium in the years that followed. In 1931 it merged with Seth Thomas Clock Co. and both became divisions of General Time Corp. Geiger counters could pick up readings from pants returned from a dry cleaner and from clothes stored away in a cedar chest. At the end of one hand is a star and the other hand is the moon. 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. We thought it was 1890 or older. I was given an Elias Ingraham Clock many years ago and would like to know a bit more about it and its value. In this interview Bill Stoddard talks about collecting antique Westclox Big Ben and Baby Ben alarm clocks, and discusses clock collecting in general. Richard Ristau Jr., former plant manager, said hes happy to see the space being used for the museum. When radium was discovered in the early 1900s, people were fascinated by its mysterious glow and it was added to many everyday products, including paints. Big Ben style, and there are other styles with names instead of numbers. Don Spayer, volunteer and former Westclox employee, said the bulk of the museums collection was built through donations. Westclox Big Ben and Baby Ben Identification Guide , Remembering the Great War and The Clock That Caused a Near Riot . But for years the majority were wind ups, they were so popular. Frank Baker. But this is not how the story of Westclox began. In terms of my own collection, Im still trying to find some of the really early Big Bens. 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. Handle on top: down alarm off; up alarm on. While promoting Westclox products in Europe, the breakout of World War I and the laws of mandatory military service in his native France forced Le Roy to get his affairs in order and head for the front in 1914. Stoddard: The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) is headquartered in Pennsylvania but has chapters throughout the country. By the 1970s, radium was no . Never underestimate the value of an alarm clock when yours broke two years ago and nobody has manufactured a new one since. [3] The Radiolite series, made in various sizes and models, became a signature of the Connecticut-based company. [Workers assembling Big Ben alarm clocks at the Westclox plant, 1910s. Was westclox ever manufactured in germany and if so when? Its basically all forward momentum from here. When did westclox stop using radium?
when did westclox stop using radiumsince 1927.
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