Santa Monica Helicopter Circling Now, Vintage Porcelain Music Boxes, Forensic Science Internships Summer 2022 Uk, Wrestlers Who Served In The Military, Csu Stanislaus Graduation Stole, Articles W

Up until this point in time (pun intended), quality time pieces had been considered a rich mans game. After several changes of ownership, it became . Theyre just scattered in different places all over the country, little collections of hands, springs, screws, and things like that. It still works. I read (but cant remember where) that about 40,000 were made. 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. 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? "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. 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. 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.. 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. See the top of this page for a current list of Sep 23, 2011 There is a small dial inside of the clock face that has roman numerals like another clock face. Big Ben: butler nickel case, gold leaf numeral dial 1930 1932. On the Style 9, they went back to actual minute markings. Technically speaking, though, Westclox did still produce clocks during the gap years that followed. [left to right: F.W. Westclox Model 66 Movement Series Welcome to the Westclox Clock and Watch History Database. I know that it is electric and it requires a dime deposit to set the alarm on it. The use of Radium changed over several years but it was not until late 1960ies when the last were made. when did westclox stop using radium. 5 17 15 is May 17, 1915 . I have been collecting, repairing, and restoring mostly Westclox Big Bens for several years. How can people be exposed to Radium? 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]. In terms of my own collection, Im still trying to find some of the really early Big Bens. But the chances that you have a radium clock are slim, unless it is very old. The company later changed its name to the United States Radium Corporation. Can you confirm? American manufacturers were quick to see that the millionaires are a negligible quantity as consumers, and that, not chronometersnot marvels of intricacy and originalitywere needed, but timepieces within the reach and want of all. 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. Soon, he was running the Western Clock Co. advertising department, and proving his worth with some clever marketing strategies. They have meetings every two months, and educational programs, so thats a really great way to meet collectors and get all kinds of advice. Penetrating gamma radiation produced by some dials also represents a significant health risk. There are variations in the lettering on the dial and back. Sometimes Ive seen them for 300 to 600 dollars. Style Information: Plain dial: 1918 - 1935 Black luminous dial: 1921 - 1935 There are variations in the lettering on the dial and back. Any guidance or help is appreciated. I love the Hamiltons in particular, probably some of the best watches made in America. 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. Another thing people do is make fake advertising clocks. [3] The Radiolite series, made in various sizes and models, became a signature of the Connecticut-based company. Technically speaking, though, Westclox did still produce clocks during the gap years that followed. There are many Westclox alarm clock models named Big Ben. $25.99. It emits alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. The first style 1a cases had double-hexagon legs, but after about a year they were changed to standard single hex form. [Workers assembling Big Ben alarm clocks at the Westclox plant, 1910s. Early in the 20th century there was a medical practice that revolved around a new treatment involving the radioactive material called radium. The clock is shielded From the glass crystal. Just remember, old luminous clocks are full of radium! Westclox also made about 5000 gold-plated reproductions. I am trying to determine the age. Through a friend I purchased an apparently antique key wind up long wooden and glass cased clock. All I really want to know is about the raised horizontal single eye type decoration on this top removable piece. Thanks, Teri. Origin of the eye, forklore or legends surrounding????? This fall, the museum will be open more frequently and for more events. 1888. On March 31, 1980, the Peru-LaSalle plant was officially closed, narrowly missing its 100-year anniversary. 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. About 1931 they made the first electric Big Ben, and they were plug ins. All Rights Reserved. Theres a seller on eBay now whos doing some really outstanding restorations of Big Bens. The only thing I found is the word Germny engraved on the back. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. 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. People did some bad things over the years just to get them running. Above all else, though, the rise and fall of Westcloxand the deeper history of these Big Ben clocks, in particularis simply far too intriguing to dismiss just because of a long-distance commute. The pioneering spirit is there, but the business skills soon appear lacking. Within two decades she had lost all her teeth. Created with WordPress. . I have a collection of clocks, and amongst my collection are Westminster chime wall clocks, I have two Keinzle and two Junghans. The front is in Roman Numerals with a dome shaped raised glass. Also, its not just Americans who collect, its worldwide. I would like to find the value of it. 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. 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. Stoddard: My grandma gave me an old Baby Ben alarm clock that didnt work when I was seven. As Kate Moore explains it, The radium girls case was one of the first in which an employer was made responsible for the health of the companys employees. However, there`s no easy way for you to tell; there were no labeling requirements then as we have now. Westclox 0.9" LED Plasma Screen Alarm Clock with USB Charging Port 71014X. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. I met somebody then who told me about the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors and then I joined that and in their bi-monthly magazine I found a man looking for early Westclox information, he is now one of the foremost Westclox researchers. Your response or advice would be much appreciated. 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. The factory contained a bowling alley, and Ristau said his father was an excellent bowler. I have a similar clock. Westclox Radium Dial Clock. Production was back in full force and at an all-time high by 1956, with 3,000 employees on staff. [7], Ingestion of radium has been linked to anemia, cataracts, broken teeth, and reduced bone growth.[8]. Was just trying to find out any information on this clock or if you may have ever come across one like it Fortunately, in the years since, theres been a noble effort to retain surviving parts of the building and some of the important local history that the empty factory once represented. How do you date a Westclox Baby Ben? The greater surprise, though, is that they didnt abandon the use of radium in the years that followed. Gordon Goodrum But for years the majority were wind ups, they were so popular. How did I get interested in clocks? I am sure I can give Mr. Shields further information about his clock. By the 1970s, radium was no . WECKER (CW arrow)/UHR (CCW arrow) knob with ring: CW winds alarm; CCW winds clock. 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. Westclox began as the United Clock Company of Peru, Illinois in 1885. Can someone get back to me as to what it is and possibe age of it. Nowadays, Super-LumiNova, which is entirely non-radioactive and non-toxic, is the most used lume in watchmaking. 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]. Buy Now. When did the use of radium stop? 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. 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. According to Periodic. I am looking to get an approxmiate value of this clock. I never realized, even working here, they made so many different models.. We thought it was 1890 or older. Just as pilots in World War II had radium on the dials in their cockpits for all-condition visibility, many people who purchased Big Ben alarm clocks during the same periodincluding the very style in our museum collection (made from 1939-1946)went to bed each night sleeping next to a tiny box of radioactivity. These paints were used on the dials of clocks and watches to make them glow-in-the-dark. If you want to identify an item, try posting it in our Show & Tell gallery. After the discovery of radioactivity in 1896 by French physicist and Nobel Prize winner, Antoine Henri Becquerel, many other scientists began to search for uses of radioactivity. . . I like to find the ones before that and study their history. I spent many an evening here, watching him bowl.. 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. The style 7 Big Ben and Baby Ben (1956 to 1964, the first Bens with concentric alarm hand) has minute markings. So I swapped them, and its worked perfectly ever since. Apr 14, 2011 501 1 18. JavaScript is disabled. 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. In the United States there does not seem to have ever been prohibitory legislation passed banning the use of radium in clocks and watches. 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. Medical researchers extended the use of radium to cure impotence in men and women by creating fertility drugs with the element to "stimulate" reproduction. He corresponded with Westclox General Manager Ernst Roth over the weeks that followed, but after a final letter that September, he went silent. July 17th, 2008. 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. In 1919 the company was incorporated as Western Clock Company, Ltd. . i have a large ansonia wall clock 32 1/2 x 32. There are also some other makers clocks Ive gotten into, like the Seth Thomas 30 hour ogee, which is a weight-driven shelf clock. A Westclox Museum has been opened within the original facility, showing off rare collections from the millions of timepieces once manufactured there. Can you help When I was 11 or 12, I started mowing lawns for money and paid another man to repair it for me, but when it came back it would run for a while and then stop, pretty erratic. The movement was mounted to the inner case back. The company made luminescent paint. Charles Crow Penn Valley, Ca, I have run across and old clock that I would like to know something about. It is in good condition and has the original pendulum and key. 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. By Dave Margulius 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. [5] Indeed, the body treats radium as it does calcium, storing it in bone where it may cause bone degeneration and cancer.[5]. Westclox Big Ben Alarm Clock Vintage. [9] The element was phased out of use by industry acting under its own volition as superior and safer luminous materials entered the marketplace. 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. We have photos of all the employees between 1927-1945 at the Peterborough Ontario Location but not much else. I am reading, studying, and learning more about the Westclox. Site of the Old Westclox factory 211-201 Hunter Street, Peterborough Ontario. 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. 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. On 3rd January 2099, Terry Shields asked if anyone had information regarding his clock signed G .Falconer, Hong Kong. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that watches with radium dials should not be taken apart[5] without proper training, technique, and facilities. Before OSHA was set up, 14,000 people died on the job every year; today, it is just over 4,500. The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint. Within in another ten years, the workforce had tripled again, powered by employee George Kerns 1908 invention of the first Big Benthe sleek, iconic model that basically set the template for the 20th century wind-up alarm clock. Stoddard: The first Big Bens and Baby Bens went on the market in 1910 and they were wind ups. In 1898, the Curies discovered the existence of. When did Bulova stop using radium? Condition is important, but clocks can be restored. 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. The Westclox Big Ben Alarm Clock Vintage is an iconic timepiece that has been around since the early 1900s. I would like to know the value of a #4 black, #321(in original cardboard Christmas box), mint condition, Baby Ben alarm clock is. 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. Copyright 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. 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. It is stamped on the back of the casing DRP&GM. All the aforementioned to ask you if you know how many of the 1970 style 1As were made. Eventually, safer options were discovered, and the use of radium was discontinued in the 1960s. Theres a clock called a Crystal Regulator which is about a foot tall with a brass case and glass on all four sides. It is a wind up. They were told that eliminating lip-pointing had ended earlier problems. Matthiessen, 1904 Western Clock MFG Co. catalog cover, and the original Peru factory in 1905]. You just cant imagine the size of this factory its just gigantic. The work involved using luminous radium paint to make the numbers on clocks, watches and aeronautic dials glow in the dark. 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. Stoddard: Some of the old American pocket watches are just beautiful so I have several in my collection. For example, Big Ben Style 1 and Style 1a are the leg model, and Style 2 is the first base model. Was westclox ever manufactured in germany and if so when? But this is not how the story of Westclox began. when did westclox stop using radium; when did westclox stop using radium. 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. My husband has a Big Ben clock that he inherited, it was took down from a mill and given to his grandma. Thanks, Paula. 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. . Among the rarities on display is a Westclox-made National Emergency Alarm Repeater. AD x Stoddard: I was pretty much on my own until college. Thank you for your input. Thanks so much I have a Seth Thomas Mantle clock that my older sisters husbands Aunt had on her mantle 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. 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. Underneath the #12 on the face it says: G. Falconer & Co. LTD. Hong Kong. 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. 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. It can be found with some other clocks in a case in the second floor hallway. the knobs have foreign words ie wecker & UHR.would like to know about his clock can anybody tell me about this piece? The thing I remember most is working with the people, Ristau said. The NAWCC has an online forum with a lot of different categories. 1980 By the early 1950s, Westclox employed thousands of LaSalle-Peru residents. Westclox made an excellent, almost exact, reproduction of the style 1a Big Ben in 1970. This dustproofing is accomplished by fittings around the set knobs and winding keys and on the regulator. Also Telechron, which was a big maker of electric clocks. I took it back and the repairman told me it was like a large Timex watch and just not worth being fixed. The style 8 Big and Baby Bens were introduced in 1964. Theyll take an old Big Ben from 1930 and make a new dial that says Indian Motorcycle or Victola, and put it on eBay. thank you, My Husband and I just purchased an antique mantle/shelf clock at an estate sale. Their use in prostate brachytherapy dates from 1926. This was a wonderful article to read. From that point on I really liked those. His ideas were patented on as US patent #326,602. I know the site informs readers the amount of Big Bens produced in any one year, but does NOT for the reproduction model produced in 1970. Welcome to the Westclox Clock and Watch History Database. From 1917 to 1926, the United States Radium Corporation used radium to produce wristwatches and clocks. Can anyone direct me on how to find this clock? 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. At the top was a clock covered with a glass door. George Kern died on July 27, 1918 from a ruptured appendix, but his basic clock design lived on for years. hi, I have a cocacola square clock. 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]. I have a Westclox Magnet Key Part number 031723 I think was used to open a door as it has an arrow on 1 end. At one time they employed about 3500 people, making about 35, 000 clocks and watches per day. 1919 -1922, Luminous, Westclox in Roman text: 1923 - 1927, Luminous, projection on the "x": 1928 - 1935. Westclox did make a couple of documented advertising clocks, but very few. Thank you. 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. 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. They are just gorgeous watches and very well made. Beginning in the 1910s, the girls instructed to put radium in their mouths didn't bat an eyelash. Its hard to fathom in retrospect, but in the early 20th century, it was generally believed that small amounts of radium were perfectly harmless to humans, and thus, the substances natural, long-lasting glow actually made it something of an attractive novelty of the time periodnot just on clock dials, but in the worlds of quack medicine, fashion, cosmetics, and even a proto version of energy water, called Radithor.. It looks like you mount it to the wall. who can refurbush big ben still runs good perfect time purchased in 1950 cataloge #885(885). His bigger job was to design a system so the power companies could regulate their generator so the clock could keep time. 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. I live in Scotland but my clock was made in USA. She was 18. 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. Westclox Classic Alarm Clock Full Size 47602. var today = new Date() Westclox began as the United Clock Company in Peru, Illinois in 1885. 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. 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. Big Ben style 1a continued in production until its discontinuation in 1935. Seeking the Big 3 goals of convenience, cleanliness, and cheap production, Dreyfuss rolled out his new-look Big Ben in 1931. Here you can see production dates, original retail prices and other knowledge about vintage and antique Westclox clocks and watches. Old Rose (pink) crackle finish Baby Ben with luminous dial: 1929 1930. Stoddard: Pay attention to quality. Style 10 is the last numbered I know Bill Stoddards name from other publications on Westclox. Never underestimate the value of an alarm clock when yours broke two years ago and nobody has manufactured a new one since. Behind the light, theyd been left in the dark. 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. Donohue, like many of her young peers in the radium industry, eventually realized that her amusing glow had been a warning of severe exposure to a radioactive substance. In the production of ordinary clocks adapted to the needs and means of the millions, America produces results of remarkable excellence. Then, on New Years Eve, as 2011 became 2012, the unthinkable happened. Same as the nickel version but in a gold-plated case. 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 . Immediately after, substances like promethium and tritium were used as a luminous material, and they're still being used today. The massive success of the Big Ben design wasnt just about function and style. Is this a product that the company would have made or something someone created? when did westclox stop using radium old restaurants in lawrence, ma . 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. 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. 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. It has a patent June 18-1882 and says Dakota on the back,can you tell me more? Dave, Your question about a Big Ben containing radium, and in fact about which clocks actually do contain radium, is a good one. Stoddard: Its really hard to say.