I never realized, even working here, they made so many different models.. It emits alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. We thought it was 1890 or older. Stoddard: The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) is headquartered in Pennsylvania but has chapters throughout the country. 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. 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. Here you can see production dates, original retail prices and other knowledge about vintage and antique Westclox clocks and watches. Another thing people do is make fake advertising clocks. One of the objects on display in the Benton County Historical Society's Corvallis Museum is this Westclox Radium Dial Clock. It is something that we should know before everyone starts throwing away every luminous dial clock they own. I think it is a clock made by Sessions. Could you please try to help me find out what kind of clock this is. Im always interested in the history and the variations of clocks and how they fit in the scheme of things, what came before and what came after. Welcome to the Westclox Clock and Watch History Database. 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. Thank you. Westcloxs Manual for Employees read, We expect you to work hard, and the pay is accordingly large . They arent hurting it permanently, its just kind of weird. Is this a product that the company would have made or something someone created? 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. Debbie Blake, I have a small Westclox wind up clock dating around 1937. 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 1931 it merged with Seth Thomas Clock Co. and both became divisions of General Time Corp. 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. Ristau said he remembered when the Westclox factory was the heart of the city, and recalled enjoying his time with Westclox. Required fields are marked *. My love is for the style 1 peg leg Big and Baby Bens; mostly Baby Bens. Gary Biolchini added more style series in his book The policy of the company is one of highly specialized production. I took it all apart and asked my dad to help me put it back together, but he cut his finger on the spring. Westclox Big Ben and Baby Ben Identification Guide ClockHistory.com, Keeping Time in Peru Chicago Tribune, October 18, 1998, Remembering the Great War and The Clock That Caused a Near Riot WestcloxMuseum.com, For That Healthy Glow, Drink Radiation Popular Science, August 17, 2004, The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of Americas Shining Women, by Kate Moore, 2o17, The Forgotten Story Of The Radium Girls, Whose Deaths Saved Thousands Of Workers Lives, by Kate Moore, Buzzfeed.com, One-Day and Alarm Clocks Commercial America, Vol VI, 1909, A Rude Awakening: The History of Alarm Clocks ThroughoutHistory.com. There is a small dial inside of the clock face that has roman numerals like another clock face. . 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. 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. Stoddard: Pay attention to quality. When did clocks stop using radium? The new features, according to a synopsis from the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, included: 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.. Clock Repair and Hermle Chime, Mantel and Wall Clocks for Sale at Bill's Clockworks. My dad was one of the top bowlers here, Ristau said. Accueil; Services; Ralisations; Annie Moussin; Mdias; 514-569-8476 Stoddard: Its really hard to say. "[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. Charles Stahlberg headed a group from Waterbury, Connecticut, who came to Peru in 1884 to build clocks based on a new idea by Stahlberg. Quite a few who try to get every basic model, but fewer who get into the rarer models and do research. Westclox Big Bens and Baby Bens are full of the stuff. I cannot date it. . The movement was then used with minor changes in Loud Alarm models until 1956. 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. 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. 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. 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. When did westclox stop using radium? It is 3 diameter with Westclox on the back and PAT.APLOFOR. I know that it is electric and it requires a dime deposit to set the alarm on it. Various lettering on the dial and various patent dates (later, numbers) on the Like style 1a non-luminous with dealer name on dial. At the start of the decade, the company brought in a skilled new industrial designer named Henry Dreyfuss; a true modernist. Which is interesting because many of the electrics are scarcer but people just arent into collecting electric clocks. On the Style 9, they went back to actual minute markings. His ideas were patented on as US patent #326,602. Thanks. 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 clock can still give considerable amounts of radiation about 2-3 inches from the Crystal measured with a Geiger counter. Through a friend I purchased an apparently antique key wind up long wooden and glass cased clock. Apr 14, 2011 501 1 18. The trademark "Westclox" which had appeared on their Big Ben alarm clocks as early as 1910 was officially registered in January 1916. 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. Geiger counters could pick up readings from pants returned from a dry cleaner and from clothes stored away in a cedar chest. It looks like you mount it to the wall. [Workers assembling Big Ben alarm clocks at the Westclox plant, 1910s. Technically speaking, though, Westclox did still produce clocks during the gap years that followed. We are very proud to be living in this building and would love to know more about this specific site. In a few short years, thanks to Dr. Douglas's efforts, the amount of radium available in the US more than quintupled. 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. Omega stopped using radium around 1963. 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. 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. They were sold in a very attractive hexagonal box which has pictures of antique items on the sides (tricycle, telephone, carriage, etc.) I have a similar clock. Hundreds of thousands of clocks were produced a year, until closing its doors in 1980. I would like to find the value of it. 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. It was passed on to my sister and for years it was on their mantle along time until it stopped. I Have a small brass alarm clock,which is 1-3/4 Hieght Length & Width. Its got a round brass dial and a painting in the door, really neat. England. Thanks for any info you may be able to supply A clock without hands might seem indifferent to the passage of time, but these old Big Ben and Baby Ben dials have some serious stories to tell. This practice resulted in the ingestion of radium, which caused serious jaw-bone degeneration and malignancy and other dental diseases. This classic clock is known for its loud and distinct bell-like . From that point on I really liked those. Was just trying to find out any information on this clock or if you may have ever come across one like it I first saw the clock in 1957. On April 20, 1902, Marie and Pierre Curie successfully isolate radioactive radium salts from the mineral pitchblende in their laboratory in Paris. 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. My Grandmother had a Westclox in her house. Eventually, scientists and medical professionals realized that these workers' illnesses were being caused by internal contamination from the radium they ingested. However, there`s no easy way for you to tell; there were no labeling requirements then as we have now. There are also some other makers clocks Ive gotten into, like the Seth Thomas 30 hour ogee, which is a weight-driven shelf clock. Chronic exposure to high levels of radium can result in an increased incidence of bone, liver, or breast cancer. Kind regards, Ben van Vliet. 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. Luminous Processes employees interviewed by a journalist in 1978 stated they had been left ignorant of radium's dangers. Safety Nowadays, Super-LumiNova, which is entirely non-radioactive and non-toxic, is the most used lume in watchmaking. So I swapped them, and its worked perfectly ever since. 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. It would be greatly appreciated. If you look at a Baby Ben in the 1959 Sears catalog, they sold for about nine dollars and if you go to a Wal Mart today you can still buy a Baby Ben for about nine dollars, but the quality isnt the same. They had one in Brazil for a while and I think also in Hong Kong. About the only. But for years the majority were wind ups, they were so popular. Westclox Big Ben and Baby Ben Identification Guide , Remembering the Great War and The Clock That Caused a Near Riot . I live in Scotland but my clock was made in USA. It is a wind up. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 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. theres the problem, there were two gears that were in backwards. Clocks produced in the early 1900's are particularly concerning in this regard. Westclox Big Ben Alarm Clock Vintage. 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]. dated:1990 ,decorated :hong cong.made in japan.cocacola tradmark. Posted on 1 second ago; June 24, 2022 . 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. That batch was in production non-continuously from 1939 to 1946, housed in gunmetal cases with nickel trim. During the early 1900's, the effects of radiation exposure were not well understood, and radium was frequently . Lynda Hinshaw, At this moment I am research a clock by Falconer& co HongKong. 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. One time a friend and I were down there behind the factory and we got talking to a man who was leasing the back half of the factory to make machinery for bakeries. . It is too large (wide). By the 1970s, radium was no . The work involved using luminous radium paint to make the numbers on clocks, watches and aeronautic dials glow in the dark. It is stamped on the back of the casing DRP&GM. 2023 by Andrew Clayman. 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.. Westclox Radium Dial Clock. I hung it on my wall and we tried to get it fixed but the repairman couldnt fix it. My clothes, hanging in a dark closet, gave off a phosphorescent glare. Also Telechron, which was a big maker of electric clocks. So yes. Most are in nickel finish cases, but some were made in gold plated cases. They are just gorgeous watches and very well made. Big Ben style 1a continued in production until its discontinuation in 1935. 1970s Many of these workers developed bone cancer . 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. Stoddard: My grandma gave me an old Baby Ben alarm clock that didnt work when I was seven. 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 . Radium dials were produced throughout most of the 20th century before being replaced by safer tritium-based luminous material in the 1970s and finally by non-toxic, non-radioactive strontium aluminatebased photoluminescent material from the middle 1990s.
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