Condition is important, but clocks can be restored. On March 31, 1980, the Peru-LaSalle plant was officially closed, narrowly missing its 100-year anniversary. Was just trying to find out any information on this clock or if you may have ever come across one like it I know it was purchased in 1937 because it belonged to my elderly friends who were married in 1938. I love the Hamiltons in particular, probably some of the best watches made in America. I think we threw it away. 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. Were finally at a point, where were ready to do more than just sit here, said Ruth Spayer, curator for the museum. its about 2 inches long maybe 1/2 in thick with holes on either end to be worn on a key chain perhaps? 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. It sits on a small brass stand with Westclox on it. She was 107 when she died on March 1 in Middlebury, Conn . With alarm clocks, they were so common that when people repaired them they did whatever they could to get them going. A key point to bear in mind is this: the dial is still highly radioactive. "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. 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.. Westclox - An Identification and Price Guide, and I added even more in 2012. The movement is a windup almost identical to the original. Westclox began as the United Clock Company of Peru, Illinois in 1885. Over time, she contracted terrible cancerous tumors, lost most of her teeth, and suffered countless other health problems. There is a small dial inside of the clock face that has roman numerals like another clock face. Next year, well have been married for 49 years, Mary Ann said. It emits alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. For me its kind of an inexpensive hobby because as a boy I could find them for about a dollar a piece, sometimes in good condition. 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 knobs have foreign words ie wecker & UHR.would like to know about his clock when did westclox stop using radium; when did westclox stop using radium. 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. The Forgotten Story Of The Radium Girls, Whose Deaths Saved Thousands Of Workers Lives, by Kate Moore, A Rude Awakening: The History of Alarm Clocks , Western Clock MFG Co. (Westclox), est. In its place, he ironically dubbed the little bedside clock Big Ben (apparently not copyrighted by the British Parliament), and introduced it to the public in early ads as a gendered he instead of an it., Big Ben is a handsome, well built, refined and bright looking fellow with a clean-cut open face and a deep cheerful voice, one ad read. I also need it repaired so that it will be functional and need to find someone that will do that for me. Westclox Clock Construction and Quality. In some respects, the early rise of the Western Clock MFG Co. is even more impressive considering the company didnt have all the resources of an established, major metropolis to draw from. Westclox Big Bens and Baby Bens are full of the stuff. Up until this point in time (pun intended), quality time pieces had been considered a rich mans game. I tend to be a nitty gritty detail kind of guy. When I was eight we moved to a new house and my mom and I were looking in the attic and found an old octagon wall clock made by Waterbury, probably dated about 1880. By Dave Margulius [9] The element was phased out of use by industry acting under its own volition as superior and safer luminous materials entered the marketplace. Accueil; Services; Ralisations; Annie Moussin; Mdias; 514-569-8476 Westclox closed its Peru factory 35 years ago. 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. . Which is interesting because many of the electrics are scarcer but people just arent into collecting electric clocks. I worked here for 28 years. In a way theyre preventing clocks from being thrown away so I cant totally condemn it, but it still seems like a funny thing to do. 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. Only reason I can think of and it looks pretty odd not to have minutes on a clock face. About the only. Also, its not just Americans who collect, its worldwide. var today = new Date() the clock face is 16, ca 1900. the clock belonged to pheobe appersons family at their ranch in sunol california. The movement was then used with minor changes in Loud Alarm models until 1956. How do you date a Westclox Baby Ben? When did Bulova stop using radium? 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. 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. They were told that eliminating lip-pointing had ended earlier problems. Before we get to that, though, we have to start with the issue of geography as it concerns the business in question. 400-day clocks are also known as anniversary clocks, they would run 400 days on one winding. All I really want to know is about the raised horizontal single eye type decoration on this top removable piece. They call it Shabby Chic and sell it on eBay for 60 to 80 dollars. . There are variations in the lettering on the dial and back. This has probably been discussed before but my search turned up nothingdo the luminous hands on a Big Ben alarm clock contain painted radium? 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. Radium was even used in medical applications during the 20th century. This practice resulted in the ingestion of radium, which caused serious jaw-bone degeneration and malignancy and other dental diseases. [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. National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors Inc (A 501c3 non-profit corporation). Sometimes getting parts is tough, too, although it turns out Westclox made lots and lots of spare parts. Good old fashioned branding played a major role, as well. The pioneering spirit is there, but the business skills soon appear lacking. It is stamped on the back of the casing DRP&GM. Was this done so the alarm could be more easily set on the quarter or half hour? 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? On the Style 9, they went back to actual minute markings. The clock can still give considerable amounts of radiation about 2-3 inches from the Crystal measured with a Geiger counter. This dustproofing is accomplished by fittings around the set knobs and winding keys and on the regulator. The only thing I found is the word Germny engraved on the back. We are looking for any Westclox photographs, memorabilia etc between 1927- 1980s of the factory. Handle on top: down alarm off; up alarm on. WECKER (CCW arrow) knob sets alarm time. 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. 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 Model 66 Movement Series Welcome to the Westclox Clock and Watch History Database. i have a large ansonia wall clock 32 1/2 x 32. Because it was one degree removed from the radium business itself, Westclox seems to have largely dodged the controversy and lawsuits altogether. The Crystal blocks a significant amount of The radiation. Here you can see production dates, original retail prices and other Beginning in the 1910s, the girls instructed to put radium in their mouths didn't bat an eyelash. Westcloxs Manual for Employees read, We expect you to work hard, and the pay is accordingly large . Safety His ideas were patented on as US patent #326,602. $25.99. It is encased in hard polymer Plastic and the ends have rivets . This particular clock is made in China while other similar Westclox alarm clocks at the time were made in Taiwan. I Have a small brass alarm clock,which is 1-3/4 Hieght Length & Width. Any help would be appreciated. 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. 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. As radium luminosity came under attack in the 1930s, Westcloxs other updates to the Big Ben design were far more practical and uncontroversial. They worked in unvented rooms, they wore smocks that they laundered at home. [5] Indeed, the body treats radium as it does calcium, storing it in bone where it may cause bone degeneration and cancer.[5]. The use of Radium changed over several years but it was not until late 1960ies when the last were made. 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. [7], Ingestion of radium has been linked to anemia, cataracts, broken teeth, and reduced bone growth.[8]. . Radium dials are watch, clock and other instrument dials painted with luminous paint containing radium-226 to produce radioluminescence. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that watches with radium dials should not be taken apart[5] without proper training, technique, and facilities. This 1964 Westclox Christmas ad describes their features. How can people be exposed to Radium? We pay his railroad fare on all orders for a dozen or more, we brand him with your name in lots of 24.. But this is not how the story of Westclox began. Henry Warren invented a little synchronous motor that could go inside a clock. I know that it is electric and it requires a dime deposit to set the alarm on it. 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. Something about them has always been ingrained in me. For the town of Peruwhich had tied much of its identity to Westclox for the better part of a centurythe damage went beyond financial. They worked for the United States Radium Corporation painting the numbers and hands on watch. Thank you. I was told it was an antique at that time. They are just gorgeous watches and very well made. Museum Artifacts: Luminous Big Ben & Baby Ben Clock Dials (1940s) and Style 1A Big Ben Alarm Clock (1920s), Made By: Western Clock MFG Company, aka Westclox, 350 5th St., Peru, Illinois [LaSalle]. As my first name is Ben, I started to collect these alarmclocks since about 1970. 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. I was looking at it and said, aha! 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. Charles Crow Penn Valley, Ca, I have run across and old clock that I would like to know something about. In the 1970s, radium was phased out of wristwatches and clockdials. Buy Now. 7&a half X 6..desk clock. dated:1990 ,decorated :hong cong.made in japan.cocacola tradmark. We are very proud to be living in this building and would love to know more about this specific site. Radium is an almost pure white alkaline radioactive earth metal, and is found in nature in uranium ores. Westclox made an excellent, almost exact, reproduction of the style 1a Big Ben in 1970. At the top was a clock covered with a glass door. [citation needed] This rate probably only represents the dose rate from gamma emission, as the alpha emission will be stopped by the lacquer, or crystal, or case; hence, the dose rate following ingestion or inhalation of the dust could be much higher. My husband has a Big Ben clock that he inherited, it was took down from a mill and given to his grandma. I bought a 1970s Westclox pocket watch with a Hotwheels face that says authorized seller on it. He corresponded with Westclox General Manager Ernst Roth over the weeks that followed, but after a final letter that September, he went silent. For example, Big Ben Style 1 and Style 1a are the leg model, and Style 2 is the first base model. A radium dial clock from the 1930s. It is a Medbury-4W #4910. [Westclox advertisements from WWII period, ft. Its got a round brass dial and a painting in the door, really neat. The clock is several houndred pounds, and keeps great time. When did clocks stop using radium? 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. It is something that we should know before everyone starts throwing away every luminous dial clock they own. My love is for the style 1 peg leg Big and Baby Bens; mostly Baby Bens. Big Ben Style Series. Westclox made an excellent, almost exact, reproduction of the style 1a Big Ben in 1970. Through it all, Peru remained the companys home base, as over 3,000 employees now enjoyed the rapidly expanding space of the factory and its attached campus, with gardens, tennis courts, a bowling alley, and other things worthy of a Matthiessen estate. Ive been trying to compare lots of different clocks to find out what original parts go together. I thought, oh boy, I just need four more and Ill have them all! Origin of the eye, forklore or legends surrounding????? The factory contained a bowling alley, and Ristau said his father was an excellent bowler. All Rights Reserved. The first style 1a cases had double-hexagon legs, but after about a year they were changed to standard single hex form. 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. Thank to several professionals who Ive met on Ebay, I have become quite skilled with my restorations plus making dials and alarm function indicators. It was a gift from him to her the year before they were married. Theres a clock called a Crystal Regulator which is about a foot tall with a brass case and glass on all four sides. One employee, R.D. [Workers assembling Big Ben alarm clocks at the Westclox plant, 1910s. Helen. 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. Stoddard: Some of the old American pocket watches are just beautiful so I have several in my collection. Eventually, safer options were discovered, and the use of radium was discontinued in the 1960s. The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint. There are also some other makers clocks Ive gotten into, like the Seth Thomas 30 hour ogee, which is a weight-driven shelf clock. I cant find out anything about him or any other clocks by him. styles to organize them The company later changed its name to the United States Radium Corporation. My father (Richard Ristau Sr.) worked here for 48.. The clock is shielded From the glass crystal. Big Ben style, and there are other styles with names instead of numbers. Gordon Goodrum 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. The Ghost Girls might have been the envy of the other girls in town, but no one yet realized just how much danger they were being subjected to. The drinking fountain worked.. German: WECKER (alarm); UHR (clock). Style 5 dial design]. 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. 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. That way I got myself another Baby Ben, bringing my collection to three by age 12. By the 1970s, radium was no . 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. They arent hurting it permanently, its just kind of weird. I believed it was manufacturing tag. 1919 - 1920 on a small proportion of clocks, "Westclox" in Roman text, Wide lettering at bottom: 1923, "Westclox" in Roman text, Narrow lettering at bottom:1924 to 1927, "Westclox" in Roman text, Projection on the "x": 1928 - 1935, Luminous, "Westclox" in italics: ca. Then, on New Years Eve, as 2011 became 2012, the unthinkable happened. 1980 By the early 1950s, Westclox employed thousands of LaSalle-Peru residents. Stoddard: The main thing is the originality of the dial and if its a wooden shelf clock, having the original painting in the door would be really important. Radium is highly radioactive. Westclox did make a couple of documented advertising clocks, but very few. If you want to identify an item, try posting it in our Show & Tell gallery. Ruth Spayer at the Westclox Museum tracked down a newspaper story from the Daily Post-Tribune on March 21, 1944, describing a scene in which three women fainted, several clerks were trampled, and four showcase windows were shattered before police untangled a jam of 2,500 women and a few stout-hearted men who converged on the store.. I am sure I can give Mr. Shields further information about his clock. . 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. By 1930, all dial painters stopped pointing their brushes by mouth. I have a Westclox Big Ben 1910 style 1a and have not been able to find out the present value/worth. 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. 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. These styles constitute the 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. Dave, Your question about a Big Ben containing radium, and in fact about which clocks actually do contain radium, is a good one.
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when did westclox stop using radium