Big Ben: butler nickel case, gold leaf numeral dial 1930 1932. Style Information: Plain dial: 1918 - 1935 Black luminous dial: 1921 - 1935 There are variations in the lettering on the dial and back. But he only comes upon receipt of signed price agreement. 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. Thank you. Stoddard: Its really hard to say. Westclox style series. The clock can still give considerable amounts of radiation about 2-3 inches from the Crystal measured with a Geiger counter. A radium dial clock from the 1930s. His ideas were patented on as US patent #326,602. Big Ben style, and there are other styles with names instead of numbers. Matthiessen [pictured below], who owns the powerful Illinois Zinc Company and most other things in Peru / LaSalle, decides to swoop in and save Stahlbergs little clock business, incorporating it as the Western Clock Mfg. There are variations in the lettering on the dial and back. Former employees showed up to view a collection of watches, clocks, tools, photographs of the old factory, a short black and white film of the factory in action and remember working for Westclox. 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. Same as the nickel version but in a gold-plated case. Both the Big and Baby Bens were housed in a newly refined bell-back clock case. I worked here for 28 years. In 2006 I started collecting vintage advertisements. Yet Mrs. Keane was a survivor who later conquered colon and breast cancer. I spent many an evening here, watching him bowl.. Could you please try to help me find out what kind of clock this is. when did westclox stop using radium - Trustedacquisitions.com They were, incredibly enough, instructed to ingest a radioactive poison all day, every day, and never properly warned of any potential hazards. About the only. 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. Behind the light, theyd been left in the dark. The factory contained a bowling alley, and Ristau said his father was an excellent bowler. 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. About 1931 they made the first electric Big Ben, and they were plug ins. A few years later my grandma gave me one that worked, and my aunt gave me another one. 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? they played a deep rich tone. Posted on 1 second ago; June 24, 2022 . When he made his first clock and plugged it into the wall it worked fine except it wasnt accurate, it was off by plus or minus a half hour a day, because the 60 cycles were not regulated at that time, so it could vary quite a bit. Junghans, Kienzle,Mauthe,Kaiser, Peter, (all from Germany) Veglia (Italy), CNIS ( France), Ingersoll (UK) as well as some Hong Kong made items. 400-day clocks are also known as anniversary clocks, they would run 400 days on one winding. On the Style 9, they went back to actual minute markings. When did Westclox stop using radium? Some people just want one or two that they remember from childhood in good condition, so thats just the thing for them. The policy of the company is one of highly specialized production. Lynda Hinshaw, At this moment I am research a clock by Falconer& co HongKong. 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. 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]. In 1898, the Curies discovered the existence of. They have meetings every two months, and educational programs, so thats a really great way to meet collectors and get all kinds of advice. Westcloxs Manual for Employees read, We expect you to work hard, and the pay is accordingly large . 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. . 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. I have a Westclox Big Ben 1910 style 1a and have not been able to find out the present value/worth. He corresponded with Westclox General Manager Ernst Roth over the weeks that followed, but after a final letter that September, he went silent. I know that it is electric and it requires a dime deposit to set the alarm on it. Thanks very mutch, I just acquired a sir w.h. [Left: The first national Big Ben advertisement appears in the. when did westclox stop using radium - Fashionexclusiveuae.com I was given an Elias Ingraham Clock many years ago and would like to know a bit more about it and its value. Radium was also used until the early 1970s in "glow-in-the-dark" paints, e.g., for dials on clocks, and in other industrial applications such as instrument calibration. I am a retired mechanical engineer, the quality has floored me, hats off to this company. It is in good condition and has the original pendulum and key. Dont know if someone ingraved date on when took down or if the original. Is Westclox a good brand? 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. it has a picture of a huck finn type boy,carying 2 bottles of coke& a fishing pole,with his dog. [left to right: F.W. It is battery operated and takes a D battery. Recently Ive seen people taking an old Baby Ben thats worth a few bucks or so and gluing rhinestones around the bezel on the clock. We are looking for any Westclox photographs, memorabilia etc between 1927- 1980s of the factory. 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 . I know it was purchased in 1937 because it belonged to my elderly friends who were married in 1938. Thank you. Theres a clock called a Crystal Regulator which is about a foot tall with a brass case and glass on all four sides. Even today, with the considerable help of a thing called Interstate 80, its still about a two-hour journey from LaSalle Street to LaSalle County. I hope to document Style 5 Baby Bens this winter. Company in 1888 and installing another talented German, Ernst Roth, as the general manager. 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. 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. This 1964 Westclox Christmas ad describes their features. when did westclox stop using radiumcapricorn and virgo flirting. The drinking fountain worked.. Soon, he was running the Western Clock Co. advertising department, and proving his worth with some clever marketing strategies. Also Telechron, which was a big maker of electric clocks. 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. From 1942 to 1945, Westclox ceased all production intended for domestic civilian sale and dedicated its production resources to the war effort. Most are in nickel finish cases, but some were made in gold plated cases. 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. It has ingraved on it 2-20-31. His bigger job was to design a system so the power companies could regulate their generator so the clock could keep time. Can anyone tell me about this? Facts About Radium | Live Science The sound is very good when I compare it with the Howard Miller and the Jauke I just purchases, its loud and resonates very well. My husband has a Big Ben clock that he inherited, it was took down from a mill and given to his grandma. 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. The pioneering spirit is there, but the business skills soon appear lacking. Style 10 is the last numbered So, rather than having the classic oversized bell or double-bell on top of the unit (to smash with your palm at 6am), the ringing mechanism was housed inside the back of the case, and a big winding key occupied the summit. Mae Keane, Whose Job Brought Radium to Her Lips, Dies at 107 For example, Big Ben Style 1 and Style 1a are the leg model, and Style 2 is the first base model. By Dave Margulius The aim of the Western Clock MFG Co. in entering the manufacture of alarms was to apply to nickel clocks, features which were previously found only in high-priced timepieces, and prohibited in low-priced lever clocks by the high cost of production involved. The incidents occurred at three different factories in United States: one in Orange, New Jersey, beginning around 1917; one in Ottawa, Illinois, beginning in the early 1920s; and a third facility in Waterbury, Connecticut, also in the 1920s. When did westclox stop using radium? Is this a product that the company would have made or something someone created? Safety The alarm mechanism was also improved as part of Kerns new patents, with an intermittent ringing that kind of acted as an archaic form of snooze alarm. radium - Encyclopedia Britannica | Britannica Columbia, PA 17512 Ref comment #10 from Frank Baker. My love is for the style 1 peg leg Big and Baby Bens; mostly Baby Bens. When did the use of radium stop? It is and Elias Ingraham Brass Clock with a patent stamp of September 30, 1862. 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. I have looked high and low in my attempts to find out how any of these resproduction style 1A were produced. The movement was mounted to the inner case back. This classic clock is known for its loud and distinct bell-like . 1980 By the early 1950s, Westclox employed thousands of LaSalle-Peru residents. He also recalled playing in the factory. This end has been achieved by what is known as the Western Processa process in which the component parts of a clock are cast, or, so to speak, cemented together with an alloy, instead of staked, and in which all hand labor is replaced by automatic machinery., [Automatic machinery certainly sped up the manufacturing process, by plenty of human skill and attention was still required to make the Big Ben. the knobs have foreign words ie wecker & UHR.would like to know about his clock How To Turn Off The Loud And Persistent Big Ben Alarm Clock Your cooperation would be greatly appreciated. The other thing is reproductions. 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. var year = today.getFullYear() Its basically all forward momentum from here. It also says that the patent was re-issued March 31, 1868. its about 2 inches long maybe 1/2 in thick with holes on either end to be worn on a key chain perhaps? At the start of the decade, the company brought in a skilled new industrial designer named Henry Dreyfuss; a true modernist. 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. 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. Westclox Big Ben Luminous Hands | NAWCC Forums 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. 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. That way I got myself another Baby Ben, bringing my collection to three by age 12. She was 107 when she died on March 1 in Middlebury, Conn . He invited us in to look around, so we got to go up and down the big freight elevator and he found some old music boxes that were never used that he gave to us (Westclox made one or two little clocks with a music box in them). Gordon Goodrum One of the objects on display in the Benton County Historical Society's Corvallis Museum is this Westclox Radium Dial Clock. When did Junghans stop manufacturing Westminster Chimes, and when did Keinzle stop manufacturing Westminster chimes. Marie and Pierre Curie isolate radium - HISTORY Am I missing something here? A lot of American clocks have veneer over the base wood so if thats starting to peel it can be really expensive to get fixed. Before we get to that, though, we have to start with the issue of geography as it concerns the business in question. I would like to know the value of a #4 black, #321(in original cardboard Christmas box), mint condition, Baby Ben alarm clock is. I was about 3ft high and recessed into the wall. 1919 -1922, Luminous, Westclox in Roman text: 1923 - 1927, Luminous, projection on the "x": 1928 - 1935. About 1920 the luminous dial using radium paint was introduced. Westclox Big Ben and Baby Ben Identification Guide , Remembering the Great War and The Clock That Caused a Near Riot . There are some blemishes on the wood on the right side. Any guidance or help is appreciated. Ive recently acquired a New Haven decorative wall clock. 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?? when did westclox stop using radium - Simssuccessgroup.com Could you suggest how I could go about finding out this information. Westclox closed its Peru factory 35 years ago. 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. The use of Radium changed over several years but it was not until late 1960ies when the last were made. 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. I have a collection of clocks, and amongst my collection are Westminster chime wall clocks, I have two Keinzle and two Junghans. Thank you for your input. That was the first antique clock I owned myself. Buy Now. 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 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. 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. 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. One employee, R.D. 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. For my 14th birthday I got a book called The Treasury of American Clocks and there was a picture showing the seven types of Baby Bens. 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. The phosphor deterioration means you can't see a glow anymore, but . It can be found with some other clocks in a case in the second floor hallway. 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. The thing I remember most is working with the people, Ristau said. In her 2017 book, The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of Americas Shining Women, author Kate Moore notes that many of the new girls at the Radium Dial factory started out painting the famous Westclox Big Ben clocks before moving on to the smaller and more challenging Baby Ben, and finally the Pocket Ben and Scotty pocket watches, all produced at the Westclox Works. Eventually, safer options were discovered, and the use of radium was discontinued in the 1960s. Copyright Any suggestions of where to get a replacement preferably in Canada? . It would be greatly appreciated. Westclox Big Ben Style 1a Alarm Clock Date Summary: 1918 - 1935 (and a reproduction was made in 1970) Characteristics: Ring on top, two legs in front, no screws through the front of the bezel. [5] Indeed, the body treats radium as it does calcium, storing it in bone where it may cause bone degeneration and cancer.[5]. It would be very interesting if you could provide me with some pictures of the clock. The Timeless Appeal of the Westclock Big and Baby Bens First, if your clock is for display only, I think it is harmless if the paint on the hands is not disturbed. Welcome to the Westclox Clock and Watch History Database. who can refurbush big ben still runs good perfect time purchased in 1950 cataloge #885(885). Dave, Your question about a Big Ben containing radium, and in fact about which clocks actually do contain radium, is a good one. 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. Buy Now. Big Ben Style Series. Thank to several professionals who Ive met on Ebay, I have become quite skilled with my restorations plus making dials and alarm function indicators. Westclox Scotland produced its first clock on 21 September 1948; a spring wound alarm with a 4-inch (10cm) dial. It was passed on to my sister and for years it was on their mantle along time until it stopped. Question: Are both 1) and 2) marriages of Style 2 mechanisms put in a Style 1A Big Ben and Style 1 Baby Ben. Similarly, It is in working order and chimes on the hour and half hour. The Westclox Big Ben Alarm Clock Vintage is an iconic timepiece that has been around since the early 1900s. With alarm clocks, they were so common that when people repaired them they did whatever they could to get them going. Here you can see production dates, original retail prices and other knowledge about vintage and antique Westclox clocks and watches. The trademark "Westclox" which had appeared on their Big Ben alarm clocks as early as 1910 was officially registered in January 1916. It is a Medbury-4W #4910. In clocks, as in all other lines of goods, there are two classes of consumersthe millions and the millionaires. I am sure I can give Mr. Shields further information about his clock. I read (but cant remember where) that about 40,000 were made. . It is too large (wide). 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. Westclox Model 66 Movement Series Welcome to the Westclox Clock and Watch History Database. 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.. Matthiessen, 1904 Western Clock MFG Co. catalog cover, and the original Peru factory in 1905]. Advertisement: Illustrates crackle green Tiny Tim, crackle blue Big Ben and crackle pink Baby Ben clocks. [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. 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. In the production of ordinary clocks adapted to the needs and means of the millions, America produces results of remarkable excellence. Baby Ben and other Westclox clocks and watches have been assigned styles. I like to find the ones before that and study their history. They had one in Brazil for a while and I think also in Hong Kong. This practice resulted in the ingestion of radium, which caused serious jaw-bone degeneration and malignancy and other dental diseases. I have been collecting, repairing, and restoring mostly Westclox Big Bens for several years. Did Westclox use radium? Not everyone involved with the manufacturing of Westclox products was employed directly by Westclox, however. 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.