Thanks so much I have a Westclox Bachelor alarm clock from probably the 50s as it was always there when I was growing up. Westclox Big Ben and Baby Ben Identification Guide , Remembering the Great War and The Clock That Caused a Near Riot . Apr 14, 2011 501 1 18. Your email address will not be published. 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]. Radiums luminosity was part of its allure, Moore writes. This dustproofing is accomplished by fittings around the set knobs and winding keys and on the regulator. At the top was a clock covered with a glass door. They arent hurting it permanently, its just kind of weird. Charles Crow Penn Valley, Ca, I have run across and old clock that I would like to know something about. I thought, oh boy, I just need four more and Ill have them all! I just had it repaired & it works & looks great. Before OSHA was set up, 14,000 people died on the job every year; today, it is just over 4,500. You must log in or register to reply here. [6] Decaying radium also produces the gas radon, recognized as the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States[6] and the United Kingdom. Style 10 is the last numbered A few years later my grandma gave me one that worked, and my aunt gave me another one. One of the objects on display in the Benton County Historical Society's Corvallis Museum is this Westclox Radium Dial Clock. They are just gorgeous watches and very well made. Theres a clock called a Crystal Regulator which is about a foot tall with a brass case and glass on all four sides. Charles Stahlberg had an idea for making a better, but less expensive alarm clock. 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 were sold in a very attractive hexagonal box which has pictures of antique items on the sides (tricycle, telephone, carriage, etc.) He corresponded with Westclox General Manager Ernst Roth over the weeks that followed, but after a final letter that September, he went silent. Thanks. Handle on top: down alarm off; up alarm on. Also Telechron, which was a big maker of electric clocks. The policy of the company is one of highly specialized production. Westclox Big Ben Alarm Clock Vintage. It still works. 1978. Thanks very mutch, I just acquired a sir w.h. It is in good condition and has the original pendulum and key. 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 do you set the time on a old fashioned alarm clock? If you do not expect to work hard and carefully, you are in the wrong place., Big Ben is a handsome, well built, refined and bright looking fellow with a clean-cut open face and a deep cheerful voice,, A well-dressed, steady and punctual chap, up to the minute and always on the job., Big Ben always comes to you straight from home, LaSalle, Illinois,, But he only comes upon receipt of signed price agreement. These paints were used on the dials of clocks and watches to make them glow-in-the-dark. 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 would like to know the value of a #4 black, #321(in original cardboard Christmas box), mint condition, Baby Ben alarm clock is. When did Bulova stop using radium? Early in the 20th century there was a medical practice that revolved around a new treatment involving the radioactive material called radium. Phone: 717-684-8261. The women also left a legacy to science that has been termed invaluable.. 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. Good old fashioned branding played a major role, as well. Without a crystal poses a serious Health risk because the Radium paint flakes off and can become airborne. . It is a wind up. Stoddard: My grandma gave me an old Baby Ben alarm clock that didnt work when I was seven. 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. 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. 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. For at least four generations, the Western Clock Manufacturing Company, aka Westclox, was the lifeblood and largest employer in the small town of Peru, Illinois (with a mailing address in its twin city of LaSalle). Stoddard: Its really hard to say. 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. In all my research I can not confirm that The Style 1 models every had 1) and 2) above. var today = new Date() Westclox began as the United Clock Company in Peru, Illinois in 1885. The whole clock seems to be origional and was maintained by my grandfather who was a watch/clock repairman. I first saw the clock in 1957. Can anyone direct me on how to find this clock? 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. 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. 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. 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. If you do not expect to work hard and carefully, you are in the wrong place. credit: Northern Illinois University]. Am I missing something here? It is a Medbury-4W #4910. [Left: The first national Big Ben advertisement appears in the. They call it Shabby Chic and sell it on eBay for 60 to 80 dollars. 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 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. A Westclox Museum has been opened within the original facility, showing off rare collections from the millions of timepieces once manufactured there. when did westclox stop using radium old restaurants in lawrence, ma . As stated it is working and keeps time. 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. Westclox set up a factory in England in the 1940s and also in Scotland. All the aforementioned to ask you if you know how many of the 1970 style 1As were made. How can people be exposed to Radium? England. The use of radium was discontinued since the 1960s. In 2006 I started collecting vintage advertisements. 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. A pair of teenage boys broke into the abandoned factory and set a fire that quickly spread and enveloped much of the central complex. You do not want to open them up, lest you breath radioactive dust from old paint or spread it around. But for years the majority were wind ups, they were so popular. Could you please try to help me find out what kind of clock this is. George Kern died on July 27, 1918 from a ruptured appendix, but his basic clock design lived on for years. The story begins with a Connecticut clockmaker named Charles Stahlberg getting a patent for a new alarm clock design in 1885. [citation needed] After about 20minutes this delivers the equivalent of one whole day's worth of normal background radiation. It would be very interesting if you could provide me with some pictures of the clock. 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. From 1917 to 1926, the United States Radium Corporation used radium to produce wristwatches and clocks. But he only comes upon receipt of signed price agreement. 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. I am a retired mechanical engineer, the quality has floored me, hats off to this company. They worked in unvented rooms, they wore smocks that they laundered at home. JavaScript is disabled. 1919 -1922, Luminous, Westclox in Roman text: 1923 - 1927, Luminous, projection on the "x": 1928 - 1935. This was a wonderful article to read. Buy Now. I have a Seth Thomas Mantle clock that my older sisters husbands Aunt had on her mantle for years. Production was back in full force and at an all-time high by 1956, with 3,000 employees on staff. can anybody tell me about this piece? Radium is an almost pure white alkaline radioactive earth metal, and is found in nature in uranium ores. So I swapped them, and its worked perfectly ever since. I was told it was long ago before even my aged family was servicing watches. These styles constitute the So yes. 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. . The massive success of the Big Ben design wasnt just about function and style. 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 know it was purchased in 1937 because it belonged to my elderly friends who were married in 1938. T. tkarter Registered User. theres the problem, there were two gears that were in backwards. 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. Was this done so the alarm could be more easily set on the quarter or half hour? It has a cracked front lens that I would like to replace. 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.. 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. That batch was in production non-continuously from 1939 to 1946, housed in gunmetal cases with nickel trim. The style 1a can be distinguished from style 1 in several ways: The movement was changed for style 1a so that the mounting nuts were on the back. In the production of ordinary clocks adapted to the needs and means of the millions, America produces results of remarkable excellence. I was looking at it and said, aha! At this moment I study horology at West Dean College in the UK. His bigger job was to design a system so the power companies could regulate their generator so the clock could keep time. . Various lettering on the dial and various patent dates (later, numbers) on the Like style 1a non-luminous with dealer name on dial. At one time they employed about 3500 people, making about 35, 000 clocks and watches per day. I worked here for 28 years. See the top of this page for a current list of Entertainment & Pop Culture; Geography & Travel; Health & Medicine; Lifestyles & Social Issues; Literature; Philosophy & Religion; Politics, Law & Government Big Ben style 1a continued in production until its discontinuation in 1935. 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. Sometimes Ive seen them for 300 to 600 dollars. It is in working order and chimes on the hour and half hour. They have meetings every two months, and educational programs, so thats a really great way to meet collectors and get all kinds of advice. Among the rarities on display is a Westclox-made National Emergency Alarm Repeater. Seeking the Big 3 goals of convenience, cleanliness, and cheap production, Dreyfuss rolled out his new-look Big Ben in 1931. I recently added the Big Ben Style 1 and Baby Ben Style 1 Dial and Back types. So I brought it home and left it hanging and would wind it up every once in a while. Thanks, Paula. I think it is a clock made by Sessions. 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. There is a small dial inside of the clock face that has roman numerals like another clock face. dated:1990 ,decorated :hong cong.made in japan.cocacola tradmark. 1968 Who made westclox? From that point on I really liked those. 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. Did Westclox use radium? I'll start with a 19j Bunn, Looking for Somebody with Some Bandwidth to do a Repair. Buy Now. 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. Not everyone involved with the manufacturing of Westclox products was employed directly by Westclox, however. 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. Omega stopped using radium around 1963. Dave, Your question about a Big Ben containing radium, and in fact about which clocks actually do contain radium, is a good one. Their use in prostate brachytherapy dates from 1926. 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. I have never seen this mentioned anywhere. 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. 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. Lynda Hinshaw, At this moment I am research a clock by Falconer& co HongKong. Geiger counters could pick up readings from pants returned from a dry cleaner and from clothes stored away in a cedar chest. . I hung it on my wall and we tried to get it fixed but the repairman couldnt fix it.