The Radium Dial Company was one of a few now defunct

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

companies, along with the United States Radium Corporation, involved in the painting of clocks, watches and other instrument dials using

radioluminescent paint Luminous paint or luminescent paint is paint that exhibits luminescence. In other words, it gives off visible light through fluorescence, phosphorescence, or radioluminescence. There are three types of luminous paints: fluorescent paint, phosp ...

containing

radium Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rathe ...

. The resulting dials are now collectively known as radium dials. The luminous paint used on the dials contained a mixture of

phosphor A phosphor is a substance that exhibits the phenomenon of luminescence; it emits light when exposed to some type of radiant energy. The term is used both for fluorescent or phosphorescent substances which glow on exposure to ultraviolet or ...

and radium, a product that the Radium Dial Company named ''Luna''. However, unlike the US Radium Corporation, Radium Dial Company was specifically set up to only paint dials, and no other radium processing took place at the premises.

History

The Radium Dial Company was started in 1917 and was in full production of painted dials by 1918. The company was a division of the Standard Chemical Company based in the Marshall Field Annex building in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. In 1920 the company relocated to

Peru, Illinois Peru is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,896 at the 2020 census, down from 10,295 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Ottawa, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. Peru and its twin city, LaSalle, make u ...

to closer proximity to the clock manufacturer and major customer, Westclox. By 1922 the company had moved to a former high school building in Ottawa, Illinois where it remained until the mid-1930s. At the highest point in production (around 1925), the Radium Dial Company employed around 1,000 young women who turned out around 4,300 dials each day. The company was headed by Joseph A. Kelly Sr.. Kelly opened up a new corporation called Luminous Processes Inc. a few blocks away from the Radium Dial Company in Ottawa, Illinois shortly after closing down the Radium Dial Company. Luminous Processes Inc. continued producing fluorescent watch dials powered by radium radioactivity until 1978.

References

{{Reflist
Radium in Humans: A review of US Studies

Petitioned Public Health Assessment, Ottawa Radiation Areas, Ottawa, LaSalle County, Illinois

Nuclear safety and security Radium Radioactivity American companies established in 1917 Manufacturing companies established in 1917 1917 establishments in Illinois Defunct manufacturing companies based in Illinois

History

See also

References