On Nov 10, 7:21 am, "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:
"Beachcomber" wrote in message

... On Sat, 10 Nov 2007 07:32:25 GMT, CJT wrote:

...



Historical Note:

In first part of the last century, the military used radium to make
glow-in-the-dark hands and numbers on government issue watches. The
workers who applied this paint were not told of any dangers and would
do things like lick the brushes before applying the paint to the
dials. Many, if not all of them came down with radiation poisoning
and the who incident became a famous test case about whether workers
could sue their employers for ruining their health.

To be fair it should be noted that few if any people realized the
danger.

I would suggest that it is very likely that the military applications
described by the OP were not the current products but were the radioactive
ones.

I can remember when consumer products (watches and clocks) had the
radioactive materials. The military surplus Geiger counters would react to
them. I also remember the X-Ray machines they had in shoe stores where they
zapped poor kids (myself included) with large quantities of X-Rays to see if
the shoes fit. We just did not know back then. Marie Curie likely died
due to exposure to radioactive materials.





One benefit of the radium though... The watches did not need to be
"charged" under light to stay luminous.

Many modern luminous paints require this "light charge" in order to
work properly.

Google or Wikepedia "Radium Girls" for the complete story.

Personal Note - I remember my cousin showing us the radioactive dimes
he purchased from the tourist store at Oak Ridge, TN during the early
1960's. That couldn't have been good either...

Beachcomber

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

I also played with the X-Ray machine in the shoe store by the 5 and
Dime. Very cool...at the time! (late 50ties I think)