They were assured by the factory bosses that radium was perfectly safe. 2dJCjFtbep- Pulp Librarian 13 January 2018 Radium Corporation, applying Radium paint to watch dials and licking the brushes to keep them pointed. In 1925 the New Jersey medical examiner had been investigating the dearhs of women working for the U.S. The women painted up to 200 watches per day and with every number they painted, they ingested a small amount of radium. After they painted a number, they had to put the tip of the camel-haired paintbrush between their lips to make a fine point. It was seen as a relatively safe job - until the women were instructed to suck their paintbrushes to make a very fine point, making it easier to carry out the intricate work needed to get the numbers small enough. Back then, radium wasn’t considered to be dangerous in small doses. The work involved using luminous radium paint to make the numbers on clocks, watches and aeronautic dials glow in the dark. “Made possible by the magic of radium!” promised one advertisement. Wearing a watch with a glow-in-the-dark dial was the hot new fashion accessory. The women were paid up to three times the amount they’d be earning at other factories.Īlso, because the most of the dials were for military use, the women were made to feel important, that they were making a difference in helping with the war effort. In 1916, dial painting was the trendy new profession for young American and Canadian women it was artistic and well-paid. Hundreds of women worked in clock factories during WWI where they painted watch and clock dials with glow-in-the-dark radium paint.
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