Ask the Scholar
Page 1 of 4
I can add historical knowledge about this page.
Page image
OCR
February 3rd,1930.
Dr. Ernest C. Pohle,
c/o Wisconsin General Hoopital,
Madison, lis.
Dear Dr. Pohle:
I an glad to herewith confirm in letter form the matter
discussed with you personally on Wednesday January 29th.
From 1916 to 1925, the United States Radium Corporation or
its predecessors maintained an application plant for applying radioactive
luminous material to watch, clock dials, etc., during which period there
were probably employed a total of approxinately 400 girls. The radioactive
luminous material was applied to the numerals of the dials with suall camel's
hair brushes. As you realize, this operation is rather a delicate one and
requires considerable skill. The brushes had to be well "pointed" and to do
this/good many of the operators used their lips, although there were other
methods provided. While the practice of "pointing" the brushes with their
lips was forbidden on account of sanitary reasons, still the girls continued
the practice with our knowledge.
Early in 1924, a dentist in Newark called to our attention the
fact that he felt there was an industrial hasard existing in our work. Te
immediately had a study made, with reference to the naterials used as well as
working conditions, by the Public Health Depertment of Harvard. Due to the
fact that they could not attribute a similar condition which they found exist-
ing in a number of our employees to any particular cause, they advised us
that they would look upon the radioactive constituents of our material with
suspicion, and advised certain recommendations which we immediately put into
effect. lie followed this up by discussing the possibilities of the radium
presenting a hasard, with both sedical and scientific nen versed in the sub-
ject of radioactivity, and they both felt that the conclusions drawn by the
public llealth School of Harvard were rather far fetched. We had other
investigations made, some of which indicated that it was questionable whether
there was an industrial hazard existing at our plant. However, as time
progressed and more data and information became available regarding the con-
ditions existing among certain of our employees who had been engaged in this
practice, our attitude changed and we recognized that there probably was a
hasard connected with this sork. The seat of the trouble could be traced
back to the practice of "pointing* the brushes with the lips, thereby serv-
ing as a means of introducing the material into the system,
The radioactive lominous material consisted of phosphorescent
sine sulphide, which is primarily zine sulphide of e special crystaline nature,
containing one (1) part of cadmium sulphide to 820 parts of sine sulphide,
one (1) part of copper sulphide to 7150 parts of zine sulphide, and one (1)
part of manganous sulphide to 23000 parts of zine sulphide. The radion or
Page data
- Page
- 1
- Source index
- 0
- Type
- photo
- Media ID
- 62a04b3a77b0701f
- Size
- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 75724865
- Core
- doc
- Type
- document
DTO data
{
"id": "75724865",
"sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724865",
"contentType": "document",
"title": "Letters Sent to Ernest C. Pohle [Ernst C. Pohle], February 3, 1930",
"citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724865",
"collections": [
"Safety Light Collection",
"Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
],
"iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001963_Page_1.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001963_Page_1.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001963_Page_1.jpg",
"imageCount": 4,
"hasImages": true,
"source": "import",
"hasTranscription": false
}
Context sent to Scholar
Document identity
{
"localId": "75724865",
"label": "Letters Sent to Ernest C. Pohle [Ernst C. Pohle], February 3, 1930",
"core": "doc",
"dtoType": "document",
"citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724865"
}
Document source metadata
{
"id": "75724865",
"sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724865",
"contentType": "document",
"title": "Letters Sent to Ernest C. Pohle [Ernst C. Pohle], February 3, 1930",
"citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724865",
"collections": [
"Safety Light Collection",
"Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
],
"iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001963_Page_1.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001963_Page_1.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001963_Page_1.jpg",
"imageCount": 4,
"hasImages": true,
"source": "import",
"hasTranscription": false
}
Document source extras
{
"url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724865",
"naId": 75724865,
"levelOfDescription": "fileUnit",
"recordType": "description",
"ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}
Page context
{
"seq": 1,
"pageIndex": 0,
"type": "photo",
"url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001963_Page_1.jpg",
"mediaId": "62a04b3a77b0701f",
"ocrText": "February 3rd,1930.\nDr. Ernest C. Pohle,\nc/o Wisconsin General Hoopital,\nMadison, lis.\nDear Dr. Pohle:\nI an glad to herewith confirm in letter form the matter\ndiscussed with you personally on Wednesday January 29th.\nFrom 1916 to 1925, the United States Radium Corporation or\nits predecessors maintained an application plant for applying radioactive\nluminous material to watch, clock dials, etc., during which period there\nwere probably employed a total of approxinately 400 girls. The radioactive\nluminous material was applied to the numerals of the dials with suall camel's\nhair brushes. As you realize, this operation is rather a delicate one and\nrequires considerable skill. The brushes had to be well \"pointed\" and to do\nthis/good many of the operators used their lips, although there were other\nmethods provided. While the practice of \"pointing\" the brushes with their\nlips was forbidden on account of sanitary reasons, still the girls continued\nthe practice with our knowledge.\nEarly in 1924, a dentist in Newark called to our attention the\nfact that he felt there was an industrial hasard existing in our work. Te\nimmediately had a study made, with reference to the naterials used as well as\nworking conditions, by the Public Health Depertment of Harvard. Due to the\nfact that they could not attribute a similar condition which they found exist-\ning in a number of our employees to any particular cause, they advised us\nthat they would look upon the radioactive constituents of our material with\nsuspicion, and advised certain recommendations which we immediately put into\neffect. lie followed this up by discussing the possibilities of the radium\npresenting a hasard, with both sedical and scientific nen versed in the sub-\nject of radioactivity, and they both felt that the conclusions drawn by the\npublic llealth School of Harvard were rather far fetched. We had other\ninvestigations made, some of which indicated that it was questionable whether\nthere was an industrial hazard existing at our plant. However, as time\nprogressed and more data and information became available regarding the con-\nditions existing among certain of our employees who had been engaged in this\npractice, our attitude changed and we recognized that there probably was a\nhasard connected with this sork. The seat of the trouble could be traced\nback to the practice of \"pointing* the brushes with the lips, thereby serv-\ning as a means of introducing the material into the system,\nThe radioactive lominous material consisted of phosphorescent\nsine sulphide, which is primarily zine sulphide of e special crystaline nature,\ncontaining one (1) part of cadmium sulphide to 820 parts of sine sulphide,\none (1) part of copper sulphide to 7150 parts of zine sulphide, and one (1)\npart of manganous sulphide to 23000 parts of zine sulphide. The radion or"
}