Daylight Saving Time ↬
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31719704
A 'blackout' was enforced in Britain before the war had even begun on 1 September 1939 to make it harder for much-feared German bombers to find their targets. Street lighting and illuminated signs were extinguished and all vehicles had to put caps over their lights to dim them. The blackout caused a rise in collisions. A government campaign urged people to wear white clothes to make them more visible to fellow pedestrians and drivers. The blackout and its dangers provided an unexpected commercial opportunity. A range of luminous accessories, from pin-on flowers to handbags, were produced that would reflect light and help make their wearers more visible. These also included the buttons seen here in normal conditions and when aglow in the dark.
http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-clothes-rationing-affected-fashion-in-the-second-world-war
With the blackout came lots of new problems. We were all issued with luminous badges we could pin to our coat lapels, so that when out after dark - especially on cloudy nights -there was this faint glow to warn of one's approach. We could also buy luminous paint ,so grandfather had a lovely time with that, painting our doorstep, the doorknocker, the area around the keyhole as well as painting extra badges and buttons for our clothing. We youngsters thought this was a great idea and loved going outdoors in the dark to see how much around us was glowing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/37/a6535037.shtml
Early watches from the Great War era when luminous paint was first widely used, before the dangers of radium based luminous paint were understood, can have a surprisingly high level of radioactivity, much higher than those of the WW2 era when the dangers were better understood. Such watches need to be treated with extra caution.
The amount of radioactive material in radioluminescent paint was gradually reduced as technology improved and the long term health effects of radiation were gradually taken more seriously. If your watch was made before 1960 and had luminous numerals and hands, then it is quite likely that the paint contains radium. If it does, then that paint is still radioactive. By the 1950s radium paint was being phased out, although I have seen an advert for ladies' watches in 1956 that stated they had radium dials. Radium luminous paint continued to be used in some applications, primarily military, well into the 1960s.
http://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/luminous.php .
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31719704
A 'blackout' was enforced in Britain before the war had even begun on 1 September 1939 to make it harder for much-feared German bombers to find their targets. Street lighting and illuminated signs were extinguished and all vehicles had to put caps over their lights to dim them. The blackout caused a rise in collisions. A government campaign urged people to wear white clothes to make them more visible to fellow pedestrians and drivers. The blackout and its dangers provided an unexpected commercial opportunity. A range of luminous accessories, from pin-on flowers to handbags, were produced that would reflect light and help make their wearers more visible. These also included the buttons seen here in normal conditions and when aglow in the dark.
http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-clothes-rationing-affected-fashion-in-the-second-world-war
With the blackout came lots of new problems. We were all issued with luminous badges we could pin to our coat lapels, so that when out after dark - especially on cloudy nights -there was this faint glow to warn of one's approach. We could also buy luminous paint ,so grandfather had a lovely time with that, painting our doorstep, the doorknocker, the area around the keyhole as well as painting extra badges and buttons for our clothing. We youngsters thought this was a great idea and loved going outdoors in the dark to see how much around us was glowing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/37/a6535037.shtml
Early watches from the Great War era when luminous paint was first widely used, before the dangers of radium based luminous paint were understood, can have a surprisingly high level of radioactivity, much higher than those of the WW2 era when the dangers were better understood. Such watches need to be treated with extra caution.
The amount of radioactive material in radioluminescent paint was gradually reduced as technology improved and the long term health effects of radiation were gradually taken more seriously. If your watch was made before 1960 and had luminous numerals and hands, then it is quite likely that the paint contains radium. If it does, then that paint is still radioactive. By the 1950s radium paint was being phased out, although I have seen an advert for ladies' watches in 1956 that stated they had radium dials. Radium luminous paint continued to be used in some applications, primarily military, well into the 1960s.
http://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/luminous.php .
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