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Arts and Design

Ingersoll Watches

Ingersoll watches

The Ingersoll brand of watches was founded in 1892 by Robert and Charles Ingersoll, Ingersoll is one of the oldest American watchmakers. The company was actually formed in 1882, but a that time it was mail order business and not dedicated to watches. It was in 1892 when the company began famously marketing watches.

Robert H. Ingersoll was the first to bring the principals of mass production to watchmaking. In 1892, he introduced the "dollar watch". This was a mass produced pocket watch also known as the yankee watch. The key to the watch was use of stamp parts based on the mass production models of Ford. In addition, the watch had no jewels to lower the cost. The watch was a high quality timepiece that the every day man could purchase.

Near the end of the nineteenth century, eight thousand watches per day were made. 40 million yankee watches were produced in total. The brand was so popular that Teddy Roosevelt was famously quoted as saying he was from the country that produced Ingersoll watches. This implies that the watch had become so popular it was easily recognizable outside of America.

Another innovation of the Ingersoll brothers was the luminous watch for viewing in the dark. The radiolite model watch featured a night design by which you could read the watch at night.

Ingersoll was eventually bought out by the Waterbury Clock Company. This company went on to become Timex.

Read more about Robert H. Ingersoll or his watch company on Wikipedia.

Ingersoll Men's IN4506BKOR Bison Number 18 Automatic Black Dial Watch

Luminous Radium Dial

Another innovation pioneered by Ingersoll was the luminous radium dial. The picture here is an advertisement for the watch from 1917. The watch was named the Ingersoll radiolite.

This was the first wristwatch to feature glow in the dark hands to allow it to read in the dark. Small amounts of radium were used in the watch to accomplish this task. Radium is highly radioactive, much more so than uranium. In fact it is the element discovered by Marie Curie just at the end of the 19th century. The quantities used to paint dials are so small that there is little danger of gamma radiation poisoning. The only danger comes from ingesting or inhaling the substance.

The benefit of using radium was that it was a light source. The harmful effects were not known at the time. Phosphorescent materials store and slow emit light from external sources. After about 2 hours in darkness the materials no longer glow. On the other hand, radium is a light source. The radioactivity excites zinc sulfide crystals emitting light. It will glow for a decade, until these crystals are exhausted.

The advertisement warns consumers of potential fake Ingersoll watches. It mentions that the demand for the watches has surpassed the production capabilities of factory. As a result, some plain Ingersoll watches were painted with fluorescent materials and sold as radiolites.

Ingersoll Radiolite

There is some concern over the radioactivity of the Ingersoll Radiolite watches. The radium itself is highly radioactive, much more so than uranium. It emits dangerous levels of gamma radiation.

The people employed to paint watch and clock dials have experienced serious health issues. Of course, no one uses radium anymore. But back when the radiolite was created, the dangers of radioactivity were not known to the public. Corporate heads and scientists during that time may have realized the dangers. But often they did not share that information with their employees. In one famous lawsuit, the company officers and engineers took drastic measures to protect themselves, all while ignoring the plight of the actual people painting the clock dials.

However, there is little danger from Ingersoll Radiolites. The very minute amount of radium used means that the gamma radiation is well within established tolerances. The only real danger comes from inhaling or ingesting the radium. So, an encased watch is harmless. A watch that is taken apart poses a threat. Accidently inhaling or ingesting radium may cause the radium to be deposited in the bones of the human body. This is because radium is somewhat similar to calcium in terms of biology. Thus, radium can do extensive damage to bone and bone marrow.

Origins of the wristwatch

Prior to world war I men only carried pocket watches. These were usually connected to a chain or fob. The wristwatch was popular for a brief time in womens fashion, but it was regarded as a passing fad.

During the war, American troops found it difficult to use a pocket watch in combat overseas. They had to retrieve it from their pocket, open the case and only then could they tell the time. They began to create leather straps to bind the watches to the wrist. These made it easier to use a timepiece in combat.

After the war, the soldiers brought the trend home. They continued to wear the wristwatch in civilian life. Before long, the general population began to covet the wristwatch. Today, the wristwatch has become the primary choice of watches.