Revigorator

[JEW1%LRN%DCPP@bangate.pge.com]

Dear Radsafers,

This morning a colleague brought in a ceramic jug 10 1/2" high, 5 1/2" across 
the top and 8 1/2" across the bottom. It has a metal spiggot on it and these 
words:

Radium Ore
Revigorator
Patd 7-16-12

The Radium Ore Revigorator Co.
260 California St.
San Francisco, Cal

On the side it has these instructions:

1. Fill jar every night
2. Use hydrant or any good water
3. Drink freely when thirsty and upon arising and retiring.
   Average six or more glasses daily.
   Scrub with stiff brush and scald monthly.

There was no smearable activity inside or out. The inside pegged our frisker 
on all but the million cpm scale.

The Revigorator was purchased as an antique by a neighbor lady who wants to 
plant flowers in it. Not a bad idea IMHO. Any clue to its history? Is this 
like the Radithor that William Bailey introduced in 1925 and killed Eben 
Byers in 1932? What is the material inside? Uranium? Thorium? Although I get 
no alpha from it, I suspect there a glaze which might be blocking it. There 
sure is a grunch of betas. Also, I wonder what is now at the 260 California 
address.

In service to Science,
J. Ellsworth Weaver

Snail Mail: 119/2/247, PO Box 56, Avila Beach, CA, USA 93424
Email: JEW1@PGE.COM
Phone: (805) 545-3029
Fax:   (805) 545-3545

When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by every thing,
Every thing we look upon is blest.
	-- William Butler Yeats

Mandatory Disclaimer: PG&E has enough trouble without trying to be responsible 
for my correspondence.