Ra where you least suspect it

["Robert R. Milwicz" <MILWICZ%PUCC.bitnet@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu>]

Franz Schoenhafer asked for info on prior uses for Ra-226 source.  I
found that an old Navy device called a surface alidade (hope the
spelling is correct) contained an illuminating device that consisted
of either glass or plastic, forgot which, that had Ra-226 inside.  The
surface alidade was used to make angular measurements.  Only the dial
illuminator was found to be radioactive.  I found another source of
Ra-226 at a flea market.  It was a fire detector.  Naturally, I did
not buy it but told the seller it had radium.  Be careful of flea
markets, especially the equipment of people who sell nice old antique
instruments.  A compass I have seen looked really nice, acted very
quickly to position changes. It had me interested until I looked at its
pointer and letters that were brown in color from what looked like
radiation damage to the dial paint.  I left that one alone but wish I
had a meter at the time to check it out.  Alarm clocks of the wind up
type have radium painted numerals and pointers. For
 static removal on the old 78 rpm record player, a tear shaped clip on
 device also contained radium.  And yes, I went throught the Mettler
microbalance static eliminator discovery years ago when we found them
in several balances.  Mettler took tham back from us. Now if you really want to
 find sources, look at Museum collections where you will find rock samples that
 could be rich in uranium. I took one of these and put it in a plastic
 one gallon size bottle for a few hours. The inside of the bottle was
 coated with radon daughters. Well enough for radium. milwicz@princeton.edu