Ionic Charger help ID -Reply

[FRAMEP@ORAU.GOV]

Bruce:

It was produced in the mid 1960s by luther Gable and sold through the
mail for 400 to 500 dollars or so. I do recollect that educational institutions
received a substantial discount.

The source is radium. By squeezing the larger of the two bulbs, air
would be blown over the radium. The radon containing air would then
exit the smaller of the bulbs, the one with the holes in it, which would be
submerged in water. You drank the water, fed it to your animals, or used
it to water your plants.

We have an ionic charger here in the collection.  Because of the original
exposure rates associated with the thing, as well as the radon issue, I
had to open it up and remove the source. (all done under the watchful
eye of our RSO) It wasn't  difficult  but I did manage to contaminate my
personal  Dremel Roto tool (a 60 buck investment) in the process.  

As I recall, the radium content was around 200 uCi. but we didn't do an 
accurate measurement on it.  I doubt Gables quality control was
particularly good and the activity probably varied a fair bit from one unit
to the next.  The lead is only about 1 mm thick so you could make a quick
and dirty estimate of activity based on the exposure rate and distance.

Best wishes

Paul Frame
Professional Training Programs
ORISE
framep@orau.gov