Etui

A word I've often encountered when working crossword puzzles is “etui.”  I wondered if the Benton County Historical Museum's collection included one of these and found it does.

An etui is a small decorative case used to carry sewing implements.  The word is also sometimes used for similar cases for cosmetics or other tools.

Etui

This case is certainly decorative and has spaces for threads and a fabric swatch to hold pins and needles. We don't know the date it was made, but it was donated to the Horner Museum in 1963. Unlike some older versions which I saw on-line, this etui does not have a dedicated space for a small pair of scissors. In addition, it is a flat rectangle, not the tubular shape of many early etuis.  Perhaps this reflects the difference between the cloth reticules carried by women then versus the design of modern purses.

I suspect that many women today who want a portable sewing kit would carry something like this one from Berlene's, which was a Corvallis women's apparel store. The adjective “decorative” would not apply to this cardboard matchbook-style folder. But it serves the same purpose, containing thread and needles.  In addition, it also contains emery boards for nails.

Sewing kit from Berlene's, Corvallis, Oregon

To me, the difference between the two sewing kits says something about the changing role of women, with many too busy to bother with the care of more elegant objects. But the older ones are certainly more interesting to look at.

By Martha Fraundorf, Volunteer for Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, Oregon

What does it make?

 Here is another object from the Benton County Historical Society's collection that is not something found in most households today. Take a guess what it is before reading on.  

Hint:  this is a machine for
making something.

Did you guess that is a machine for making rope?  This one, patented in 1901, is designed to fit over a fence rail.  Yarn is tied to a separate object a distance away, stretched to and around one of the hooks (see the second photograph), back to where it was tied, back to the second hook and so on.  As the user turns the crank, the big gear rotates, which turns the smaller ones several times. This action twists the strands together.

Rope makers used a paddle like object (which is not in the collection) with notches for each strand, to keep twists tight at the tied end.  They move the paddle along as the cord lengthens.  When the cord  is complete, the ends are taken off the hooks and tied together.  Then the process is repeated, using three of these twisted cords to make the rope.  In this final stage, the cords are twisted in the opposite direction. This process of alternative twists make the rope less likely to come apart or deform.

Rope-making is an ancient craft.  Archaeologists have found a small piece of three-ply cord in a 50,000 year old site. In addition, an 40,000 year old object found in a cave in Germany is now thought to be a tool for making rope; it has four holes with spiral cuts on the interior. Plant fibers would have been fed through the holes, the spirals would hold them in place while the tool was twisted to make the rope.

Although most rope is made from plant fibers or nylon, the men of the Lewis and  Clark expedition used a three-strand rope-making machine operating on the same principle as the one pictured above to make ropes from the hides of bison and elk.

By Martha Fraundorf, Volunteer for Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, Oregon

 

Westclox Radium Dial Clock

 One of the objects on display in the Benton County Historical Society's Corvallis Museum is this Westclox Radium Dial Clock.  It can be found with some other clocks in a case in the second floor hallway.

Westclox began as the United Clock Company in Peru, Illinois in 1885. After several changes of ownership, it became the Western Clock Company and began using Westclox as a brand name sometime before 1916.  In 1908, employee George Kern designed the company's famous “Big Ben” alarm clock which enclosed the ringing device within the clock instead of using a bell on top.

The company's “Big Ben” and the smaller “Baby Ben” clocks became top sellers: in 1913, their combined sales totaled over 900,000 clocks.

In the 1920s, the company added a new feature- luminous dials.  Now the owner could see what time it was even in the darkest night. 

The glow was created by painting the numerals with a mixture of radium and zinc sulfide.  The painting was done by young women employed by the Radium Dial Company which located in Ottawa, Illinois to be close to Westclox, its major customer. The women had to meet exacting standards of accuracy in application of the expensive paint to the dials, which was especially difficult with the small numerals on the watches and “Baby Ben” dials.

Because the bristles of the brushes tended to splay with use, they used different techniques to maintain the point. Because dipping the brush in water or wiping it on a cloth wasted the expensive radium, the company discouraged the use of these methods. So the women began using a technique which some had learned from china painters-- lip pointing-- or pulling the end of the brush between their lips. Although some women did not like the gritty feel of the paint, the pressure to keep up with production standards (especially important as they were paid by the number of dials completed), they continued to use this method. 

In addition, the women received the radium mixture in powdered form and had to mix it with a small amount of water to make the paint. The powdered radium mixture flew everywhere.  The women would leave work with their hair and clothes sprinkled with it. Some of the young women thought it was fun to go out at night glowing from the dust and some even painted their nails with the radium paint!

Radium was relatively new then and, because it had been shown to kill cancerous tissues, people thought of it as a benign substance. In addition, plant officials told the young women that the quantity of radium in the paint was too small to do any harm.  But soon some of the women began having health and dental problems. Their teeth and part of the jaws fell out. Several died. The symptoms were similar to “phossy jaw” caused by exposure to phosphorous, a known industrial poison, so eventually the source was recognized and other substances substituted for radium paint.  If you'd like to know more, author Kate Moore has written about these women in her book, Radium Girls.

And, to assuage any concerns you might have about the museum displaying the clock, know that the museum checked the levels of radiation emitted with a Geiger counter to ensure it was safe to put on exhibit.

By Martha Fraundorf, Volunteer for Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, Oregon