Self charging lens brush - polonium

Does anyone still make the lens brush with a little ceramic strip at the top of the bristles that would shoot alpha particles at it and keep it electrostatically charged ?
I had one that really worked good many years ago (before the Russian guy got dosed with the pure stuff).

There are no stable isotopes of Polonium (Po), and some of the isotopes are really nasty. Besides, the useful life of such a device would be rather short, due to the short half-life of Po. (Estimates are that it might be useful for up to one-year.)

It's been over 30 years since I've had a nuclear physics/engineering course, but this is one of the elements that I still remember studying, and I'd be reluctant to use such a brush that emitted so many alpha particles. (Most industrial anti-static devices today are beta-particle emitter, and the use of Po or other alpha particle charging in industrial anti-static applications has been almost completely stopped.)

I can't imagine that you'd be able to purchase any consumer item with Polonium today, but I'm intrigued now and will have to look for them on the net.

WM

The claim was the Po was embedded into the ceramic and somehow made it impossible to ingest. The Alpha particles Po spits out bounce right off your skin. Internal ingestion is another matter altogether...

And of course they only lasted a year - like razor blades, good for repeat business

Company Seven | Staticmaster Cleaning & Ionizing Brush

Is this what you're looking for?

Texas said:

The claim was the Po was embedded into the ceramic and somehow made it impossible to ingest. The Alpha particles Po spits out bounce right off your skin. Internal ingestion is another matter altogether...

And of course they only lasted a year - like razor blades, good for repeat business

Click to expand...

I just looked the brushes up online and I believe I remember seeing these being used in the past for removing dust from negatives and carriers on enlargers. You're absolutely correct that they were built to minimize the danger of direct contact with anyone and that they were designed to nearly eliminate the danger or either eating or breathing the Polonium or any byproducts of its decay.

It does appear that if they are still made, and can be purchased in the US without registration, but they appear to be pricey (on Amazon.com). I'll pass, and instead buy the next larger model of the Rocket Blower!!

Thanks for bringing the item up, though, it's an interesting subject to look into.

WM

They're available on Amazon

https://www.google.com/search?q=ant...QsAQIQQ&biw=976&bih=486#imgrc=llhUERdKjm9abM:

Thats what I remember
made by Nuclear Products Company

Looks like they are just too spooky for folks to buy these days, and would be low volume since nobody develops film anymore.
Vinyl records and film were the big marketing targets.

I used to have a commercial version of these on my big one hour printers. I had to carry around a supply of them to replace on all my labs across the southern US

You could (I wouldn't though) use a coleman white gas lantern mantle to put the brush into and it'd accomplish the same. I work at a nuclear plant and you don't want a source like that anywhere near you or your family.