The most interesting heater advertisement from the early 20th century came from the
Novelty Manufacturing Company of Jackson, Michigan. Their advertisement offered
something much better than the old coal standby. Novelty advertised its "X-Radium"
heater as the best and latest heating technology. An advertisement boasted that "one
of its chief advantages is the fact that it requires no fuel. . . . the heating pad
consists of a stamped steel receptacle filled with a substance which will attract
itself heat rays and retain the heat attracted for several hours. The substance they
used was radium. Radium was an intriguing new material to manufacturers, who found a
spot for it in a number of products, even toothpaste! In the first years of the 20th
century the deadly power of radium was not yet understood and the idea of resting
one's feet on a container of radioactive material did not sound as terrifying as it
does to today's consumers.


z Muzeum Poczty


https://postalmuseum.si.edu/collections/object-spotl
ight/rfd-carriage-heater