Letters

Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", March 1996, page 3

MORE ON THE CD 782

The new information on the CD 782 in “The CD 782 - What Is It?”, by Morgan Davis (January 1996, p. 30) is indeed a great piece of news. Over ten years ago I obtained some pieces of insulators from the site of the Hamilton Glass Co. including an aqua Baby Battleford. One of the pieces turned out to be almost 1/2 of the one side from base to the point where the top was attached of a CD 782. Unlike the two known specimens (more complete), the piece I have is emerald green in color. At the time I had no idea what it was, but Ray Klingensmith being familiar with the one John Dorge had, knew what it was. Last year I asked the man, who had sold the CD 782 to John, where it had come from. He explained that he had bought it from a farmer who said he had ploughed it up on his farm running over it several times before he bothered to pick it up. The farm was several miles north of London, Ontario, some distance from any railway. Montreal Telegraph most certainly would have had an office in the town nearby. The two specimens have M.T.Co. on them but my piece is from the opposite side. They must have been used in a great number of locations and with more digging at telegraph office and railway station sites, more should turn up.

Jack Hayes, 
Pakenham, Ontario

MY TWO CENTS

I realize my response to John D. Bayes letter (October 1995) is a couple of months late, but I still wanted to get my two cents in. I kind of have to agree with him to some point; it sometimes seems that the “halo effect” -- a display scoring higher in “Showmanship” because it scores high in “Rarity” does occur, although I don’t think the problem is as bad as he might make it out to be. But I do have a solution to the problem, one that would be easy to implement. Simply change the scoring system.

Currently, in the standard NIA 100-point system, Rarity canachieve up to 30 points out of the 100, the same as Education and Showmanship. To solve the problem John describes, simply make Rarity worth up to 20 points instead of 30, and those ten points split evenly between Education and Showmanship. (In other words, make Education and Showmanship worth up to a possible 35 points each.) Problem solved! I agree with John that education is a very valuable part of an insulator exhibit. I also enjoy the creativity that has gone into many exhibits.

In other news, a couple months ago, I went to northern California to attend my brother's 40th birthday party. On the way up, I was able to see Mike Guthrie and Grant Salzman. I would like to report that both are doing fine and recovering from various injuries and illnesses and I’m looking forward to seeing them (and all of you) at the NIA Convention in Long Beach. (At last! A National I can actually commute to from my house!)

Jim Barton,
Van Nuys, California

Our Man on the Road

Joe Green of Forney, Texas travels miles and miles of highway during a year and he sent in this photo of some insulators that are in front of the Ludlow (California) Motel. The motel has an inviting sign -- "Use the phone and get a coke!" as well as several of the large porcelain bushings from an old desert substation. Joe said they are used to “keep the cars from parking on the lawn of the motel.” Guess they could do it.

Some great pictures from Richard Case of Rockford, Illinois.
...taken many years ago from a distance without the assistance of a telephoto lens. You'll get the idea.

Top Photo: Hemingray stackers in service with amber skirts.
Middle Photo: Six Hemingray "O" Provos on one pole.
Bottom Photo: Three Hemingray Muncies with sleeves.

64" TALL !!

I thought you would be interested in this insulator. It’s a high voltage bushing off a big transformer in a substation. I would guess it to have been manufactured in the 1920’s. It stands 64" from top to bottom with five skirts.

The body is cone shaped with five skirts that slide over the outside of the cone and are cemented to the cone. They are different sizes so they can only slide down the body so far. The bushing is fastened to the transformer by 20 bolts at the base of the bushing. It is oil filled and the cable comes up through to the center of a big brass bushing on top, which has two eyes for lifting and dead ending a high voltage line to the fitting.

The plate at the bottom of the insulators reads:

The Ohio Brass Co.
Mansfield Barberton Ohio
Voltage 175000
Type ODOF
No. 29120

Corbin Tillman, Brownsburg, IN