Here's the answer to a lot of the common electric fencing troubles . . . good, all-weather glass insulator that really insulates! With this Surge insulator, shorts through cracked insulators are a thing of the past! There can be no rust streaks form to short your fence ... and it would be some rain that -old blow back up under the long glass skirt to short against the wet post and cause trouble.

GATE and CORNER BRACING

Corners and gate ends are simple. A two-foot stake, treated as is the post, with a stainless steel bracket wedges a six-foot oak brace against a Surge Fencer post . . . also equipped with a steel bracket. Diagrammed at right is the typical gate and bracing. The corner assembly is the same except for an additional brace and stake with corresponding metal fitting already attached.

Just one more "Jewel" episode for insulator collectors: 

Knowing that Babson Bros. was embossed on the little Surge insulator and seeing the red tag nameplate on some barns hereabouts --I always wondered if this was the same Babson Bros., as I many times have passed their office building. And so one day I decided to investigate this little insulator miniature. Perhaps someone knew something about it and thought even they still made their electric fence. As perhaps a gesture of appreciation I write this -because I was received by a most courteous representative of the company and shall refer to him as Bob. I had asked and talked of the company and the past applications. The electric fence has given way to other products and has long since been discontinued. The company has relocated from Kansas to Oakbrook, Illinois. We talked of insulators and old items of Surge, and even visited the corners of the past in the ware house to see if anything remained such as fence posts and signs and insulators. Progress has befallen all these items and long gone. Bob then took me to the Babson Bros. product showcase showing their archives and product lines of past. A very nice display almost twenty feet long under glass it was. It even included an Edison cylinder phonograph which Mr. Babson had helped Tom Edison sell along with various inventions. We had talked for over an hour on insulators and things. We had (I mean Bob did) find a flyer that was sent out on the electric fence showing the little insulator and advantages using it. To me it was a very interesting visit and hope that other polecats will look into all these items of interest and am sure they will be met with courtesy as I was. If I can obtain an extra copy of Crown Jewels I will submit it to Babson Bros. to place alongside the Surge in their showcase and as a gesture of a thank you to Bob, (Surge Rep. ) for time and interest.

Dear Dick & Readers,

I do have one thing to add to this interesting story. Below is a Surge insulator I bought at a flea market for $1. 75 bracket and all were ridiculous for common glass.

The man didn't seem to know much about it, and when I explained what it was  used for and that my husband and I collected insulators, he wasn't too inclined  to sell it for $1. 75, but he did. When about 9 months later I returned he had quite a  few (about 35) insulators for sale on his table. He still hadn't learned too much about pricing, since some were priced reasonable, but others. Anyhow, he remembered me right off and is still crying he sold the Surge and bracket too cheap. I don't think so. I just think I got a good buy. What do you think?

                    Dora Harned, Editor