Porcelain Insulator News
by Elton Gish
Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", January 1993, page 16
There have been a large number of reports of interesting multipart finds this
year, and we keep getting further behind in getting these in PIN. You all
continue to be very active searching for multiparts, and there is no end in
sight for new styles. But, before we get started, let us clear up the mystery of
John Webster's two white mushrooms shown on page 14 of the September, 1992
issue of CJ. I was hoping that we could flush out an answer to this mystery, and
sure enough, they have now been identified. Jimmy Bums told me that these are
porcelain drain covers for urinals! Just goes to show that, if you are always
looking up, you are bound to miss something interesting down at ground level.
Steve Jones seems to be having good luck looking down, too -- down under the
bushes that is. Steve, Bob Berry and Jeff Kaminski have been busy searching old
power lines. On one of their recent trips to an old line near Paul Smith, NY,
Steve found a nice specimen of a gray VICTOR M-2902. The bottom was mint, but
the top was smashed. Steve recovered all of the pieces except a small one. Bob
found a restorable one, too. Bob's term for these is "kitsulator". I
guess that is similar to getting an insulator in kit form, and putting it
together yourself. We all know that it is cheaper to get the kit, rather than
getting it pre-assembled. Steve's finished "kit" is shown in the
photo, in front of an incomplete New Lexington M-3890. Looks like the M3890
"kit" was missing a part. Bob says that the top skirt of the M-3890 is
14-1/2" in diameter (6" crown) and the bottom skirt is 11" by
16-3/4" tall!
M-2902 is a new style which was first reported at the
Allentown National. Mike Guthrie got that one, and probably 3-4 others (not
"kitsulator" types) have surfaced since then. Mike's M-2902 measured
12 - 7.5 x 8; however, Steve's specimen is 12 - 7 x 7.5, which shows the typical
variation in multi specimens. It seems that all of these have come from this area
of New York. Gray insulators date before about 1910 or 1912.
M-2902 VICTOR in front of top and bottom
skirts of M-3890 unmarked New
Lexington.
Gray multiparts are rare and very desirable to collectors. Some of them
are" greenish-gray and others are bluish-gray. The differences in shading
may be the result of firing temperatures or slight variations in glaze
composition. Most have mottling where the glaze has dripped down to form a
thicker, darker gray color. The Locke or Victor gray glazes tend to have a
multitude of tiny blue specks, but the Thomas gray glaze does not. Below is a
photo sent in by Bob Berry. This new style has been assigned, M-4321D:
M-4321D
14 - 7- 10 - 7.5 x 12
Steve also found on that line an unmarked Pittsburg multi that is similar to M-3122. This new style was reported on page 7 of the January, 1990
CJ. However, that one was probably made by Thomas, and it had the "D. R. R. E."
incuse marking. Steve was very fortunate in that only the bottom skirt was broken. He easily made the repair, by gluing the two halves together, and it displays mint (see
photo on following page).
Unmarked Pittsburg, M-3122
It seems that Jeff wasn't as lucky as Steve and Bob on this hunt. However,
Steve reports that Jeff did find a gray skirt piece (M-2902?) that had the
"VICTOR R=oo" marking inside the insulator logo.
In another
letter, Steve reports a M-3215A with the incuse Lapp marking on the top and
middle skirts. The notches on the marking indicate the years 1924 and 1925. The drawing is from Lapp's 1923
catalog. This style is Lapp's version of the Westinghouse Faradoid design, which
some call the pineapple shape (patent 1,374,998 granted on April 19, 1921).
Westinghouse noticed the similarity, too, and they sued Lapp for patent
infringement. After Lapp had devoted a tremendous amount of work and expense,
preparing to defend their design, Westinghouse dropped the suit. I do not know
if they reached a licensing agreement, or if Westinghouse decided not to pursue
the case.
M-3215A
10 - 9 - 5.5 x 7.5 |
Lapp M-3215A |
Steve reports that he and Jeff obtained several very unusual specimens. Jeff's
insulator came from Larry Emmons. These are 4-part multis with a cast metal
crown, which I have assigned, M-4343. Steve has two varieties. The chocolate
brown one is about 1/2" taller and has a bottom skirt (8.5 inches) that is
one inch larger than the one with a pretty mottled orange glaze (7.5 inches).
The mottling on the top skirt looks like tiger stripes. Both specimens have the
incuse marking, "LOCKE / 23527". This style was not in any of the
Locke catalogs that I have, but, from the size of the catalog number, I would
guess that these were made in the early 1930's. The dimensions shown below are
an average of the two specimens.
"LOCKE/23527"
M-4343 with metal crown
14 - 12 - 10 - 8 x 14
Steve said that M-4343 was found on a 69Kv line from the former Farmington
River Power Co. He said that there were about a dozen in service in New Britain,
CT, near the Stanley Works, until September. That is when he got his two.
I
suspect that these metal crown multis were made based on the patent 1,988,369
granted to H. H. Brown on January 15. 1935. The purpose of the metal crown was to reduce the corona effect between the conductor and
crown, and resultant electrical stresses; thus, reducing AM radio interference.
That patent was assigned to Locke. Porcelain companies were frantically trying
to solve the radio interference problem in the early 1930's, but cheaper
solutions than the Brown patent were soon found, which probably explains why
M-4343 was never cataloged.
Jeff Hogan reports some new finds, too. He sent
shadow profile drawings to aid in identifying them. One is similar to M-3065.
but the bottom skirt is two inches wider. It is unmarked, and has a red-brown
glaze with some orange mottling. It has been assigned, M-3072 (8.5 - 5.5 - 6 x
8). Maybe we can get a picture of it later.
Jeff reports an insulator similar to
M-2220. It is almost chocolate brown with a little mottling. What makes this
piece odd is the incuse marking shown below. Has anyone ever seen this
marking before? The marking is 3/4" tall and 1/2" wide, and is located
inside the top skirt.
Jeff also reports a rather odd multi. It appears to be a
3-part, but closer examination reveals that the top skirt is glazewelded to the
middle skirt, and. the bottom skirt is cemented to the middle skirt! Bill Rohde sent the following two photos that he took of the
one in his collection. Bill's insulator is cemented on a Smith-grip pin. This
insulator has been assigned M-2329. I don't know if the reproduced photo will
show it, but there are horizontal lines cut into the top skirt, which show
through the glaze.
unmarked M-2329 7.5 - 5.5 - 4 x 6
M-2329 showing the glazeweld and cemented skirts
The thin glaze is a shiny medium mahogany, and it is obviously much more glossy underneath the skirts
(characteristic of Lima ). This piece is obviously a Lima product. The
glazewelded middle skirt shows the influence that Fred Locke had at Lima. Fred
used a similar technique on M-2785, M-2795, M-2796, M-2842, M-3721, and M3725,
but, in all of these cases, he glazewelded a collar under the top skirt, not a
petticoat, or even another skirt. Note how thick the cement joint is around the
bottom skirt, which is characteristic of pre-1912 multiparts. They soon learned
that thinner cement joints help to reduce the forces of expanding cement.
The
horizontal bands showing through the glaze on the top skirt, by itself, are not
characteristic of Lima (early Victor marked specimens may show these, too), but
when the glaze is a thin, light mahogany and/or has a purplish cast, you can bet
that it is a Lima product. Also look for the characteristic spiraling machine
marks inside the bottom skirt that we have talked about before. Lima glazes will
also tend to be much more shiny or glossy underneath.
Bill Rohde occasionally
sends me a photo of an odd insulator to "add" to the M-Chart. I use to
get very excited over these, and do some serious head-scratching, only to learn
that Bill had mixed parts from two or more "kitsulators". You see, he
has a lot of spare parts, and apparently spends countless hours putting various
ones together, in hopes that, some day, he will find the right combination. I
have finally learned about Bill's "trick" photos, and usually do not
fall prey to his twisted sense of humor anymore, his latest "find" does look almost believable. The following photo
is his latest "new" style. The top skirt was dug at the Pittsburg
dump. Bill set it on the bottom three skirts of a Pittsburg M-4340 (note that
the fourth skirt is recessed inside the third one). The glaze colors do match
rather well. He guesses that the top skirt may be from a Pittsburg M-3890.
Hum, what M-number should this one be???
14.75 - 11 - 10.5 - 5.5 x 16
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