CAROL AND MARILYN CONDUCT INSULATOR 
RESEARCH TRIP ON FOREIGN SOIL
PART II

On Monday morning, April 16th, Carol and I said goodbye to Ans Galesloot and her family in Utrecht, Holland, and began the 180 mile drive to Krefeld, West Germany. There we were to meet Marco Schmitz-LeHanne, a handsome young insulator collector, who also happens to be 28 years old, single and a very good electrical engineer! He and Mike Guthrie had been corresponding and trading insulators for several months and Mike was kind enough to give us Marco's address.

It was late afternoon by the time we found his house and rang the bell. He'd been waiting and met us at the door with the biggest smile you'd ever hope to see. Carol and I wore pretty big ones ourselves! After a warm welcome from his parents, Marco took us upstairs to his study where he kept his books and other reference material as well as a few of his favorite insulators. "The rest of the collection," he said, "is in the basement of my grandmother's house. We will go there in a little while."

Marco Schmitz-LeHanne with some of his favorite 
pieces on shelves in his bedroom.

Colored glazes on U-1692 porcelain insulators which were used to designate certain
lines. (L to R) White with a red crown, yellow, cobalt, dark green and red. Watch the
January issues for these insulators pictured in living color!

Marco's mother brought up coffee and sweets to enjoy while we visited and watched Marco unwrap the insulators and books we had brought as gifts. He was happy with them all, but especially pleased with the complimentary subscription to Crown Jewels of the Wire! 

After we confirmed our hotel reservations in Krefeld, Marco treated us to dinner at the Gleumes Restaurant, named for the Gleumes beer that has been brewed right there since 1807. Re wanted us to taste German food typical of the Lower Rhine Valley and suggested pork cutlets, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. The meal was delicious. So was the beer!

It was dark by the time we started back to see "the rest of the collection in Grandmother's basement." She lives next door to Marco's family in a very large old house which proved to have a perfectly wonderful basement. Armed with a flashlight we crept down some outside steps to a creaky old door. Upon opening it we found ourselves in a long room with a low ceiling, dark comers, a few cobwebs, etc., etc. What atmosphere! It even smelled like mysterious old basements are supposed to! There, spread out before us were several long tables holding box after box of glass and porcelain insulators of many colors, shapes and sizes. Marcos storage privileges do not include display space, but you know what a great time Carol and I had turning over everything in those boxes. He gave us several of his duplicate insulators and signs, which we were happy to have in trade. After a delightful evening, we said goodnight to Marco and drove back to our hotel.

Marco's grandmother's basement with boxes and boxes of his collection.

Three styles of French P.F.C. insulators purchased by
Marco's parents in a Brussels antique store 

Tuesday morning, April 17th, found all three of us back in Grandmother's basement taking pictures of Marco's collection as well as making shadow profiles and getting measurements of the insulator styles that were new to us. Marco had made an appointment for us at 2:30 that afternoon to visit a museum that is connected with the major electric company in the area - RHEINISCH - WEST FALISCHES ELECTRIZITATSWERK (RWE). The name of the museum is ELECTROTHEK which, according to Marco, is an artificial name with "THEK" being equivalent to our "THEQUE" as in discotheque. He says that people who are interested in electrical distribution can come here to see as well as touch the various pieces of equipment which have played such an important part in the history of power supply. 

Sign on museum door

The man who is responsible for the formation of the museum is Mr. Wolfgang Von Moock, Head Engineer at RWE and Marco's good friend. It was he who met us that afternoon and took us through the museum. Though ELECTROTHEK has been financially backed by the company, it is really Mr. Von Moock's collection of old meters, switches, motors, cables, insulators, linemen's gear and tools, poles, etc. and he has had a lot of fun with it. He was very interested to learn of our hobby of insulator collecting, especially when we told him we had come all the way to Europe to do research! He asked us to send him copies of the new insulator books when they are published and thanked us for coming.

The rest of the day was spent with Marco going over many of his old insulator catalogs and other records, identifying manufacturer's markings, etc. His knowledge of electrical systems was amazing! Consequently, he's been asked by the municipal power supplier to help plan cable networks. He's also enjoyed helping with the museum at RWE and has become a very familiar face there as well.

(Left) Wolfgang Von Moock, Carol and Marco discussing some of the museum insulators on display (right)

We thanked Marco for a wonderful visit and said goodbye, promising to keep in touch with him. It was a good feeling to know we had a new friend.

On Wednesday morning, April 18th, we left Krefeld and headed south to Aachen where we hoped to find the Vereinigte Glaswerke (United Glassworks) or VEGLA glass factory. Using the address we had been given, we found not the factory but a very large office building with VEGLA-HAUS over the main entrance. There we were able to talk with the American representative, Mr. Jack Munch. We explained our mission of research, our popular American hobby and a few photos of glass insulators with the VEGLA marking. When we asked for samples, he said he had no memory of insulators ever having been made by Vegla and that its only products today are automotive safety glass, window glass for offices and decorative glass building blocks. He told us the actual factory is located in the town of Heraogenrath, a few miles away, but when we went there, we were not allowed to proceed beyond the gate. But someone there did give us the name and phone number of the Public Relations person back at VEGLA HAUS - a Dr. Claussen, who could provide us with some historical information about the company. Somewhere there had to be records of Vegla's insulator production.

Marco had told us he'd found Vegla insulators at the electric company in the town of Kohiseheid, so we decided to try that the next day.

Early Thursday morning we called Dr. Claussen. She was very interested in helping us and promised to send the information we needed if we would put our request in the form of a letter to her when we returned to the States. She said it would take her some time to gather it all together. 

We drove to Kohlscheid and stopped to ask directions to the electric company. We were told it is called ASEAG and that we should ask for the manager, Herr Zimmer. Well, Herr Zimmer had no time for us so he asked a couple of his employees to show us where the insulators were stored. Their names were Roman and Martin and they couldn't have been more helpful. They led us down some steps into another dark and mysterious basement and did we find insulators! There were actually barrels of glass pintypes with the Vegla marking as well as several French insulators embossed EIV. None were cemented to pins! They found us a box and helped us choose several of each style. They were so friendly and so interested that we couldn't thank them enough.

The VEGLA - HAUS building in Aachen, Germany

Roman and Martin, our new friends 
and employees of ASEAG at Kohlscheid

When we returned to the States in May, I wrote a formal letter to Dr. Claussen at VEGLA HAUS requesting information about the company's insulator production. So far I have not received an answer, but I am sure it will come. When it does, I will share it with you. At least we have learned a bit more about the VEGLA Glassworks. 

In Part III  I will tell of our travels to Belgium and France. Stay tuned! 

GET WELL WISHES TO MARILYN! On October 22nd, Marilyn underwent surgery on her left arm to repair the damage due to improper healing of the fracture she received during our research trip in Europe. We all wish you a speedy recovery. ....Your European Trip Roomie!