Info on 60th Anniversary Pioneer Commemorative Insulator

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", November 1971, page 15

The response I received when asking for information about the 60th Anniversary Insulator has been terrific. Long distance telephone calls and letters have been pouring in. We are very grateful, and our thanks to all. Now I just hope I can get all the information straight, so that you, the collector, will be in the know.

First off, to be a member of the organization, "Telephone Pioneers of America", you must have 21 years of service in the telephone industry. (Any part of the telephone industry-not just the Bell System people.)

The Columbus, Ohio, chapter of Telephone Pioneers are the originators of this fund raising project, and we commend them for the good they are doing with the dividends.

The colors in these insulators are as follows: cobalt blue, white milk glass, amber (called autumn glow), marigold carnival, peacock carnival, ice blue, forest green (in two shades), and azalea pink (two shades). We understand from Mr. Georgia that there were roughly 24,000 made and that the molds have been destroyed or defaced.

Anyhow, their original idea of making these insulators was to commemorate their 60th anniversary and to use as a fund raiser for "Project Sound". It was not meant to get out of hand and line any individual's pocket. Naturally, we can't expect to buy these insulators at the low wholesale price offered to the different chapters of Telephone Pioneers, and we can expect each chapter to make a profit for their individual pet projects, but I don't feel we should have to pay over $10 or $15 each. Of course, this depends on how many hands the insulators have passed through.

No individual person can order these. They must be purchased through one of the many chapters of Telephone Pioneers. If you wish to buy one of these commemorative insulators for your collection, it has been suggested that you contact the local chapter closest to your locality.

Copies of a flyer describing the insulator (including picture), the story of "Project Sound", and a brief history of the development of the glass insulator are on the following pages.

Your Editor

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THIS IS A REPLICA OF ONE OF THE RARE, EARLY "NO THREAD" INSULATORS. THE THREADED PIN HOLE IDEA WAS PATENTED IN 1865 SO THIS REPLICA IS A COPY OF ONE OF THE FEW INSULATORS THAT ARE OVER 100 YEARS OLD. THIS ONE IS NICK-NAMED "PILGRIM HAT" AND WAS USED IN OHIO BY THE U.S. TELEGRAPH CO. WITH OFFICES IN CLEVELAND, OHIO.

Story of "Project" Sound

The Columbus Council has organized a community service activity called "Project Sound". We are attempting to raise funds to buy acoustical ceiling materials for the Ohio School for the Deaf at Columbus, Ohio, to aid in sound perception training of those with severe hearing impairment. This will be accomplished by selling a 60th year commemorative glass insulator.

Glass insulators have become a collectors item. Because of this, we have arranged to duplicate and manufacture one of the rare, early, "no thread" insulators, nick-named "Pilgrim Hat". The threaded pin hole idea was patented in 1865, making the "no thread" insulator an antique and much sought collectors item because of its age of over 100 years.

The involvement of all the people working together on "Project Sound" will not only provide another means of friendly association, but will also be a rewarding experience that will perpetuate the spirit of Telephone Pioneering.

Lynn W. Georgia
President-Columbus Council

The Story of the Development of the Glass Insulator

In the early days of the telegraph, the poles used to support the telegraph lines were cut from young trees and placed in the ground with the bark intact. Within a few years, water collected under the bark and quickly rotted the pole, The telegraph wire was fitted into a notch cut into the pole but during wet weather this contact with the pole caused a leakage of the current through the wet wood to ground. A need for insulation was apparent; so Mr. Vail and Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University, both submitted plans to insulate the wire from the pole. Mr. Cornell's idea won out and was something like this:

At each pole, shellac impregnated cloth strips were wrapped around the wire and then sandwiched between two pieces of glass. This assembly was then secured to the pole.

A short time later, Mr. Cornell had to make a trip that required him to stay overnight at an inn. The next morning he pulled open a dresser drawer to get a shirt and realized the drawer pulls were made of glass and fastened to the wood with a bolt. This inspired the first substantial glass insulator which was actually a glass drawer pull nailed to the pole. From this simple beginning evolved the no thread pin hole design insulator that was forced onto a wooden pin, peg or wooden rod.

In 1865, Cauvet designed the first threaded pin bole insulator which was first produced 3 years later. Following this, came the so called "Petticoat" insulator. It was designed to keep rain water from soaking the wooden pin upon which it was fastened, With the advent of electric power transmission, the ceramic or pottery type insulator appeared on the scene.

Since the no thread pin hole insulator was made and used prior to 1865, we centered our search on one that was used in Ohio. This proved to be one made for the U.S. Telegraph Co. of Chester, N.Y. which also had an office in Cleveland, and telegraph lines within Ohio. It was one of 300 telegraph companies which flourished In this country during the early years of the telegraph.

With the introduction of the spoken word on wire, many telephone companies were started in Ohio with the first one beginning in 1879. To connect towns some of the telegraph lines were bought for this use.

We feel that when Ohio Bell first formed in 1921 some of the lines may have been supported by the "Pilgrim Hat" insulator. In fact, one of our Columbus life members recalls replacing broken no thread insulators when he worked for the State Central Telephone Company in the period 1917-1920.

We hope this brief story will explain why we have chosen the "Pilgrim Hat" for the 60th Pioneer Anniversary commemorative insulator,