Dear Jack:

I just acquired a "MERSHON TYPE" U-945 (see CJ, Nov 1975, page 31). It definitely looks to me like a Thomas item. It has the same construction and dry press innermost skirt as the U-928 BOCH made by Thomas, same white glaze, same smooth firing rests, same shape of middle bowl, same letter size and type style in the marking stamp, etc.
Paul E. Mohrs, 
Michigan City, Ind.

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Dear Paul:

Thomas sounds o.k. on it for me. If a bird waddles like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it's more than likely a duck.

Jack

Dear Mr. Tod:

When I got your reply to the letter I wrote asking for you to "research" some porcelain insulators for me, I was amazed. Your answers were thorough and very well put so I, a beginner in the hobby, could understand them. (I am 15) I would like to really thank you for the time you put into those answers.
Doug Polak, 
Ft. Wayne, Ind.

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Dear Doug:

Everyone gets the full treatment on my wordy replies to questions. If I suspect the correspondent is a beginner collector, then a double helping of information.

Jack

Dear Jack:

Have you ever had any report of a "haystack" style with a 1-3/8" pin hole? I found one at a flea market and wondered if this thread size was common for this style.

Also, on page 39 of your book, you state that, "it is unusual to find small distribution types . . . with radio treatment, but some do exist."

I just thought I'd let you know that I have several U-314's with radio treatment. These are Westinghouse units. I got them in Wisconsin, and they didn't seem to be too uncommon in the area from which they came. Is the trade value on these any greater than on untreated units of the same style?
Mark Willke N.I.A. #916 
Silverton, Ore.

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Dear Mark:

I've never heard of a "haystack" style with 1-3/8", pin, so that has to rate as a highly desirable item. I once saw a U-233 with 1-3/8" pin hole -- an equally oddball item.

If you travel the country and look up on the poles of all the thousand or more utility companies and on all the railroad lines, you'll see that Radio Treated distribution insulators are very much out of the ordinary. But if any one utility did order them that way, it would be reasonable they would be seen throughout that given area. Brown "hat" styles with common markings aren't very great collector items in the first place, but radio treated ones might at least make them tradeable items. Westinghouse did make white insulators with a dark black radio treatment (entire groove and crown), and these contrasty colors make them pretty -- and also quite desirable collector items too.

Jack

Dear Jack:

I need some information about the various colors of porcelain and glass insulators. What was added or happened to the glaze to produce the different shades of each color in porcelain insulators? (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, blue-green, black, white, cream, tan, brown, and gray)

What was added or present in the glass to produce the different shades of each color in glass insulators? (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, blue-green, violet, black, gray, smoke, white, and brown)...
W. Bruce Larson, 
Longmont, Colo.

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I was going to start setting this down in a reply letter, but I'm already 50 years old and may not live beyond 75 or so. I'd hate to get the letter only half completed, so I won't.

Jack

Dear Jack:

In the August 1976 issue of Insulators, page 30, is a drawing of a piece of porcelain, the use of which was being questioned by Mr. McLaughlin.

G & W Electric Specialty Co. made a cap for their single-conductor disconnecting pothead like the drawing for their early models. The copper contact has been removed from the porcelain cap. The cable passed up thru the top hole. The cable was taped down over the tapered cap to prevent rain from entering the pothead.

Later models of the cap were longer and had petticoats. This early model was manufactured until the middle 1920's.
Frank Donnelly, 
Elec. Engr. 
(new) --> 9 Campbell Lane, 
Melo Park, CA 94025

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Dear Frank:

Many thanks. We're batting very high now on getting the answers from readers when we pose questions on "whatisits".

Ken Schumacher (Fairborn, Ohio) brought one of these to the Berea show for me to see -- both the male and female caps with wire lengths taped to both ends just as you say. Thus, I knew then that it was a cable disconnect, but nothing more.

More info from my files on G & W: G & W Electric Specialty Co., 7430-52 S. Chicago Ave., Chicago, Ill. (as of 1920 or so). Established 1909. Manufacturer of electrical distribution specialties. Trade name: G & W

Jack