December 2002 Foreign Insulators

For the past 23 years I have had the opportunity to share my love of insulators (especially the foreign ones) with collectors throughout the world by serving as the foreign insulator editor of "Crown Jewels of the Wire" magazine. This has been a real privilege and I want to thank the editors for allowing me the forum to promote foreign insulators, and of course the many contributors who have sent me specimens from various countries, including data such as the embossing, country of origin, etc. Without this information, there would have been little to write about.

With the above having been said, my husband Bill and I feel it is time for a break from the deadlines of regular articles. Being a septuagenarian with six grown children and their families, including twenty grandchildren, I would like to spend more time with them and enjoy their growing up time. This doesn't mean that I am retiring from the hobby, because I am still adding new pieces to my collection and will invite any offers of new finds. If you have a foreign insulator that you feel may need a CD number, please send it to N.R. Woodward or to me, and I will see that he has the opportunity to record the information in his files and, if applicable, assign a CD number.

I believe that there are a number of collectors in the hobby who would enjoy having the opportunity to be the Foreign Insulator Editor. You don't need to be an author to qualify! As of January 2003, the job is open and I request that you contact the new editor of Crown Jewels of the Wire magazine to apply. I am confident that your applications will be well received.

In closing, I am not riding off into the sunset, I am just unloading a few responsibilities so that I may continue to add quality to my life.

I thought it might be of interest to the readers to share some of the photos I got at the Tekniska Museet -- the Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm, Sweden which opened to the public in 1936. It museums are incorporated into buildings that were part of an early 1670's drill grounds of the Life Guards, the cavalry regiment K2. Between 1971 and 1975, the northern stables were converted to house the Telecommunications Museum.

The first electrical telegraph line was opened in 1853 between Stockholm and Uppsala. The same year saw the establishment of the Royal Electrical Telegraph Administration which became n not without opposition -- the first State enterprise to open its doors to female staff. In 1864, the first course for telegraphists took place. 23 women were trained and appointed as temporary assistants. The women received a monthly salary of 50 "Riksdaler" as opposed to the 75 paid to their male colleagues.

In the first telephone exchanges, telephonists were responsible for connecting the calls. During the 1920's, the telephone network was converted to automatic working. The first automatic station with a 500-line selector system was opened in Stockholm in 1924. The first major coordinate selector system for 3,500 subscribers was opened in Sundsvall two years later. To allow subscribers to connect their own calls, the telephones were fitted with dials. The conversion process ended in 1972 with the station in Arjeplog.

The insulators on the following page are in a small museum in Kirkenes. Norway. I had taken the coast ship up from Bergen around North Cape to the Russian border and then by bus to Murmansk, Russia.

Although it is hard to tell for sure what the mark is on the ear of the white porcelain above, it looks like it might be Russian in origin. The glass piece below definitely looks like it came from the U.S.S.R.

Above are two white porcelain insulators from Norway.