NEW PORCELAIN INSULATOR STYLES FOUND IN FRANCE

Jim and Lis Bergman of Anchorage, Alaska were able to find several new porcelain styles while on recent trips to France and have offered to share the following information with Crown Jewels of the Wire readers.

The first three photos show all sides of an unmarked brown glazed insulator which Jim calls a 'French Cowboy Hat'. It is 3" tall and has a base diameter of 4". 

My description of this unusual piece gets a bit fuzzy, but Jim says that it is definitely an insulator, though he doesn't know its purpose. He found it in a trash bin and rescued it! Originally there was a smooth short metal pin cemented into the threadless pin hole on the underside, but it has been removed. The conductor groove in the crown probably held tie wires which secured the insulator onto a metal band, much like a watch would be attached to a wristband. The two tilts in the skirt of the insulator allowed rain water to run off. Does anyone know how this insulator may have been used?

Front view and side view of 
French Cowboy Hat

Underside of the 
French Cowboy Hat insulator

This insulator was made by a French porcelain insulator company known as Anciens Etablissements Parvillee Freres & Cie. or "Long Established Plants of Parvillee Brothers & Co.", which is located in Cramoisy in the French Department of Oise. Compared to American styles, the profile of this one is truly unique. It is very attractive with its white glaze and the marking P.F.C. (over) DEPOSE ink stamped in dark green ink on the upper part of the insulator. (The French word DEPOSE indicates that P.F.C. is the registered trademark of the company). This insulator is 6-5/8" in height and has a base diameter of 5-3/4'" It tips the scale at 4-1/2 pounds, so it's pretty obvious that it was designed for use on a high voltage power line. The thick triple skirts and 1-1/4" threaded pin hole further guarantee its sturdiness.

An interesting high voltage P.F.C. insulator

The glaze color of this insulator is a medium green with the 'P.F.C.' trademark on one side of the crown and 'AT 75' in the same location on the opposite side. It is 4-1/8" tall and measures 2-1/2" across the extended inner skirt on which it stands. This particular example still has the metal pin cemented into it so I can't really tell if the pin hole is threaded or not, but I suspect it is. Even though it's a fairly common style it's really a pretty insulator! I hadn't seen one quite like it until now.

A low voltage P.F.C. insulator

A gingerbread 'baby' has been added to the lineup of gingerbread styles! See the little white glazed insulator to the left in the photo below it's a new find just 3-1/4" tall. The gingerbread boy on the right is the most common size at approximately 3-3/4" in height and though they are not plentiful, they are still available at some insulator shows. As far as I know, none of the gingerbread styles is marked, but it's still interesting to see how many different sizes have already been discovered.

Gingerbread Baby and a Gingerbread Boy

Largest Gingerbread style dwarfs Gingerbread Baby

You may remember that the February 1999 issue of Crown Jewels of the Wire magazine included a line up of all the gingerbread styles that were known at that time, including a very large one found in Belgium by Dale Huber of Colfax, California. We called it the Gingerbread 'Grandma'. That one was 4-1/2" tall with a base diameter of3-5/8" and an arm span of 5". It tipped the scale at 2-1/2 lbs. and we marveled! 

Enter 'Great Grandma' - take a look at the photo just above. Jim was able to find an example of this style that's even larger than the one Dale has. It is 5-1/4" in height with a base diameter of 4-1/2" and a 6" arm span. This insulator weighs 4-1/4" lbs. and for now it's the grand champion of the gingerbread family! It really does dwarf the little gingerbread 'baby' sitting beside it.

I really don't know much about these T-bars (pictured on the following page) because there is no marking on either of them but at least they are new profiles from France, which is always interesting to see. The smallest one on the left is just 2" in height with a base diameter of 1-5/8" and an arm span of 3". I really like these little ones.

French T-bars, tiny to tall

The large T-bar on the right is a beauty and appears to be a very sturdy insulator. It is 5-7/8" tall with a base diameter of 3-1/4" and an 6-5/8" arm span. Both of these insulators (bottom picture on the next page) are new porcelain styles from France but neither one has any marking. The little Noser on the left is 2-3/8" tall and has a base diameter of 2". The skirt of the insulator is only 3/16" thick so it is fairly susceptible to breakage. These small insulators were fixed on the outside of buildings and designed to carry low voltage to the inside. 

A Baby Noser and a new style of Robot

The Cody Lyon Patent

These last two insulators are unmarked as are all the others in this article. The larger one is 4-1/8" in height and has a base diameter of 2-1/2". When I asked N.R. Woodward about the strange configuration on the crowns of both pieces in the photo he said they were called "twist lock self tying insulators" and that some time ago a fellow named Cody Lyon from Emmett, Idaho designed a similar insulator. The patent number for his design was 217,032. However, Jim's insulator was found in France but since it has no marking we have no way of knowing what company made it.

Other examples of the twist lock self tying insulator have been found in Cuba, Spain, Portugal and England. The smaller piece shown in the photo is not a pin type insulator and I have no idea how it was used. If any of our Crown Jewels subscribers have an answer to this one, please let me know.

Many thanks to Jim and Lis for sharing.