February 1995 Uruguayan Glass Insulators

This is a continuation of "The Uruguayan Adventure" article begun in
January 1995 Crown Jewels of the Wire

Glass insulators are known to have been produced by two major glass companies in the Montevideo area. It is the author's opinion that the Sociedad Anonima Fabrica Nacional de Vidrio, translated as the the "National Glass Factory, Inc.", produced the first glass insulators in Uruguay. CD styles positively attributed to this company include CD 128, 500, 501, 501.1, 502, 503, 560, 1052 and, most likely, the small unembossed 1051.

Most insulators produced by this company were embossed S.A.F.N.V., the initials of the company name. Extensive research in April 1994 turned up two new embossings that the author believes represent the last insulator production of S.A.F.N. V. The stylized embossing, "

", was located on some examples of CD 501.1, 502 and 503. An extremely rare embossing, consisting of the superimposed, lower case letters, "

", exists on a few CD 500's and 502's. The CD 502 is the only insulator style known to exist with all three embossings.

S.A.F.N.V. produced one unembossed insulator, the CD 560 cable in light green. A single specimen is known to exist. The extremely rare, unembossed CD 1051 spool is also attributed to S.A.F.N.V. by the author, primarily because of the glass color, and the fact that the company also produced the much larger CD 1052 embossed spool. Colors of insulators produced by S.A.F.N.V. include light aqua, light green through deep 7-up green, dark amber, deep cobalt blue and light olive green to deep olive green. The cobalt blue and olive green colors are exceedingly rare.

The second glass company involved in insulator production, the Cooperativa de Artesanos de Vidrio, translated as the "Cooperative of Glass Artisans", produced insulators in five different CD's. CODARVI, the name by which this company was known, produced insulator styles CD 388, 510, 511, 512 and 513. CD 388, a larger, two-piece cemented insulator is the only high voltage, glass power insulator known to have been produced in Uruguay.

Unlike S.A.F.N.V. insulators, all five styles of CODARVI insulators exist in both embossed and unembossed varieties. With one exception, CODARVI embossed insulators are embossed CODARVI-PANAMCO on one half-mold and IND. URUGUAYA on the opposite half-mold. The exception is a CD 513 embossed CODARVI on one half-mold and "21" over IND. URUGUAYA on the opposite half-mold. Whether this insulator pre-dated or post-dated the association of PANAMCO with the CODARVI company is unknown. It is significant, however, in that it is the only embossed CODARVI insulator without the PANAMCO embossing.

All CODARVI insulators were apparently produced in clear glass but straw colored specimens are known to exist in all five CD's. A few insulators exist in a green tint straw and the CD 511 exists in a rich, peach-straw color that is exceedingly rare. With their flat crowns and perfectly straight sides, the CD 510-513 cable top CODARVI insulators are really striking in their appearance and quite different from the more colorful and equally attractive S.A.F.N.V. insulators.

The numbers 21, 22 and 23 that are embossed on most S.A.F.N.V. insulators and some CODARVI insulators are not mold numbers or dates. They represent the three basic sizes of insulators produced by both companies. Number 21 indicated the largest style insulators, the CD 502's, 503's and 513's, all approximately 3"x 4" in size. Number 22 indicated the mid-size style insulators, the CD 501, 501.1, 511 and 512. Number 23 indicated the smallest style insulators, the CD 500 and 510. These two insulators, at approximately 2 "x 2-1/4", are two of the smallest insulators ever known to have been designed and produced for regular telephone line service. The CD 500 and 510 insulators are truly exquisite little "Crown Jewels of the Wire".

Dates have never been established for the beginning or ending of insulator production by S.A.F.N.V. or CODARVI and little is known about these two glass companies today, except that neither has produced glass insulators for decades. Based on the age of constructed lines observed and the inter-use of S.A.F.N.V. insulators with imported insulators, i.e. CD 107s, 152's and 154's, it is the author's belief that production could have started as early as the 1930' s or 1940' s and continued through the late 1960's or early 1970's for S.A.F.N.V.

The numbers 67 and 69 that appear on many CODARVI insulators are not mold or size numbers and almost surely represent the years, 1967 and 1969, that these molds were produced in. It is quite possible that insulator production with these molds was not limited to those years but could have continued into the early 1970's. Insulator production at CODARVI could have been limited to the 1960's and early 1970's. Much more research on both of these glass companies is needed before production dates can definitely be stated.

A point that may be of interest to the reader is the intermingled use of S.A.F.N.V. and CODARVI insulators that the author observed on both communication lines and low voltage power lines on travels throughout the cities, towns and countryside of Uruguay. Although the colorful S.A.F.N.V. insulators are usually thought of as communication style insulators, they were repeatedly observed in cities and towns in use as low voltage power insulators, especially the CD 501.1, 502 and 503. All of the observed uses of CD 503' s, one of the more rare S.A.F.N.V. styles, was as low voltage power insulators. The cable top, CD 510-513 CODARVI insulators, long associated with low voltage power line use, were also observed on numerous occasions in use as regular communication style insulators on telephone lines in the countryside.

One final note on insulator threads. All S.A.F.N.V. insulators, except the CD 560, have regular threaded pinholes. The CD 560 has vertical ribs and was designed for cementing to a metal pin. All CODARVI insulators have spiraled type pinholes and were designed to be cemented to metal pins. It should also be noted that all insulators produced by both companies have smooth bases.

Listed below are the CD's, embossings and colors known for S.A.F.N.V. and CODARVI insulators. Only the major name embossings are shown, not the dates, mold or style numbers. An asterisk (*) denotes four or less specimens known.

S.A.F.N.V. INSULATORS
	CD 128:	S.A.F.N.V./CSC -light green to greenish aqua, dark green, rich yellow green, olive green*.
	CD 500:	S.A.F.N.V. - light aqua, light green, medium green, deep 7-up green, light yellow green , medium yellow green .
	CD 500:	- aqua, deep 7-up green.
	CD 501:	S.A.F.N.V. - medium green, dark green.
	CD 501.1:	S.A.F.N.V. - dark amber, aqua, light green, medium green, deep 7 -up green, dark olive green*.
	CD 501.1:	- dark amber*, light green, medium green, deep 7-up green.
	CD 502:	S.A.F.N.V. - medium dark amber, dark amber, aqua, light green, medium green, deep 7-up green, me dium olive green, dark olive green.
	CD 502:	- dark amber, aqua*, medium green, deep 7-up green.
	CD 502:	- aqua, medium green, deep 7-up green*.
	CD 503:	S.A.F.N.V. - dark amber, deep 7-up green .
	CD 503:	- very light green', deep 7-up green*. (This is a new CD 503 mold that creates a taller, distinctively different and more elegant ap pearing insulator than the above CD 503.)
	CD 560:	S.A.F.N.V. de V. - deep violet cobalt* .
	CD 560:	(Unembossed) -light green*.
	CD 1051:	(Unembossed) - dark olive green*. (Attributed to S.A.F.N.V. by the author but not confirmed).
	CD 1052:	S.A.F.N.V. de V. - deep 7-up green*.
CODARVI INSULATORS
	CD 388:	CODARVI - PANAMCO H.T. 21 / IND. URUGUAYA off clear, straw .
	CD 388:	(Unembossed) - off clear.
	CD 510:	CODARVI - PANAMCO // IND. URUGUAY A - clear, straw, rich peach-straw, green tint straw*
	CD 510:	(Unembossed) - clear.
	CD 511:	CODARVI - PANAMCO // IND. URUGUAYA - clear, straw, rich peach-straw*.
	CD 511:	(Unembossed) - clear.
	CD 512:	(Unembossed) - clear, straw, green tint straw*.
	CD 513:	CODARVI - PANAMCO // IND. URUGUAY A - clear, straw * .
	CD 513:	(Unembossed) - clear, straw, green tint straw*.