Bob Kay reported an unusual pair of markings on U-400B. Most of you are probably asking, "What is U-400B?" This is a good time to report this new style. For those who have the Value Guide for Unipart and Porcelain Insulators, you can find the scale drawing on page 101. The first and only specimen of U-400B I have seen was unmarked and had a rather unattractive chocolate brown glaze. It was nothing exciting and didn't really merit reporting in PIN. I suspected it was made by Illinois Electric Porcelain Co. but couldn't be sure. Bob found a white U-400B which has the two under-glaze ink markings shown below in Bob's close-up photo.

U-400B with under-glaze ink markings: triangle M and Line Material.

I always suspected that there must be other U-400B's in collections and that no one recognized that this fairly common looking style was a new style for the U-Chart. It is odd to have two different markings on the same insulator. The under-glaze ink triangle M marking was used in the 1915-20 time period. The under-glaze Line Material marking was used 1958-1967 when they operated the insulator factory old Illinois Electric Porcelain plant in Macomb, IL. The parent company of Line Material was McGraw-Edison Co. The under-glaze ink Line Material markings used during this time period also include the year of manufacture. So, the under-glaze ink marking found on U-400B with the triangle M marking is different because it doesn't include the year.

Jim Crandall (NIA #297) sent me a copy of a page from his undated Line Material catalog No. 28. The catalog has several patents in it with the last patent dated 1927. I suspect the catalog was published in 1928. An illustration of U-400B is shown in this catalog. It is described as a "Loop Insulator" to be used for arc light circuits. It appears that Line Material designed the U-400B and had it produced by Illinois Electric Porcelain Co. That would explain why both markings appeared on this one insulator. I feel certain that Bob's U-400B was made in the late 1920's.

"Loop Insulator" shown in Line Material Catalog No. 28.

I don't know if other insulators exist with the under-glaze ink Line Material marking and without the year date. If they do, you might suspect they were made during this same time period rather than the much later time period (1958-67) when Line Material was making their own insulators. Bob's insulator is a significant find not just for the U-400B but tying Illinois to early Line Material insulators. Illinois also produced a wide variety of dry process porcelain in odd non-pintype styles which were probably sold by Line Material. Line Material sold all types of odd hangers, brackets, lag screw insulators, tree insulators, etc. Obviously Line Material and Illinois had a long running working relationship.

Richard D' Alanno (NIA #5935) had a very exciting time last October on a one-day trip to Newell, WV with his sister and mother. Richard reported, "We stopped at the Homer Laughlin China Co. along the Ohio River with the old B&O Railroad running alongside the building. I walked along the old railroad bed hoping to find a CD 136 in yellow olive. green. I had no luck! When I went to check on my mom and sister in the Homer Laughlin Plant, I asked the workers if they ever made insulators. They said no, but a plant down the street called the Newell Porcelain Co. still makes porcelain insulators. When I visited the company, I told the president, John R. Roberts, that I collect insulators. He gave me a blue Newell Porcelain Co. cap. They make large substation insulators. Then Mr. Roberts told me about the old Thomas dump in Lisbon, OH and he drew me a map. I left Newell, WV and drove to Lisbon, OH (just across the river). When I got to the dump site, I met one of Thomas' grandsons. He didn't own the dump site. I was amazed to see hundreds of porcelain insulators that were dug up from a nearby creek. To my surprise, I found insulators that look like the ones that are pictured on the cover of December 1997 Crown Jewels! I picked up four standard cap and pin suspension insulators. One is a light blue color and the other three are chocolate colored. It was a dream come true exploring and digging in the old dump."

Richard D' Alanno with some potential keepers from the Thomas dump.

Richard's father found a couple of smaller interesting insulators.

Richard called very excited when he returned home. I can imagine his excitement. Who wouldn't enjoy digging through an insulator dump site. It really wouldn't matter if you found a real jewel or not. Included here are a few photos that Richard took when he returned with his father. Most of the insulators probably failed the electrical test. I didn't see any metal caps or pins on the suspension insulators.

Close-up view of a pile of broken Thomas insulators in the dump.

Mike Parker sent a couple of photographs of his two gray M-3451's with Ohio Brass embossed marking on the crown. Mike had a good question: Did Akron make these gray O-B's. I never thought of that before when trying to tie down the age of the gray multis. O-B took over the Akron in July 1907 and announced that all production would be marked with their logo. So your O-B M-3451's were made after July 1907. That same big logo marking is found on M-4395, which I know was made in 1909 for a line in the northeast. M-4395 is gray, too. You said the M-3451 's were installed in the Portland, OR area (Bull Run Dam line) sometime in 1909-1911, which agrees with all we know about the gray multis. Back to your question about Akron manufacture, O-B published their first catalog of production from Akron in Oct. 1907; however, O-B did not acquire Akron until August 1910 after Akron's losses put them in bankruptcy. I believe that your M-3451 's were indeed made by Akron H-P. I think that the manufacture of gray multis was dropped about 1910-12. During the survey for the Value Guide, only three gray O-B M-3451's were reported. You reported two and Robin Harrison (NIA #3911) reported one. I haven't received any reports since then about others being found or otherwise coming into the hobby. I've been continually updating the listing for the Value Guide as a way to keep track of new reports. Most any gray multi is quite valuable today and will only grow in value because of their age and attractive glaze. Very few gray multis remain in the air.

We simply do not know when companies started making gray multis. In unipart styles, we do know that white glaze was essentially banned in 1901 in favor of "brown" glazes which "offered less of a target to hunters". It seems to me that a brown insulator would make a better target. Brown would show up better than white against the sky when trying to sight your gun on the insulator. I have no idea what the thought was on using a gray glaze. It seems to go against the common thinking on glaze color at that time unless people considered uniparts to be predominately in rural areas on lower poles where the backdrop would be trees. In that case brown would blend in with the darker background of tree limbs and leaves. Multipart insulators would be used on power lines which naturally would be on much taller poles and predominately have a gray or blue sky background. In that case a gray glaze would blend in with the background and provide a poorer target. I suspect that gray insulators were mostly used in the western states where there was a predominance of open sky. I only recall gray multis being used back east in two instances. One was a line in northeast which used M-2902 and the line which used M-4395 (to replace dark brown M-3890 which suffered greatly from lightning strikes).

Two gray M-3451's made by Ohio Brass made circa 1909-1911.

One last report this month is quite significant. Robin Harrison (NIA #3911) is an avid collector of Fred Locke and other early porcelain. Some of you may be familiar with the rare, white, 2-part glazeweld U-196 with Fred Locke under-glaze ink marking #6-3. This marking has six of Fred Locke's patents. As explained in my book, Fred M. Locke: A Biography, the Fred Locke under-glaze ink markings were actually made by Electric Porcelain & Manufacturing Co. after Fred Locke stopped buying porcelain insulators from Imperial in late 1897. Production for Fred Locke probably ended sometime in the first half of 1900. U-196 was shown in an advertisement in the December 1899 issue of American Electrician (see page 104 of my book).

U-196 is quite rare. Only six specimens are known plus one other that was heavily damaged and cut in half to learn more about the glazeweld (see previous reports in CJ: 2-91-18 and 11-92-15). All U-196's found to date have been marked on the crown. Robin now reports he has three U-196' s (included in the total count of six) which are all marked in different locations: dome, middle skirt, and bottom skirt. It is unheard of to have one specimen of such a rare insulator but to have three uniquely marked specimens is unbelievable!!! The picture below should cast away any doubts about Robin's claim!

Three very rare white U-196's with under-glaze ink Fred Locke 
marking #6-3 struck In three different locations: 
dome, middle skirt, and bottom skirt.