Dear Jack:

The utility I work for has had an interesting way of using the split knob types of "tree" insulators. As I have sketched here, these were used for stringing the wire from the pole to light fixtures over the center of the road. Old-timers here said that when the large carbon arc lights were replaced with incandescent lamp fixtures in the 1910's and 1920's, the messenger wire, heavy conductor and supporting insulators were left alone. Only the fixtures were converted. Most of these (about 15 remain) are being replaced now by new fixtures with high pressure sodium luminaries on conventional modern brackets.

The old forestry insulators I have acquired from these arrangements are marked "F", "G" and an occasional "P.P. Inc." (appearing not quite so old) in the bunch. I have also found a few split round ones with Thomas markings.
Joe Maurath, Jr. 
North Abington, Mass. 

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Dear Joe:

The "F" is for Findlay Electric Porcelain Co. (Ohio, 1911-1927). The "P.P. Inc." is for Porcelain Products, Inc. (W. Va., 1927-1956). If your utility still has its Ca-1920 purchasing records, maybe you can tell us who used the "G" marking. I still refuse to go out on a limb and attribute the "G" to either Globe Porcelain or General Porcelain Co.

Jack

Dear Jack:

Enclosed are photos and dimensional data of a new Bennington type threadless which is very similar to the known U-982 style, but this insulator has a round dome and the twelve-fluted feature unique to the Elliots. I wonder if this ties the so called Bennington U-982 with the Elliots? Can you help with your opinion on this? 

As far as I know, this insulator was found by a bottle man in southeast Massachusetts. I will have the insulator at the NIA National in Rochester.
John de Sousa, NIA #419
East Granby, Conn.

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Dear John:

Many thanks for your report of this super new find. Yes, this could be the key information we've been seeking for years, and it could tie five different threadless insulators to Bennington Pottery. This should probably be ranked as "find of the year" without even waiting for the year to end. This new item will be U-983 in the Universal Style Chart.

This specimen is a definite hybrid of the U-982 (so called) Bennington and the three Elliot varieties U-979, U-980 and U-981.

It has the same overall shape and the same "Bennington type" glaze as the U-982. That insulator had a possible attribution to Bennington Pottery because of its distinctive glaze and some old museum-connected documentation accompanying the discovery of the first U-982 specimen.

This U-983 has the twelve-flute exterior feature of the Elliot designs and a rounded crown somewhat like the U-979. The Elliot designs have a possible Bennington attribution because of their stoneware nature, and also because of a pictorial recording of their inclusion in the Bennington Pottery exhibit at an 1853 trade fair.

We are usually overcautious about requiring some positive proof of facts before making unqualified attributions of insulator styles or markings, but that is a difficult chore on these very early antiquities. I do think we now have sufficient evidence to say that all five of these threadless insulators were definitely a product of Bennington Pottery.

Jack

I recently asked Ohio Brass Co. (Ohio) if they had any file records to show the reason for the coding notches once used in the older recess-embossed marking devices. Their reply:

"The significance of the side notches in these markings is unknown. File paperwork on insulators does not go back to the period when those insulators were manufactured."

I also periodically query O-B about the use on pin type insulators of their current "logo" adopted in 1972 (bottom marking shown above). Their reply on that:

"O-B pintype insulators are still marked with the B-within-the-0 logo. In recent years, numbers representing month (first number on the left) and last two digits of year appear below the B within the 0."

We would like to hear from someone who has a specimen with this dated Monogram-OB marking -- whether the numbering is with raised numbers or what. A foil impression would help.

To make and mail perfect foil impressions of markings of embossed varieties, cut out a small piece of new, unwrinkled foil and hold it over the marking so it won't slide around. Now repeatedly press all over the foil hard with the rounded eraser on a pencil until the marking is sharply brought up into the foil. Lay the foil upside down and pour a puddle of Elmer's glue over the marking area, and let it dry a couple of days. Pre-fold your letter to fit your envelope; then remove it from envelope and tape one tip end of the foil to the letter in a spot where it will end up on the bottom part of the envelope away from the canceling roller.

Jack

In the April issue, we reported that the Victor, N.Y. insulator plant is now owned and operated by Brown Boveri Electric, Inc. and uses a marking of BBC. We made a second inquiry to the company to decode the marking, and they said that the marking stands for "Brown, Boveri and Company", the parent company of the subsidiary Brown Boveri Electric.

Dear Jack:

I am enclosing photos and dimensioned drawing of a 6" Imperial Porcelain Works item unlike any presently in the Universal Style Chart, and would this be a new one for the Chart? It has all petticoats flush with the skirt, and it is not a glazeweld. The ears are about double the width of the similarly styled units such as U-929.

The other photo shows three different white glaze Fred Locke ponies, all the dainty U-38. The middle one clearly shows the incuse 'GLEN' marking you may have known about. The black spot on the crown is a firing blemish. There must be several specimens of this marking known, since Gerald Brown shows one in his book with the marking on the edge of the crown instead of on the flat top.
Elton Gish, NIA #41
Port Neches, Texas

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Dear Elton:

Without exception, all of the Imperial pin types are enough different from styles of all other manufacturers as to be readily distinguishable as Imperial, so it is important to have every one of them in the Universal Style Chart to serve as specific references and to assist in attributing unmarked specimens. This new one will be U-930.

In all these years, you are the first collector who has ever confirmed this 'GLEN' marking to me or this magazine. Just like the past "rumors" of its existence, I've also heard of at least one guess at its attribution. If anyone can come up with concrete information on that (wild guesses don't count), we'll report and record that also.

Jack

Dear Jack:

I got some interesting lightning arrestors from a communications line which is being wrecked. Most of the wires had already been removed, so I couldn't tell how these were originally set up. The wordy embossed (raised letters) marking on top of the porcelain case is:

 (CRYSTAL VALVE LIGHTNING ARRESTOR TYPE LC No 51081 0-750 VOLTS AC PT. No. 1783667) 

Are you familiar with the Crystal Valve name? It would seem to be unusual for a lightning arrestor.

I also found some dead-end brackets and porcelain U-shaped strain insulators, designed to fit the brackets. The brown-glazed insulators had this recess-embossed marking:

RACO // DEAD END 

Some of the brackets are marked RACO. Who produced RACO?

The line being wrecked, in a few instances, used Hemingray-56 glass transposition insulators as regular insulators, with a single conductor tied in the upper wire groove. What made this set-up different was that the ends of the of the wire formed a loop over the top of the insulator. In the center of this loop was what appeared to be a small metal ball, probably about 1/2" diameter. Was this a splice? I've seen this tie arrangement used elsewhere with single-groove insulators. What is the purpose of it?
William C. Ogden, NIA #1857
Virginia, Minnesota

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Dear William:

Yes, I am familiar with the "Crystal Valve" arrestor, but I can't attribute it. If the sketch in the middle of the marking is the keystone marking (as I drew it there), this is the trademark of Electric Service Supplies Co., Philadelphia. If some collector can't attribute this item by a cataloging, maybe someone near a large library could attribute it by looking up the 1930 patent number shown in the marking.

The RACO dead-end insulators are known in collections, but I can't recall of the name being attributed to any company. Your finding their use with the special RACO brackets at least answers our question about the reason for the odd configuration of these strain insulators.

I know nothing about the tie-wire method you sketched, but maybe some of the CJ readers are familiar with it. If so, we'd like someone to send us the answer about it.

Jack

Dear Jack:

I have three secondary messenger wire insulators, one brown one and two whites. All are marked "PINCO / Lima, New York". The patent dates are too faint to read. Are these considered scarce? They used to use quite a few here.
Steven Jones
Naugatuck, Conn.

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Dear Steven:

The patent on these items is #2,921,112 of 1/12/60, L. J. Dykstra assignor to Pinco, "Electric conductor strand separator insulator". They are primarily used to separate the strands so taps can be spliced to the through line.

It is not meaningful to evaluate these as common/scarce/ rare. They would be very common in any utility area where they are in ordinary use and naturally unknown in areas where they have never been used. In collector circles, they would be commonly available if anyone took a box of them to several insulator shows, and otherwise not often seen.

Insulator collecting got its biggest boost years ago from association with bottle collectors, and due to the pretty glass involved. There has always been a bias favoring the glass ones for that reason, and more specifically to glass poleline insulators because they have been most favored by intensive historical research and good publications.

Porcelain pin types started to be collected after the glass ones became collected as "insulators" instead of just "pretty glass", and they had a parallel usage on pole lines. They became a popular collectible only after considerable research led to publication of good reference books on them.

But there is no end to porcelain insulators other than pin types, so most collectors severely limit their scope of collecting. As an oversimplified rule of thumb on collector interest and value of a porcelain insulator, it has one strike against it if it won't screw onto a crossarm peg, two strikes against it if it isn't used on a pole line, and just about three strikes if its specific use isn't known.

Jack

Dear Jack:

I have a small insulator taken from a power and telephone line here in Minnesota (see sketch) which has a blue-green glaze and an off-white body color. It is very heavy (16-1/2 oz.) for its size. The 5/8" blind holes in each end have threads for a 3/8" bolt. Could you tell me who made these and if it has any value?
Larry Larson
Hoyt Lakes, Minn.

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Dear Larry: 

I know nothing about who might have made this insulator or its intended application. A calculation of its volume together with the 16-1/2-ounce weight indicates that its made of Alumina (specific gravity 3.7 versus 2.4 for electrical porcelain) which is a special, high-strength ceramic.

I can't hazard a guess as to any possible collector value of "whatisit" types of insulators.

Jack