E.I.V. Insulators of France 

An insulator buddy said to me recently, "I enjoy your column, but when are you going to tell a story?" As I thought this over, I realized how many stories there really were to tell about my trips to Europe with Father Brock and his student groups. 

There was the time in Naples, Italy, when one of the boys imbibed too much wine, and dangled from the fourth floor balcony of our youth hostel, threatening to jump because the cutest girl in the group had spurned his advances. Yours truly was the only chaperone in the building at the time -- everyone else had gone to see an Italian movie! 

Thoughts of Rome bring to mind the overly curious member of the group who decided to explore an unlit passageway while down in the catacombs. We didn't miss her until we were back out in the sunshine and ready to board our bus. After an awful two hours we found her. She was a little pale! 

Or maybe you'd like to hear about crossing over the Berlin Wall one evening at "Check Point Charlie" from the West to the East side to attend a German opera. After the opera we all rushed back to cross over again at the same point because the gate closed promptly at 11:00 P.M. My two sons weren't quite quick enough. They had stopped to look in a store window, so consequently they spent the night in East Berlin at the police station! We retrieved them the next morning, but my sigh of relief could be heard rattling windows all over the city. 

So you see, I could go on and on, but this is a column about insulators! My problem was solved just recently when I was able to add a couple of really special insulators I didn't have to my French connection - a - collection. They are embossed E.I.V., which is the same marking as on the ones I was able to find while in Paris, and of course there is a story involved here, too. But let me talk insulators for just a bit, or I may never get back to them. Of the fifty different French glass insulators I have, ten are embossed E.I.V. and are shown in the photo on the following page.

Top row, left to right:

Bottom row, l. to r.: 

Grant Salzman (Sacramento, California) found the largest spool insulator for me at the Chico Show most recently held March 8-9. I really thank him, because I'm very proud of this one. The large T-bar may cause some of you to eat your hearts out. I know the feeling -- isn't that the most beautiful sight you ever saw? Thanks to Pat Patocka (Penryn, California for his three year long efforts in helping me track down one of these. It was found in Vietnam, even though it was manufactured in France. Pat and a non-insulator collector friend (who accompanied him to "Nam") brought back about six of the glass T-bars. They came from the telephone company in Saigon and are probably the only ones to have hit this country. Pat sold one of his and then managed to convince that buyer some years later (and five months ago) that I wanted the insulator more than he did. At this point I closed in! The photo below shows the glass T-bar standing next to an unmarked, but almost identical, porcelain insulator also from Saigon via Pat. He seems to think the porcelain is a Vietnamese reproduction of the French glass one. It measures a bit wider and taller, as you can see.

Joe Maurath (now of Abington, Massachusetts) had such a good report on E.I.V. insulators under "Research Division" in the January 1977 issue of Crown Jewels, that I am presenting it again, in case you missed it. He says it better than I could have. 

(The following is in reference to a letter from Ron Witt appearing on page 29 of the October 1976 issue of Crown Jewels.) 

Dear Ron, 

I read your report of your E.I.V. insulator in the October 1976 issue of Crown Jewels with interest. I have some information that I'd like to pass on to you which will shed some light on its origin. 

Your insulator was made by the Saint Gobain Glass Works, Sediver subsidiary, in Saint Yorre, France. This firm exists today and makes all sorts of glassware. 

The initials E.I.V. represent the words: Societe European D'Isolateurs en Verre, which translates about as: European Society for Glass Insulators. 

There are numerous E.I.V. pintype insulator styles; some of which might still be being made today. In Most About Glass Insulators, Third Revision by Milholland, there are a number of Sediver insulators listed from their 1970 catalog. Depending on the size of your insulator, it is CD #1065, 1066 or 1067, as you will note in that book. 

About ten years ago Sediver exported many suspension insulators to this country and were used by various utilities. These green glass insulators were advertised as being more resistant to breakage than porcelain ones and "three" times the tensile strength of comparable rated porcelain insulators. These "Toughened Glass Insulators" as they were called, never became too popular, despite their commendable strength, because the glass was tempered. If chipped, tension in the glass would release, violently shattering all of the glass part of the insulator. Since these insulators commonly were used to insulate power lines carrying substantial voltages, a shattered unit (or units) would cause trouble. These insulators were sold in the U.S. by the A. B. Chance Co., Centralia, Missouri. Seven types are shown in their 1966 brochure; all but one has a 10 or 11-inch diameter disc. They offered a 7-inch diameter insulator for low voltage distribution. 

It is possible their pintype units also were made from tempered glass, as well as the insulator you have, which undoubtedly was intended as a secondary rack or deadening spool.

I hope this information will be of interest to you. 
Good Collecting, 
Joe Maurath, Jr. 
East Weymouth, Mass.

- - - - - - - - - -

I managed to pick up several insulators on the 1977 trip to Europe. which included East and West Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia. Hungary. Austria, Switzerland, France and Morocco. But the bulk of my French E.I.V. collection (except the large spool and the T-bar) I bought while in Paris.

Our stay in Paris, which was near the end of the month-long trip, lasted four days. Everything you hear about this city is true -- both the good and not so good! What a fascinating place it is! Our youth hostel (Auberge de Jeunesse) had an ancient creaky elevator to carry us up and down its four floors. On one wall of this elevator hung a large mirror -- I'm not sure why. There was another group of American students staying at the hostel at the same time, but not related to us in any way. Their behavior was not always the best (Our group, of course, was perfect.). It might help to add that the French are not real fond of American tourists, anyhow, period. Now that you have the picture, I will tell my story: 

It was the middle of the night -- 2:00 A.M., in fact. The students in the other group were scheduled to leave the next day, and some of their boys were restlessly wandering up and down the halls. They succeeded in ripping off the elevator mirror and leaving it on the roof! The proprietor of the hostel was absolutely furious and looked for someone to blame -- naturally. The other group denied any knowledge of the incident and moved out -- naturally. So our people were held responsible, and in order to appease an irate innkeeper, who wanted to oust us, Father Brock "grounded" all 27 of the students. This news was met with great disappointment, because we had one more day left in Paris, and it had been left free to shop, explore or rest. We'd done all the duty sight seeing -- museums, cathedrals, parks, art galleries, even took a boat trip and rode to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The kids were ready to cut loose for a day and have fun, and I had given a thought or two to finding some insulators. The owner of the hostel had supplied me, during happier hours, the address of one of Sediver's electrical supply houses at the other end of the city. Father Brock finally agreed to let each chaperone take up to three students and still go shopping or whatever. Upon hearing this, I latched on to three of our biggest boys. "Look," I said, "You're coming with me!" And the four of us rode the subway (Metro) to ETS PERTUS, MATERIAL ELECTRIQUE, 11 & 13 Rue des Arquebusiers. All the way there, through four subway stops and changes, I out-shouted those three boys, finally convincing them that if they would go with me to find insulators, I would then go along with them to do what they wanted. We arrived at our destination at 12:00 noon, just as the store was closing, which the storekeeper informed us it did every day and remained so until 2:00 P.M. "Come back then," he said through a small crack in the door. "Oh, but we can't!" I objected. He finally relented and let us in, but he was extremely suspicious that we were up to no good, and in his faltering English asked what we wanted. When I told him, he was sure he'd heard me wrong, so I repeated my answer. You know the rest -- slow smile -- look of utter disbelief -- and finally he let out a loud guffaw (how humiliating!). 

He shouted a few orders in French to the other employees who had begun to gather close to listen. Each trip from the back room produced another insulator and another laugh. We had almost (almost) more than we could carry. Some, of course, were duplicates, but all were E.I.V. and mint glass! I paid a relatively modest sum for the whole lot and received a bill of sale for customs. The trip back to the hostel by Metro was both amusing and treacherous. Have you ever tried to hang on to the overhead strap of a crowded subway with a couple of insulators in each hand, and all your pockets are full, too? Now multiply that by four. And oh, the stares! The boys were so embarrassed. I was, too, but it was worth it. We left the insulators at the hostel then and spent the rest of the afternoon poking around through Paris' Left Bank with its Bohemian life-style and lower prices -- certainly much more student-oriented than the very fashionable and proper and more expensive Right Bank. 

The following day, the mirror had been replaced in the elevator and our very full plane took off for Casablanca, Morocco, with twenty-seven students, ten chaperones, the remaining passengers, tons of souvenirs and my insulators. I thought I heard a familiar voice coming from somewhere at the back of the plane. It said between clenched teeth, "Up, insulators, up!" 

Morocco proved to be a fascinating place, but that is another story ...... 

Are you still wondering what happened to the boy on the fourth floor balcony in Naples? The movie ended, Father Brock and the others came back to the hostel just in time. One of the other boys crawled out on a ledge next to the balcony, grabbed hold of the unhappy youth and pulled him back to safety. This still gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. The incident brought out the best in every one of those kids -- they all let him know they loved him, and he was not left alone a minute for the rest of the trip.