As a number of you already know, I started back to school in January in preparation for a second career. It must have been the academic influence that perpetrated the following dream sequence:                                                 
                                                                                                             

A dream! Yes, the events described above were a figment of my imagination, but they occurred AFTER I saw my first Hemingray threadless. Pictured (on the following page) is the first, to the best of my knowledge, CD 732.2 embossed (F-Crown) PATENT/DEC 19 1871 (R-Crown) 1. The shape is identical to the CD 131.4, the old Hemingray Number 1 style, except for being threadless. It is a three piece mold (CD 131.4' s came in both two and three piece molds). As often happens, news, and in this case good news, often comes in bunches. In addition to being threadless, it is light sun colored amethyst (SCA) and the pinhole formation appears to meet the specifications of the Floyd Threadless Patent.

The Floyd patent has been covered twice in Crown Jewels of the Wire (7/78 and 4/86 articles by Ray Klingensmith). so I'll only comment briefly on it. The principal is fairly evident from the accompanying drawing. The intent was to form a larger cavity at the top of the pinhole and use a pin that would expand when it reached the top. It would lock in place due to the ledges HH' of the insulator and the shoulders GG' of the pin. 

Why didn't Floyd's patent. which seems like a pretty good idea at first, catch on? First of all, Floyd's patent was issued in 1867, so the threading process was already in existence. In addition. in correspondence with N.R. (Woody) Woodward. he indicated that the expense and inconvenience associated with the development of the mandrel for this type of pinhole would probably be prohibitive.

The insulator itself sheds some additional light on potential problems. While the top half of the pinhole is oval in shape, per the patent, there aren't really any ledges HH' for the pin to lock over. The formation of the top of the pinhole is crude with lots of stress fractures. This indicates to me that when the mandrel was expanded (by whatever method) to form the cavity at the top of the pinhole, it wasn't done under pressure and must have been withdrawn quickly because the glass had a chance to run before it solidified. As a result, the transition to the larger cavity is gradual, rather than sharp as it is shown in the drawing. I suspect that even if I had a pin made to Floyd's specifications, it would slip in and out of the pinhole. 

Ray speculated in his earlier articles that Floyd probably had actually produced some samples (confirmed by earlier finds) based on the way he worded his patent application. He also speculated that Hemingray may have been involved in that production. This find confirms that suspicion. In many ways, I feel like the discovery of this insulator is one of the "missing links" in the history of insulator production. It helps close the gap in that era when conversion from threadless to threaded was taking place, and it ties another patent to a known insulator manufacturer. For those of you who will be able to attend, this special insulator will be on display at the Denver National. Stop and visit at the Crown Jewels of the Wire table and take a look.

I am once again reminded that in this hobby, it's wise "never to say 'never'"! Oh, by the way, one more thing -- this jewel was found on a pin, still up in the air, mounted on a house - BELIEVE IT OR NOT!!!