1983 >> August >> Letters to the Editor  

Letters to the Editor

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", August 1983, page 40

Dear Dora: 

The following in answer about the ashtray advertiser of American Insulator Corp., as reported by Fred Collier in the June 1983 CJ, pages 26-27.

This company (as "American Insulator Co.") is listed in the index of my book "Electrical Porcelain" for two entries. One is on page 117 in a list of a number of manufacturers of composition insulators most likely to have manufactured insulators related to power distribution applications. The other is on page 169 showing the company's "AICO" trademark registration #159,796 on 10/10/22. (Not shown there, but they made this application 9/24/20, and their claim for first use of the trademark was December 1916.)

Jerry Turner (Ohio) reported an identical specimen of this advertiser, and we wrote it up on page 30 of the June 1975 CJ porcelain column. I think we subsequently had a report of a composition pin type by this same company, but I can't just now locate the entry on that info.
Best regards, 
Jack H. Tod, NIA #13


Dear Dora: 

Just received my copy of C.J. for June, and the first thing I noticed was the pink slip neatly folded inside the cover. Thank goodness the days are past when a pink slip was such a bad one. Glad it is just a reminder to pay up for another year and that you haven't terminated me. I really look forward to receiving each copy, sitting in the swing on the front porch and digesting each article, including the ads, word by word.

I recall in particular the letters and pictures of a funny little slag glass item which some people mistook for an insulator. I believe Jack T. answered the questions and indicated it was a vintage ash tray for automobiles. It seems only a few years back, but I recall one a friend of mine had in his car. The car was probably a 1935 sport roadster equipped with two spare tires in the forward fender wheel wells. The little ash tray was green and white milk glass and was quite pretty, I thought at the time. It must have made a strong impression for me to have remembered it for approximately 50 years.

Keep up the good work with Crown Jewels, for I am quite sure there are many, many others who look forward to receiving it as much as I do.
Best of wishes, 
Malcolm Sanders



| Magazine Home | Search the Archives |