Letters to the Editor

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", August 1984, page 32

Dear Dora,

I purchased a CD 145 recently. It has an H in a circle on the top, but no other markings. It is Hemingray aqua, but larger than the bar-bar no name Hemingray. Wonder if anyone else has uncovered one of these.
Sincerely,
Jim Woods 

Dear Dora,

I am writing to see if you might have any information on an "insulator" that a friend of mine found. It is definitely not a traditional insulator, but is a glass doughnut (see sketch on page following). She replies, "Are you kidding!?" The insulators were suspended under a porch, and the telephone line was still in them, although it had been cut at the box. 

From the age of the house and his knowledge of glass bottles and insulators, my friend guesstimated that the doughnuts are of the 1900-1915 era. 

They are clear with some SCA coloring, usually on one side and probably the side exposed to the sunlight. They are various sizes and thicknesses, looking handmade, as if various sizes of glass tubing or rolled glass were rolled into the doughnut shape, and, presumably, after cooling, the joint where the glass was connected appears to have been ground to various degrees, possibly to remove any roughness. Actually, it looks like a very effective insulator!

Any information that you or Crown Jewels readers might have or be aware of would be most welcome.
Thank you.
Jon McIntire, NIA #793
520 S. Mason St.
Harrisonburg, VA 22801 

Dear Dora,

In response to F. G. Butler's question in your May '84 issue regarding rubber insulators: We have eleven different insulators made of either hard rubber or a rubber and fiber combination. The only two that most collectors would be familiar with would be the Continentals you show in this same May issue on pages 21 and 22 and another very much like CD 154. This latter one comes in at least three different variants and has been used extensively by railroads and telephone companies as replacements for damaged glass. As to the effectiveness of rubber, you might better judge after reading my experiences below.

Prior to retirement from Pacific Telephone Co. I was a repair foreman in charge of maintenance on a long distance open-wire line from San Bernardino, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada. We were plagued by shooters destroying the insulators, so about 1968 we began replacing glass with these then new rubber CD 154. The change soon backfired on us. The shooting escalated because the shooters when firing expected to see the glass shatter and rain down. This didn't happen, of course, so they fired several more rounds at their chosen target, and eventually a bullet would break the wire.

After several months of this we decided to put back the glass and in some areas even left spare insulators on vacant pins to tempt these "Dead Eye Dicks" away from the working wires.

As to the other rubber items in our Museum, we are relatively sure two of them came from France. The rest can't be traced to any source.

By the way, we invite all our collector friends to visit our place. We're into "go withs" and telco history in a big way and love to share.
Vic and Lynn Sumner
12608 Browning Ct.
Grand Terrace, CA 92324