Preferably direct porcelain news items and questions directly to Jack H. Tod, 3427 N. 47th Place, Phoenix, Ariz. 85018. All mail will be answered if reply stamp is enclosed, and the most newsworthy items and questions of general interest will be published as space permits.

Dear Jack:

I have a U-403 that is quite strange in that it doesn't have the usual Lapp marking with date and the L-I trademark, but instead has just the name LAPP stamped around the skirt four times, equally spaced. What is your opinion on this marking?
Ed Stoll, 
LeSuer, Minn.

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Dear Ed:

Several others have asked the same question in the past year or so. I don't have the slightest idea why Lapp did this, but they must have had a good reason, since it obviously took more time to do it that way. Since these were made in the early 1930's we'll probably never know the answer from factory records or Lapp workmen. 

Jack

Hi Jack:

In the November 1974 CJ column you mention a U-388 Helmet Dee Willett got from me. I have had others of these and also I have a brown, wet process U-297A (Similar) which has this identical large S stamped into the crown. I think these were maybe used on the old Portland Traction Company lines but I have no way of knowing for sure. I'm sending to you one each of these S specimens for your reference and retention.

I haven't found too many odd insulators in and around Portland. The good ones seem to be in the Seattle area. They used a lot of butterscotch colors and Pittsburg MLOD in that pretty light blue, all very old and crude.
Chuck Irwin, 
Portland

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Dear Chuck:

Many thanks for the specimens, and these definitely are Thomas items. We'll probably never know why they were just stamped with that large S instead of the THOMAS seen on most of these same insulator styles made by Thomas. This S is a very characteristic type style quite unlike any S I've ever seen in other Thomas marking stamps.

(Note: Chuck specializes in white porcelain, and anyone wanting one of the S items might contact him for a swap).

Jack

Dear Jack:

My friend has this porcelain insulator pin base and, not having any reference on porcelain insulators right now, I know nothing about it. Could you give me some information on it such an value use, patent date, etc.?

It's approximately 4" tall, 3" wide, tan glaze, unglazed top and bottom. It has on the bottom a handstamp marking PAT'D MAR. 13, 1893 / Fred M. Locke
Steve Fujimoto 
Altadena, Cal.

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Dear Jack:

Recently I received an insulator found along the old Telluroid (Telluride?) line near Provo, Utah. This porcelain sleeve was on a pin between the wooden cob and the pole top "ridge iron" on which it was mounted. The bolt has a round head above the wooden part with two small bosses pinched out on the shaft part so that it won't turn inside the cob. There is a reddish compound between the bolt and sleeve. It is 3" tall, 2-5/8" wide at the base, unmarked, mottled light and dark brow glaze except for the bottom and top surfaces. The top surface has several concentric grooves cut in as I showed in my sketch.

Can you give me any information on it? Who made it? It's use? Vintage? Etc.?
Doug Bushnell 
Salt Lake City

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We've run the answer to this at least once before (see May 1972 CJ, page 15), but it's time for a rerun with the question asked a dozen more times -- twice in one mouth.

As pictured immediately above, these are "porcelain base pin assemblies". These were sold complete as show here, ready to install.

They were originally a creation of Fred Locke, and the patent involved is #493,434 of March 14, 1893 (note the March 13 error in the marking stamp). The idea was to effectively lengthen the flashover distance from the conductor to the crossarm pin bolt.

The small bosses on the bolt under the head keep the wooden cob from turning on the bolt to facilitate tightening the nut when installing and also so the cob will not turn when screwing on or off the insulator. The concentric ridges and grooves on the top surface on some (not all) of these porcelain bases are a friction device to keep the porcelain and wooden parts properly aligned.

Subsequent to the 1910 patent expiration, these pin assemblies were made and sold by other companies, notably Illinois and Ohio Brass, possibly until the late 1930's. They come in a great variety -- size and length of the porcelain, size and length of threaded cob, length of the bolt, etc. They are procured just as any other poleline hardware item (poles, crossarms, brackets, wire, etc.) and have nothing to do with the procurement of the insulators. The only requirement is that the pin size and style must be compatible with the insulators bought for the line.

Porcelain base pins have some collector appeal as a "related item", and the complete pin assembly is very much more desirable than just the porcelain part of it. Value would range from very little for unmarked porcelain bases alone up to maybe $20 or more for complete assemblies of early vintage with Fred Locke marking & in good condition. Anything in between these extremes would be valued on a "what you can get for it" basis.

Jack

(June) I just received my advance complimentary copy of the porcelain commemorative item for the National Insulator Association 6th Annual Convention, and these are really things of beauty. They are a hollow cast item, butterscotch glaze, identical shape to the U-390 Locke roman helmet, slightly reduced in size. Dick Alumbaugh really did a splendid job on these. See June CJ, pages 4-5 for complete description.

This is another example of the producer of such items working closely with the NIA to evolve a design which is a creditable addition to our collectible items and yet not being classed as "objectionable" because of being alterable to simulate a genuine insulator.

(Note: For those not getting to San Diego, the balance of the 500 serial numbered specimens are for sale by mail while they last. See ads in CJ.) 

Jack

Dear Jack:

In the February 1975 issue of Crown Jewels, you sent out a plea for information on the Buller's Limited trademark. I have several Buller's insulators marked "London" so I wrote to my cousin, Michael Griffith-Jones (a delightful Welshman complete with monocle); he is an officer in the House of Commons in London, England. As a result of his contacts, I received a letter and brochure from Stoke-on-Trent which I think will be of interest to you and our fellow collectors.

During my visit to England in November 1974, I was fortunate to obtain a couple dozen different porcelain insulators but so far I have not been able to locate them in your book or supplements.....
Major Alex J. Burnett 
Vermilion, Alb., Canada

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Dear Alex:

All CJ readers are indebted to you for your pursuit of this information, and selected portions of your transmitted material are included below. Of the numerous foreign porcelain manufacturers of insulators, these English ones are of greatest interest to collectors since their insulators found use around the world. Many collectors have specimens undoubtedly made by these firms.

Your insulators are not in my book because it is necessarily limited to items of U.S. manufacture. Insulator collecting is evidently only a U.S. and Canadian fad, and I know of no person over here who has the energy, time or purpose to travel the world and spend several years researching the numerous foreign insulator manufacturers and their products of the last 100 years. We continue to be quite ignorant about the subject.

Jack

Allied Insulators Limited

Brief History of the Company

ALLIED INSULATORS LIMITED was formed in 1959 by the amalgamation of Bullers Limited with Taylor Tunnicliff & Co. Limited, two of the largest electrical porcelain manufacturers in the United Kingdom. It was a fitting merger, for the history of each company follows a remarkably similar pattern of progress and technical development during the last 100 years.

The story starts in the year 1840 with the foundation of a small family pottery business by Mr. John Buller in the pleasant Devon village of Bovey Tracy. The main products of this firm were "spurs and stilts" or kiln furniture, an important accessory in the firing of pottery ware even today, and a ready market existed for these items in North Staffordshire where the large English potteries were already established. It was not surprising, therefore, that after a few years of development, this family business was, in 1865, moved from Devon to Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent to be at the centre of the pottery industry.

With the coming of the Electrical Age, the company, using considerable foresight, commenced production of electrical insulators, and by 1868 was established as a supplier of insulators complete with ironwork.

Development continued rapidly and the Company, working in close cooperation with an Electrical Engineering firm of the time, was associated in the design and development of many low tension insulators. The specification for the screw thread inside a telephone insulator, together with the supporting spindle was developed by co-operation between the Company and Mr. J. H. Cordeaux, after whom the screw thread is named. It is interesting to note that this specification is still in use today. Also a telephone insulator designated T.129 was first supplied to the British Post Office in 1887 and apart from slight modification, this same insulator design is still in current use throughout the world.

In 1885 the metal foundry of Jobson Bros. at Tipton in Staffordshire was purchased, and the new Company, Buller Jobson & Co. Limited was formed. Then in 1890 the firm became a public company and the name was changed to Bullers Limited.

The other branch of the family was established in 1867 when an engineer by the name of Thomas Taylor and a potter, William Tunnicliff, went into partnership. They combined the skills of potting with that of engineering, to specialise in the manufacture of pottery having a high degree of dimensional accuracy, a feature uncommon in general pottery at that time. They opened a small factory at Shelton, near Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, for the manufacture of ceramic door furniture, handles, lamp containers, hermetically sealed jars, etc. All items were associated with metal parts thus requiring a certain amount of precision in production. It was not long before the factory at Shelton became too small and production was transferred to larger premises at Eastwood, Hanley. After the retirement of William Tunnicliff in 1895 a Private Limited Company was formed.

It was towards the end of the 19th century, whilst the electrical age was still in its infancy, that both Companies embarked upon the specialised production of insulators. Steady progress followed. Bullers Limited built a new factory at Milton, just outside the Potteries, and production started in 1920. Taylor Tunnicliff & Co. Limited erected a new factory at Stone in Staffordshire where they commenced manufacture in 1922. In 1926, a factory was obtained by Taylor Tunnicliff at Longton, in the Potteries, and this plant was utilised for the production of ceramic refractory formers for electric fires, cookers and other heating appliances. Yet another factory was obtained in 1928 in Hanley, known as Electric and Ordance Accessories & Co. Limited, where small turned ware and die-pressed insulators were produced.

Both the new factories at Milton and Stone were designed for production of high voltage insulators, and development and enlargement has been necessary at both plants during the passing years in order to keep abreast of the demand for ever larger insulators. A series of extensions, which took place at Stone and were completed in 1951, doubled the original output whilst the most recent expansion programme at Milton was only completed in 1967, after the two companies had amalgamated.

Alex also enclosed the above postal cancellation used by the company, and it should be of interest to collectors because of their trademark in it.

The logo used by Allied Insulators Ltd. is shown at the right. Keep this in mind, since it wouldn't be unusual for insulators to turn up some day with a marking based on this logo.

Dear Jack:

In the Hartford Faience Co. insulators, I have the A105 (hat distribution), A106, A107 and A108 (3 cable types) and the A115 (3" closed-end strain). Do you know if they started with A100 and what the numbers went up through? 
Lew Hohn, 
Rochester, NY

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Dear Lew:

All Hartford items I've seen have their H trademark plus the catalog number like the example above. Here are numbers from the Hartford catalogs I have; some missing numbers may have been made but not cataloged.

• A105 = U-292A or somewhat similar 
• A106 = U-627 
• A107 = U-464A 
• A108 = U-645 
• A109 = U-722A 
• A110 = U-731         (A111 with 1-3/8" pin) 
• A112 = U-751 Sim  (A113 with 1-3/8" pin) 
• A128 = U-363 
• A130 = U-503 Sim (4" tall) 
• A147 = U-399A 
• A605 = U-528 or U-529A (A606 with 1-3/8" pin) 
• A607 = U-529 or approx. (A608 with 1-3/8" pin)
• A117 - standard 3" secondary rack spool

Strains are: A99, A100, A101, A102, A103, A114, A115, A116, A118, A119, A133, A134, A135.

Multipart pin types are: A157, A160, A163, A189, A287

Suspensions are: A124, A125

Jack

Dear Jack

My porcelain insulators were driving me crazy. I just couldn't catalog them sensibly, so I traded all 358 of them for glass insulators with Ed Allander (Duncannon, Pa.).

Since then, I have collected a few more and one in particular is a Locke which I have never seen before. Would you kindly look it up for me?
Henry Novroski, 
Swoyerville, Pa.

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Dear Henry:

Don't let the porcelain insulators drive you crazy; just buy the standard reference books on porcelains and catalog them like everyone else. I presume you are not trying to understand or catalog your glass insulators without obtaining the primary reference books on glass insulators. I consider several of them indispensable, and Woody's CD- chart as indispensable as the porcelain U- chart is for cataloging the hundreds of styles.

Your insulator here is old hat to porcelain collectors since it's just one of the 939 porcelain pin type shapes in the porcelain U- chart (Universal Style Chart).

This is a U-816. Locke also cataloged a 10" version (U- 816A) and a 11" version (U-816B). They billed them as their "TOUGHTYPE" Hi-Tops, and they came about from the experience that flat disc suspension units were less often damaged by malicious acts than were pin types. The large U-816 skirt has no electrical function and is there solely to ward off the bullets and rocks from down below.

The Locke factory drawings for this series are dated Feb 9, 1933 and contained seven sizes. The 6-1/2", 9", 12", and 14" sizes were not cataloged, so we didn't put them in the U- chart. If any of those ever do turn up as having been made, we'll put them in the chart.

Since I've never seen any of these in use in my travels and there are so few collectors reporting them, I suspect they may not have been a popular seller with utilities. They may have also had a similar problem to that of the ill-designed U-414 made and sold by Victor Insulators, Inc. during the 1930's. These had a high failure rate for high impulse, steep wave front voltages (lightning, that is).

If anyone else out there is being driven crazy trying to catalog their porcelains, give me and some of the other porcelain fans a chance to trade glass for them. Ed can't have all the good deals like that!

Jack

Large Image (175 Kb)

Here is a page from a 1927 Thomas catalog which is pertinent to past discussions in this column about transposition insulators being used for series arc lights. But what they can also be used for doesn't alter the fact that these designs are all nominally transposition insulators.