More About British Porcelain Insulators
Last month,
if you will recall, we talked at length about AI (Allied Insulators) Industrial
Products Inc., located in Great Britain. This large diversified company produces
porcelain insulators of many types, and other electrical equipment used the
world over. Just as a review, let me point out again that the formation of the
present day company took place in 1959 with the amalgamation of two existing
companies -- Bullers Ltd. (dating back to 1840) and Taylor Tunnicliff &
Company Ltd. (founded in 1867).
Mr. N. R. Woodward (Houston, Texas) returned
home from a trip to England recently and brought back such a wealth of
information concerning these two companies, including their catalogues, that I
would like to share some of it with you in greater detail. For now, I will zero
in on Bullers Ltd., and save Taylor Tunnicliff Ltd. for a later date.
Again, in
review, you remember that the story of Bullers began in 1840 with the foundation
of a small family pottery business by Mr. John Buller in the village of Bovey
Tracy in Devon, England. Though the firm produced only kiln
"furniture" in the beginning, with the coming of the electrical age
the company moved to the center of the pottery industry, Hanley in
Stoke-on-Trent, and began producing electrical insulators. By the year 1868 it
was an established supplier of insulators, complete with iron work. In 1885 the
metal foundry of Jobson Brothers at Tipton in Staffordshire was purchased, and
the new company, Buller, Jobson & Company Ltd., was formed.
In 1890 the firm
became a public company, and the name was changed to Bullers, Ltd., and this
company, along with Taylor Tunnicliff & Company Ltd., merged to form AI
Industrial Products Inc. Now we have come full circle!
The drawings of the
porcelain insulators that follow are from a Bullers catalogue put out by their
London office at the time the company was still called Buller, Jobson &
Company, which means the date was somewhere between 1885 and 1890. All of these
insulators were available upon order by the customer. Though I did not include
them, the catalogue also showed drawings of shackles, terminal insulators,
bobbins, "leading in" insulators, battery stands and telephone
fittings. You will notice the drawings are shown without threads, even though
all were threaded, with the exception of 467 (underarm insulator) and 581 (knob
insulator). At least I am assuming this to be true, since too many threaded
specimens have been found to deny that fact. Also note the ones that were, or
could be made, in two pieces if desired 430, 470, 476 and 521. It is
interesting, too, to see that they used the word "shed" where we would
say skirt or petticoat.
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One thing that really intrigued me was seeing that 499,
500 and 537 were porcelain inserts made for use with an outer iron hood! The
November 1980 issue of Crown Jewels (page 8) carried a picture of some very old
telegraph insulators used on the Overland Telegraph Line (1872) between
Adelaide and Darwin in Australia. These insulators had outer iron hoods or
shells with inner skirts of porcelain! They were referred to as the armoured
type. In the one that I have the porcelain part is nearly all broken away, so
that I cannot tell you whether or not it was marked in any way. This is an
extremely heavy old insulator, still on the original metal pin, and I would not
part with it for anything! However, it is entirely possible that Bullers
supplied the porcelain inserts for these. Why not? Australia was part of the
Commonwealth, and certainly many styles of British insulators have been found
there.
Also notice 374. Looks familiar, doesn't it? You and I have been thinking
all along that this old telegraph insulator was made in Australia because it is
so commonly found there, and is certainly different in shape from most
insulators we think of as appearing English. But here it is in Bullers
catalogue! I wonder why none of these were marked.
Now take a look at 545. This
is listed in the catalogue as Gisborne's Canadian. I have one just like it with
the incuse marking BULLERS LTD, LONDON. It has taken on new dignity since all
this information has come to light!
To find British made insulators in Canada
and Australia should not surprise us, because they were part of the
Commonwealth, but it is a bit of a revelation to see that way back in 1895
Bullers was supplying insulators to South America, India, Spain, Norway, Sweden
and Italy! Check your foreign porcelains against these drawings. Maybe some of
your Italians, Indians and Swedes have English blood!
Mr. Woodward has in his
possession an old advertisement for railway insulators manufactured by Bullers
Ltc., which states that the company supplied insulators and fittings for
conductor rail and overhead systems in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, India,
Poland and South Africa. Since Bullers made insulators for railway
electrification, and so does one of the divisions of AI Industrial Products Ltd.
today, this would be a good time to show you a chart that Mr. Woodward put
together for us on British Railways. Beside being a topnotch authority on
insulators, he is also quite a Railroad Buff! He and his British friend, David
Benny, followed many miles of track, and combed railroad yards to get pictures
and gather information, and generally had a "jolly good time"! His
explanation follows the chart.
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