Porcelain Insulator News
by Jack H. Tod

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", February 1975, page 17

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.

Les Lidtke (Meriden, Conn.) reports having a porcelain U-408, the first such report of this one showing up. It is a tan color, top rest, mold line and with 1-3/8" pin hole.

Note that Les also reported the glass N.E.G.M. insulator just like a porcelain U-406 (see Nov. "74 CJ, page 29). These styles plus the U-405 were all cataloged in 1908 by New Lexington.

Image text: 476,827. WIRE-CLEAT. ALBERT P. SEYMOUR, Syracuse. N.Y. Filed Mar. 21, 1892. Serial No. 425,674 (No model.) Claim--1. As a new article of manufacture, a wiring-cleat having a base and top formed, respectively. with a recess and projection extending practically the whole length of the cleat and provided with two holes for clamping-screws, all as described, whereby wires may be bent and clamped at two points near the ends of the cleat and at one or more points between the clamping-screws. 2. As a new article of manufacture, a wiring-cleat consisting of the two elongated pieces A B, formed with clamping-jaws extending practically the whole length of the pieces and adapted to head the...

Errol Q. Bond (Fullerton, CA) recently sent two early Pass & Seymour wiring cleats for my inspection.

The first one is a 3-wire non-reversible which is marked "PAT. JUNE 14, 1892 / P & S", and is covered by the patent #476,827. The base part has a concave mating surface, including the wire grooves, and the top has a convex surface. The top piece has projecting studs at the sides of each groove, including a projection around the screw holes, and there are corresponding depressions in the base piece. These are to keep the wires in place away from the mounting screws -- much the same as the later B & D design

The second cleat (not shown here) is a "reversible" version of this, but a 2-wire cleat. Each piece has a convex mating surface on one end and a concave surface on the other end. It does not have the projections at the side of the grooves to keep the wires away from the screws. This cleat is marked with an embossed "P & S".

Dear Jack: Have you ever seen an insulator made of a "mica material"? I saw this one in an antique shop last week, and it would have been mine if I believed it were truly old. It was shaped roughly like the enclosed sketch. Is it real? Steve Shearer, 
RR #1, Box 242 
Franklin, Indiana 46131

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Dear Steve:

Yes, pin types and most other forms of insulators have been made of various compositions including "molded mica" as Johns-Manville called theirs. Some telegraph styles are relatively common, but cable types are not, and I have not seen one like your sketch. You'd better believe it, they are real, and I think you missed a goody. Hopefully, you may be able to find your way back to that antique shop if you're now convinced. 

Jack

Image text: 1,882,486. INSULATOR. WILLIAM H. COLE Abington, Mass. Filed Apr. 20, 1928. Serial No. 271,567. 1 Claim. (Cl. 173-314.) An insulator comprising a pair of sister hooks of insulating material and arranged side by side, a supporting bracket on which the hooks are coaxially pivoted, each hook having on the side thereof which faces the other hook a projection extending from the hook body a sufficient extent to be flush with the outer face of the other hook member, the projection of each hook member being so disposed and of such dimension as to extend from the tip of the other hook member to the shank thereof at a point opposite the hook when the hooks are in closed relation, whereby there is formed a closed eye having a dimension in a direction parallel to the axis of the hooks equal to the combined transverse dimension of both hooks in said direction, with the top of the eye spaced from the pivot of the hooks a distance at least equal to the length of the eye.

Note Frank Anderson's insulator pictured in the Jan 1975 column. This patent (April 11, 1932) seems to fit it, so I guess we can say this in a tree insulator.

This sheds some light on possible vintage but not on the manufacturer of it.

	Image text: 126,721  DESIGN FOR A STRAIN INSULATOR Lorell John Schilling, Brookfield, Ill., assignor to Babson Bros. Co., a corporation of Illinois Application August 2, 1940, Serial No. 94,134 Term of patent 14 years. The ornamental design for a strain insulator, as shown.
	Image text: 126,722  DESIGN FOR A LINE INSULATOR Lorell John Schilling, Brookfield, Ill., assignor to Babson Bros. Co., a corporation of Illinois Application August 2, 1940, Serial No. 94,135 Tem of Patent 14 years The ornamental design for a line insulator, as shown.

Note Jerry Turner's SURGE insulator shown in the January 1975 column, and also the other porcelain SURGE in the Nov. 1971 Crown Jewels. The above two Design Patents of April 22, 1941 cover these two insulators, and maybe if someone cares to track down Babson's employee Schilling, we can find out more about them--especially how the #126,721 was used as a "strain" insulator.

Jack

Dear Jack:

I have come across a porcelain insulator that I know nothing about and which I've sketched here (which is U-180B as shown at right). I need to get some idea of its value so that I may trade it for some glass.

This piece is a beautiful mottled cobalt blue and in mint condition. It has no marking.

I also have this in white except that this one has a shallow wire groove and is embossed O-B on the edge of the dome.
Rick H. Jones 
5618 Hollyhock Dr. 
West Carrollton, Ohio 45449

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Dear Rick:

Ohio Brass Co. cataloged this style for many years, and it is common in various brown glazes. Even so, it is a very popular "hat" shape and sells for about $2 in brown. It is also one of the shapes collected in color sets, and the blue, white and mustard colors are a bit hard to come by. The blue and white are about $10 items and the mustard somewhat higher. As far as I know, it doesn't exist in green. Your shallow groove version sounds as if it would approximate the U-180 style in the chart.

Nearly all these have the O-B marking, but weak embossings are obscured by any heavy glaze, and you're stuck with calling it a No Name if the marking doesn't show up. Ones without marking are naturally less desirable than ones with a bold O-B marking.

Jack

Image text: 1,869,397. INSULATOR, CHARLES L. STROUP, Oak Park, Ill. Filed Mar. 16, 1929. Serial No. 347,539. 13 Claims. (CL 173--318.) 2. As an article of manufacture, an insulator comprising a body of porcelain having a helical flange, said flange being tilted upwardly throughout its length to form a water collecting and conveying channel.

For all you fans of Spiral and Helical pin types, here is patent #1,869,397 of 8-2-32 (filed 3-16-29). It is interesting to note that the patent is not assigned to Lapp whom Stroud was working for at the time of this creation or to J-D whom he went with subsequently.

There are several other patents on this general idea in the same 1930-36 era, one by Ohio Brass Company.

Dear Jack:

Enclosed is a photo that might be of some interest. These are insulators from the Soviet Union; specifically they're from Riga in what used to be Latvia. They are 4-1/4 by 2-3/4 inches and made of white porcelain.

They have an inner skirt and the threaded pin hole is somewhat smaller than in our insulators. The embossing (on crown top, per above photo) includes a "69" and some symbol that doesn't mean anything to me or the person who got them for me.

Also pictured is a small porcelain knob that was taken from the same crossarm as the other insulators. It stands about 7/8" tall.
Jim Rorobaugh 
919 Drake (#131), 
Davis, CA 95616

Collectors keep asking me for information about the Buller's marking shown here, and I myself see insulators with this marking occasionally, mostly on various beehive shapes.

This is a foreign insulator company, and I have no information on it. If any reader can supply details on the company, we'll publish them in the column.

Matthew Hauffman (Beltsville, Md.) sent a January '74 newspaper clipping about General Electric's insulator plant in Baltimore, and this prompted a letter to G.E. to find out if possibly they planned to resume manufacture of pin types again. The reply, in part:

... Yes, this operation in now called Locke Insulators, Inc., which is a joint venture between General Electric Company and N.G.K. Industries, Ltd. The latter company in an insulator manufacturer with headquarters in Nagoya, Japan.

We have no plans to start manufacturing pin-type insulators....

Note the marking listed for Arrow Electric Co., Hartford, Conn. on page 22 of the Dec 1974 column. The trademark was registered (#67,282) Jan 28, 1908 and should be corrected to that shown here.

Following is more history on porcelain manufacturers.

BOCH Porcelain

When porcelain collectors think of Boch, they usually are referring to the BOCH PATENT #600,475 of March 8, 1898 and its importance in the early history of pin type high-voltage insulators. That story is well known by most collectors because of being published a number of times in insulator collector circles, but there is more to the name Boch than just that one patent.

Mr. John W. Boch, Sr. was a ceramics expert with the R. Thomas & Sons Company for many years, and he had other patents besides this popularly known one. He left Thomas in 1907 and was succeeded there by his son, John W. Boch, Jr., who was with the Thomas interests for many years, only to later ally himself as a consulting expert with Westinghouse (at Pittsburgh).

Out of order to preserve later continuity of this story, John Boch, Sr. became associated with Cassius M. Metsch in 1919 in the Boch-Metsch Porcelain Co. in the manufacture of electrical and heating porcelain. This plant was located at the northeast corner of 3rd and Harrison Sts., Newell, W. Va. -- just across the river from East Liverpool. The history of this plant is:

Boch withdrew from this operation in 1922, and the company name became Metsch Refractories Co. It is still in operation an Metsch Refractories, Inc. with a Chester, W. Va. address. They manufacture dry press electrical porcelain and electrical refractory porcelain used in the electrical apparatus, controls, appliance and heating industries. I have no knowledge of whether the Boch-Metsch Porcelain Co. manufactured during the 1919-1922 period any "insulators" as we collect them.

Back to when John Boch, Sr. left Thomas in 1907, he then formed his own company for the manufacture of electrical porcelain. The plant was located at the northeast end of 6th St., Newell, W. Va. I do not know if he made any standard porcelain insulators there nor of any markings that can be attributed to that company. Its history was:

In 1937, he bought another facility in East Liverpool (Klondyke area), and the name became Specialty Porcelain Works. Its location was the west side of Pearl Street at Michigan & Elizabeth Streets. Its history was:

I have no current information on the company, but it was still in operation recently. This plant did make standard porcelain, and the marking on nail knobs and #334 cleats was SPW and S.P.W. Their marking on specialty porcelain insulators was also S. P. W'KS.

The moral of all this is that, if you can't come up with an early Thomas pin type with the BOCH PATENT marking, you can keep your eyes open for a nail knob marked SPW!

American Porc.

This plant was located on the southeast corner of 2nd St. and Cherry Ave., East Liverpool, Ohio. History is:

American Porcelain was founded in 1914 with the purchase of the factory of Croxall Pottery Co. and also that of G. W. Croxall & Sons. The product was changed from tableware to electrical porcelain.

The founders consisted of W. J. Curry, W. A. and T. J. Andrews, formerly owners of Adamant Porcelain Co. (1907-1915) in East Liverpool. These men were also officers of Ohio Porcelain Co., East Liverpool, and which was bought by General Porcelain Co. in 1913.

Some dumpage remnants remain at the old plant site, including standard porcelain cleats and knobs marked "AMERICAN". A U-98 pin type was found in the area, and it had a customer marking (previously reported in Crown Jewels)

Anderson Porc.

Located south side of Harvey Ave. between Myrtle and Putnam Streets, East Liverpool, Ohio. History is:

The factory was built and production started in 1900. Officers were T.F. Anderson (Pres.), T.B. Anderson (V.P.) and G. O. Anderson (Sec-Treas). In the beginning, only tubes, cleats and knobs were made, but in 1905 a line of pintype and strain insulators was added.

No pin types have been found which can be definitely attributed to Anderson Porcelain Co., but several specimens of knobs have been found in the area of the old plant which have a marking "A. P. Co.".

The plant was bought by (merged into) General Porcelain Co. in 1911. When G. P. Co. built their large new plant in Parkersburg, W. Va. in 1913, all its other plants were dismantled and the equipment sent to Parkersburg. This old facility was sold by G. P. Co. to Louthan Mfg. Co. in 1916 (formerly Louthan Supply Co. until 1916). Louthan moved all their facilities to the Klondyke area in 1922.

Illinois Electric Porc.

This plant in located at 510 N. Pearl St., Macomb, ILL. Its history is as follows:

Illinois Electric Porcelain was founded by C. W. Kettron in 1910 and operated by the Kettron family until sold to T. M. Evans in 1951.

The product was originally only dry process electrical porcelain consisting of knobs, tubes, cleats, etc. A line of dry process pin types was also made. Production was advertised and sold under "The Macomb Line", and the original trademark (unregistered) was MACOMB.

The trademark was changed to Triangle-M in 1-1-15, and this was registered (#107,575) on 12-14-15.

A trademark "BULL-DOG" was used circularly on nail knobs commencing July 1, 1918, and this was registered (#172,397) on 8-8-23. A script form of this trademark was also used since July 1918 and was registered (#198,982) on 6-2-25.

Later trademarks were used on wet process porcelain insulators only. One was "ILLINOIS" registered (#502,121) on 9-14-48 and claimed in use since Dec. 1935. Another was the "Illinois Map Outline" registered (#515,543) on 5-3-49; claimed use since 1926, but I have Illinois specimens with this marking and dated as early an 1923.

Illinois also commenced the manufacture of wet process insulators in 1915, including pin types and other forms of high voltage insulators. This is now the main product.

The plant was bought by McGraw Electric Company in 1953 and operated by their subsidiary, Line Material Co. The marking used on wet process pin types was changed to "I.E.P." in 1954, which stood for Illinois Electric Porcelain - and later Illinois Edison Porcelain.

In 1957 the McGraw Electric Co. merged with Thomas A. Edison Industries to form the McGraw-Edison Co. The insulator plant become Illinois Edison Porcelain Co., Division of McGraw-Edison Co.

The pin type marking was changed in early 1958 to incorporate the Line Material Co. (L-M) trademark.

In May 1967 two divisions of McGraw-Edison Co. (Line, Material Industries and Pennsylvania Transformer) merged to form McGraw-Edison Power Systems Division, and the insulator marking was then changed to the current M/E type.