February 1977 Porcelain Insulator News

Surely every collector is familiar by now with Dry Spot insulators and their common forms in porcelain pin types such as U-173 and U-188. I've made reference to "in line" types of Dry Spots before (not pin types), so here's more information for those interested in the subject.

The card below on patent 1,700,166 shows the customary form of these. I thought it interesting that A T & T didn't have a porcelain factory, so they figured they'd just whittle theirs out of empty Coke bottles! I can't see why such a creation wouldn't work just fine.

On the following page are illustrations of styles shown in a 1934 Ohio Brass Co. catalog. On a separate page they showed a photo of an actual railroad pole loaded with these devices, but it wasn't clear enough to survive reprinting.

Note that O-B had to make up special gadgets, since the Coke bottle design was already patented by A T & T.

I can't recall ever having seen any of these trinkets hanging from the railroad break circuit poles, but I suppose they must have been used somewhere by someone. Hopefully one of our readers will let us know about seeing them in use or having one in his or her collection.

Used for dead ending signal circuits, centralized traffic control circuits and telephone and telegraph lines. The device eliminates leakage over wire insulation and dead ending devices at the line drop points.

Porcelain bushing is installed on each line drop wire when dropping splice is made and taped, slipping the bushing over the drop wire, taping in position and sealing at upper end.

Ample area of petticoated bushing flanges plus petticoated pin insulators guard against leakage at drop and dead ending points. Insulation values of the control circuit are increased several times over use of other line drop schemes.

O-B Telephone Dry-Spot Bushings

A simple and effective method of securing the-desirable "dry spot" on telephone line drops to wayside pole boxes or stations, at lowest cost.

Bushing of highest grade wet-ware porcelain is flanged and petticoated for large leakage surface. It is slipped over line drop, located in position below crow arm by tape on wire and sealed with "pothead" compound.

Megger test under A.I.E.E. insula tion test specifications shows infinite resistance under maximum precipitation. Will fit all wires up to 5/16 inch diameter over insulation.

I found this article in one of our company papers. I work for the Southern California Edison Co. and had never heard of the "Redlands Insulator" before. Maybe some of the pros could tell us if it was glass or porcelain, the manufacturer and CD- number.... Thanks for a very interesting magazine.
W. F. Long,
Lakewood, Cal.

PIONEER SUCCESSES

In keeping with this year's Bicentennial Spirit of paying special recognition to historical events, it was felt that the following article describing some of Edison's early R&D "firsts" would be appropriate for this issue of the R&D Newsletter.

Southern California Edison's active Research and Development program has roots deep in the history of our company, for we and our predecessors enjoy a long tradition of pioneer achievement in the technology of the utility industry. Some of these achievements today seem comical, others minor, but all were widely acclaimed in contemporary literature. Although some of these early efforts were not resoundingly successful, they, along with the widely heralded projects, indicate the inquisitive, pioneering spirit that has always been part of our Company and its predecessors.

When Dr. Cyrus G. Baldwin, President of Pomona College, suggested, in an 1890 town meeting in Pomona, that a waterfall up in San Antonio Canyon might be tapped to generate electricity, no one in the room realized that a key advancement in electrical technology was in the offing. Because it was his idea, Dr. Baldwin was made chairman of the committee to investigate the "water-power" plant.

A tremendous obstacle confronted the "Pomona Development." In 1890, virtually all generating plants, whether steam or water powered. were Direct Current (DC) installations using the technology perfected by Thomas Edison during the previous decade of the 1880's. Unfortunately, these DC plants could only transmit energy about three miles. The problem facing Dr. Baldwin was how to design a system that would bring the electricity generated at the canyon waterfall fourteen miles into Pomona.

Perplexed, Baldwin consulted with A. W. Decker, an electrical engineer living in Sierra Madre with a reputation for innovation. Decker knew of experiments in Germany with transmission of high voltage Alternating Current (AC). Convinced that the feat could be duplicated in San Antonio Canyon, Decker set about designing generators and a transmission system. The core of the solution was a "converter" (transformer) of novel design, capable of stepping up energy at 1100 volts to 10,000 volts.

Armed with Decker's specifications, Dr. Baldwin took a train for Pittsburgh, where, after weeks of frustrating negotiation, Westinghouse agreed to build the "experimental contraption", but would not guarantee it to work. Baldwin ordered the equipment built.

On December 28, 1892, machinery installed and tested, switches were thrown and electricity was successfully delivered to Pomona via a 14-mile-long 10,000 volt transmission line. This pioneer installation achieved world wide fame as the longest distance, highest voltage system, the first to use the "step-up, step- down" transmission principle so common today. Baldwin's power company was merged with two others in 1897 to form the Edison Electric Company, SCE's predecessor corporation.

While the Pomona plant was nearing completion, Engineer Decker was asked to design yet another power plant, this for Henry Sinclair's Redlands Electric Light & Power Company. The new company was desperately searching for a way to fulfill a contract made with the Union Ice Company in Mentone to run their huge ice-making machinery.

Decker solved the problem by designing a hydro plant on Mill Creek and transmitting the power over an AC line similar to his Pomona installation. The real innovation lay in the generators. Decker described them thusly:

"...radically different equipment must be designed which will generate electricity at split-second intervals from three points on the generator fly-wheel."

The brand new General Electric Company agreed to manufacture equipment to Decker's radical specifications, and the new powerhouse took shape in Mill Creek Canyon. Unfortunately, the innovative engineer never saw his novel plant in operation, for he died of tuberculosis two months before it was completed.

On September 7, 1893, the Mill Creek Powerhouse was completed and the first three-phase generator in the United States was placed in commercial operation. Still in operation today as SCE's Mill Creek No. 1 plant, the powerhouse is the oldest active in the country.

In 1897, the brand new Edison Company was desperately short of power for its rapidly growing Los Angeles market. Henry Fisher, whose Redlands Company had just merged into the new electric company, suggested a site on the Santa Ana River to build a powerhouse. James A. Lighthipe, a young electrical engineer recently hired away from General Electric, was asked to find a way to bring the three megawatts of Santa Ana River power 65 miles into Los Angeles.

Although the highest transmission voltage then in use was only 15,000 volts due to limitations in insulator technology, Lighthipe proposed to build a 30,000-volt line. Convinced that insulators could be designed to carry the increased load, Jim Lighthipe traveled to the Locke Company in Trenton, New Jersey. At the factory, he whittled a block of soft ceramic clay into a suitable high-voltage insulator design, which shape became known to the industry as the "Redlands Insulator."

When the Santa Ana No. 1 plant went into service in February 1899, it was hailed by the Industry for having "broken the insulation barrier" in long distance transmission.

During a long career with Edison, Jim Lighthipe organized the first formal R&D organization in an operating utility company. Many notable achievements came from this group, including the first all steel tower transmission line (energized in 1907 as part of the Kern River No. 1 project, the towers were fabricated by a windmill company), the first suspension insulator installation in the west.

(Big Creek 150 KV lines in 1913) and the spectacular conversion from 150 KV to 220 KV in 1922, which made Edison the first utility in the world to operate a 220 KV system. Although Lighthipe died in 1924, he saw the start of a ten-year-long joint research project with Caltech's High Voltage Laboratory, where voltages up to one million were experimented with.

During the 'twenties, Edison's neighbor utility to the east, Southern Sierras Power Company (which later became Calectric), looked to geothermal steam to solve its power shortage. In those days the company's service area included the Imperial Valley. Henry Siegfried, a Southern Sierras engineer, reported favorably on the hissing steam vents on Mullet Island near the Salton Sea as a site for a geothermal power plant similar to those then in use in Italy. At that time, although the Geysers field in Northern California was known, no geothermal development was going on in the country.

Drilling began on March 18, 1927 to take advantage of the "cool" winter temperatures in the desert valley. Steam and water were found at 700 feet. Despite an infestation of scorpions and hellishly hot weather, work continued. Well Two was begun in October -- Well Three six months later. Unfortunately, although steam was found in profusion, the same highly saline water that hampers development today so befouled the machinery that eventually Mullet Island was abandoned (to the relief of the drillers, who were afraid of the scorpions).

Few will disagree that these histories of early power development are very interesting to us, maybe even more than the development of the insulators involved. Many thanks for sending this article, and we've printed it in full. (Dora said she wasn't a "pro" on the insulators involved and sent it to me for comments on them. Jack)

The insulators on this Pomona line in 1892 were probably Locke glass insulators, since ones like the Locke #16 and #17 (CD-297 and CD-300 respectively) were used up to 20 Kv and 33 Kv respectively in later years.

Sinclair's Redlands Electric Light & Power Go. rapidly expanded, starting with the Mill Creek plant mentioned in the article, and collectors have found some real goodies from old lines in that area. Some were early Locke porcelains, as evidenced in the following letter from my files:

Dear Sir: Yours of the 23rd inst. at hand. We think your porcelain insulators of 10,000 volt use as sent us for the Riverside line were quite good enough for such purpose. In regard to the Riverside line, it is twenty-one miles long with two side branches of seven miles and two miles respectively, all operating under 10,000 volt and using your insulators entirely. The line has been in operation since last November, and carries an average load of 300 horsepower. We have passed through a number of very severe storms for this locality, and the insulators have done their work to our entire satisfaction.
Yours truly,
Redlands Electric Light & Power Co.
by H. H. Sinclair, General Manager

Locke records show that 21 miles of 10,000 volt line in Redlands used the Locke #3 insulator (U-923). This insulator was in use on various U.S. lines from 5.5 to 15 Kv, and on one line in N.Y. state at 25 Kv!

The "Redlands Insulator" mentioned in the article originated as the U-935 shown here, and cataloged by Fred Locke as the Locke #4, rated 20 to 35 Kv.

Note the error in the article about "the Locke Company in Trenton", etc. Fact is, Lighthipe contracted Locke for the insulators, and they went to Imperial Porcelain Works in Trenton to develop the design. These were 3-part glazewelds, and all were made by Imperial for Locke. They all carry Imperial markings (no reference to Locke). Most bear manufacturing dates of late-1898, which agrees with the February 1899 date for the startup of the Santa Ana No. 1 plant.

Porcelain power insulator development paralleled construction of early lines, mostly in New York and California, and development of particular insulator designs was well covered in the trade journals. This resulted in some of these widely publicized ones being tagged with names such as "Niagara E", "Redlands", etc.

In later years other companies copied the publicized U-935 and referred to it as "The Redlands". These were U-746 as shown above (not glazewelds). It was the Pittsburg #70, Thomas #1069, Locke #64 (all by 1912 or later). The New Lexington catalog didn't even give it a number -- just listed it singularly as "Redland" (sic.).

Considering the interesting history of insulators such as the U-935, it's no wonder collectors chase after these old classics. But don't get wrapped up in nostalgia to the point where you think you can still buy a U-935 for its original 1897 factory list price of $.80 each!

(1) A brown strain insulator with this marking. It's 3-13/16 long and 2-1/2" at the widest point.

(3) A pin type Sim U-299, cobalt blue with this marking. The marking is very difficult to read but looks about like that. This is on the skirt.

The Diamond-F in the marking on your strain indicates it was made by Findlay Elec. Porcelain, and I believe the "WE" part of the marking is for Westinghouse Electric.

Your white rack spool was made by I-T-E Imperial Corporation (Victor, N.Y.), and the marking (when clearly impressed) is as shown at the right.

Your U-299 was made by Lapp (pre-1928), and the correct nature of the incuse handstamp on it is as shown here. They cut two notches into the marking stamp for dating purposes (various spots for each date coding), and this chops up the L-I initials in the monogram.

For many years various porcelain insulator companies have cataloged these particular screweye insulators as Emily Knobs, and I've never been able to track down the origin of this name. In all cases, the portion of the metal encircling the porcelain is knurled. Do any of you know where the name "Emily" originated??

Or how about this one. Everyone has always called these "C B. Knobs", and they are used for telephone drop wires. It is fastened to the building with a metal bridle ring to afford a swinging mount for the wires. Surely one of you fellows can give us the answer on where the term "C. B." comes from.

I just acquired this wall-through tube from an old, abandoned railroad depot. It is white, unglazed, and has an embossed Diamond marking. Can you tell me anything about this?
Noel D. Hatfield
BOX 75
Stromsburg, NB 68666

We've attributed the Diamond marking to Diamond Porcelain Co., Trenton, N.J. I know nothing of the history of this company except that it was one of several companies which merged in 1913 to create General Porcelain Co., Parkersburg, W. Va.

Although many of the smaller porcelain insulator companies made only the common tubes used for house wiring, some made a general line of tubes -- all combinations of diameters from tiny to very large and lengths from very stuby to very long. Tubes also came headed, unheaded and split. You can visualize the thousands of possible combinations for even one company.

As with one-wire cleats and standard porcelain knobs, it makes sense to collect only "types" -- one of each style and size, and one item of any kind with different company markings represented.

Hi again -- from a glass insulator collector who used to come across with a porcelain now & then, plus a question on porcelain now & then. Up until now I was just glass (& happy!) with the exception of a few nice color porcelain, but then I started finding more porcelain, & more questions, & then of all things -- I bought Jack Tod's latest book, & here we are at the beginning of a new story.

It's a great book & in 3 days has taught me more than I knew about porcelain in 4 years of collecting glass. What can I say that hasn't already been said except "thanks from Jeff". I do have some questions & will have plenty more as I go thru your (my) book.

Now for some porcelain help. I have what I think to be a U-908 or thereabouts in baby blue color. It has a pin hole "thimble" and a Top Rest for firing. It has a brownish- color underglaze stamp (Mfg. Jan. 1931.).

The question on this real pretty insulator stemmed from your story on "Pittsburgh High Voltage Insulator Co." (pages 134-136 of your book). (Which noted PHV used this characteristic glaze color and also the manufacturing dates on some insulators. J.T.)

I may be full of unimportant questions, but if just once I have a question that may help someone else by your answer, then it's worth all the effort....
Jeff Franklin,
Ripon, Wis.

This insulator was made by Jeffery-Dewitt Insulator Co., Kenova, W. Va. They made all forms of large uniparts, up to 13-1/2" skirts, by the casting process and used this characteristic "J-D Blue" on all insulators above 23 Kv including the suspension disks (all as stated in my book). Most of these have the normal J-D marking plus the manufacturing date in the exact form you have, but some have only the date stamp and not the J-D stamp. Thus, any of these cast two-skirter uniparts with "J-D Blue" glaze and manufacturing date in this form were made by Jeffery- Dewitt.

Pittsburg did not make unipart two-skirters like this, and the date stamps they used were in an earlier era (1911 to 1915 or so). Hope this clears up any confusion.

Your story about how you got bitten by the porcelain bug is rather typical of how it happened to all of us. We may be outnumbered by glass collectors, but we certainly make up for it with our enthusiasm.