Born in England in 1866, immigrant Robert Good, Jr arguably influenced insulator production in the American West more than any other single individual in his generation.

Learning the glass trade from his father, Robert Junior arrived in Denver, Colorado area in 1895 to take over a glass plant that had gone out of production. The factory, actually located in the nearby community of Valverde, primarily produced bottles.

In an article in a Denver newspaper in 1896, Good is quoted as stating, "Orders are now in for about 100,000 soda bottles, beer bottles and pickle goods also form a large part of our output. This fall we expect to supply the bulk of the fruit jars used in Colorado and ultimately in the entire West."¹

The manufacture of insulators was mentioned in a May, 1897 magazine article which stated, "Among the articles manufactured are pickle bottles, olive oil bottles, half-gallon water ,bottles, catsup bottles, green packing bottles for druggist's use, and also pop bottles and insulators. The insulators are all handled by the Rocky Mountain Electric Company. Twenty men and boys receive constant employment. The ware is equal to the best manufactured in the East."²

Good produced insulators in four different CD styles that were embossed with his name. A fifth insulator attributed to Good's factory was the CD 288 Mershon (see page 32).

Among the many Denver area teenagers hired by Good to work in the plant was a young man named William McLaughlin. It was in Valverde that McLaughlin began to dream of owning his own glass plant, culminating in the production during the 1920's and 1930's of insulators embossed with the McLaughlin name. McLaughlin would describe Robert Good in the following words, "Bob Good was well liked by everyone in Valverde. He was an active church member and was good to the kids. He would stop by our house on Wednesday evening and he and my father would go to prayer meeting together where he really enjoyed the singing."³

Good's Goods

The smallest insulator made by Robert Good was the CD 106 pony. These are reported only in aqua. The example on the left sports a large bubble in the dome; while the example on the right is filled with milky swirls.

CD 134 insulators embossed "Good" are also generally found in aqua colorations, with sage and light green varieties also known. The insulator to the left, with heavy amber swirling, is an exceptional specimen of a 134. CD 121 tolls, as evidenced on the page opposite, are found in a dramatic array of colors. Royal purple R. Good's are tough enough to find, but the two tone purples, and the bright green examples, would be "top shelf" items in most any collection. Robert Good apparently used three molds in the manufacture of each style of insulator. The tolls, particularly, are found with one, two or three dots below the embossing to identify different molds.

May 1897 ad from Industrial Reporter

In his recollections, McLaughlin made the following comments about Robert Good's operation:

"The Valverde factory had a pot furnace with a tall brick chimney eighty feet high. Mr. Good had to make some changes in order to build a tank furnace. He had to remove the big clay pots that were under the chimney in order to install the tank. Coal was used to heat and melt the glass and there was a pit under the furnace into which the ashes dropped. A big wagon pulled by two horses was used to remove the ashes from the pit. To keep the fire extremely hot, the fire box door was kept open. An experienced man called a teaser would squat down on the coal pile and toss pieces of coal on spots in the fire box as soon as they began to look dark, thus keeping the fire and the temperature even."4

Mining for gold, silver and other ores still dominated the economy of Colorado and much of the American West at the end of the 1800's. Telephone and electrical power lines were rapidly expanded across the landscape. The demand for insulators was great. But there was no other major manufacture of insulators in the West during the period. EC&M and Cal. Elec Works production ended in the 1880's, and the California Glass Insulator Company didn't begin production until 1912. Insulators manufactured by Robert Good's company, and its successors, successfully competed against Hemingray and Brookfield, who's products had to be transported over much greater distances.

Insulators produced in Denver were found in use, not only in Colorado and New Mexico as one would expect, but on railroad lines in Arizona, telephone lines in the mountains of Northwest California, and as far away at the Postal Telegraph Line in Oregon.

Regarding colors, even before Good took over the factory, its predecessor was called the Denver Flint Glass Company. The manufacture of clear (flint) glass was well established prior to making insulators. Clear glass was the result of adding manganese to the glass batch. But manganese reacted to the ultraviolet rays of the sun to turn the glass purple over time. The more manganese was used, the darker purple bottles and insulators would turn under solar radiation.

Insulators used indoors and never exposed to the sun could remain off clear. Green colored insulators may have resulted from using glass originally intended for druggists bottles. However, amber swirling from other impurities in the glass can turn an otherwise aqua insulator into a one with green tones (see the example of the Mershon on page 33).

Robert Good's factory was destroyed by fire in June of 1899. Reportedly a glass furnace burst, and the molten glass set the building on fire. The cost of rebuilding the factory was too much for Good. He stayed around to oversee the reconstruction of the plant. But it opened in October of 1899 under new owners who operated under the name, Western Flint Glass Company. By the end of 1899, Good was living in New York.5 He continued a career in the glass business until he was in the eighties.

Insulators embossed W.F.G. Co. were only produced for about one year before the company was re-organized under the name, Western Glass Manufacturing Company. Insulator embossed W.G.M. were produced until mid-1909. Crown Jewels will print articles on insulators embossed with each of these names in future issues.

References:

1. Insulators: A History and Guide to North American Glass Pintype Insulators, by John & Carol McDougald, 1990, page 96.

2. Insulators: A History and Guide to North American Glass Pintype Insulators, by John & Carol McDougald, 1990, page 96.

3. Dreams of Glass: The Story of William McLaughlin and His Glass Company, by Fred Padgett, 1996, page 13.

4. Dreams of Glass: The Story of William McLaughlin and His Glass Company, by Fred Padgett, page 13.

5. Insulators: A History and Guide to North American Glass Pin type Insulators, by John & Carol McDougald, 1990, page 97.

6. Dreams of Glass: The Story of William McLaughlin and His Glass Company, by Fred Padgett, page 11.

Photograph of Robert Good, Jr reprinted from McDougald's book, page 100. 
Advertisement reprinted from McDougald's book, page 97.

Color photographs of insulators taken by Howard Banks. 
Crown Jewels thanks Mike Miller for allowing us to photograph his insulators for this article. 
Color printing is provided by Tommy Bolack.

CD 162 R. Good, Jr signals, often used for low voltage power, are found in several colors. Among the most desirable are sage green, off clear, and dark purple. Manufacturing flaws add character to any insulator, and the crooked, sleepy-looking dome on the one in the upper right corner is a prime example.

Coming up in 2005, Crown Jewels will run feature articles on insulators manufactured by the successors to R. Good, Jr: Western Flint Glass and Western Glass Manufacturing. In one of those articles we'll report on the unembossed two piece transpositions made in the Denver glass houses.

Many collectors believe that CD 288 power insulators embossed with the name of their inventor, R.D. Mershon, were manufactured by Robert Good, Jr at his glass plant outside Denver. Mershon is reported to have been an employee there at one period. So was a teenager, William McLaughlin, the future manufacturer of McLaughlin insulators. McLaughlin later recollected, "Things were going fine with regular insulator production until we received an order for a special high power insulator. The boy who was sliding the glass filled mold into the "V" shaped stop where I would remove the screw plug which made the threads, was sliding it too hard and all the top portions of the insulators were coming out checked. I was being blamed for these failures, and it was some time before I figured out what was wrong."6

After a week, McLaughlin traded jobs with the other boy. He was more careful about forming the top, and the insulators came out successfully. The CD 288 example shown above has significant amber swirling which gives the insulator an overall green appearance instead of the normal aqua. Also note how tall the base is. The height of Mershons varied by how much glass was put into the mold. For more on Mershons, see the inside of the back cover.