Last month we reported that Ken Bergstrom won first place at a show for his display of ramshorn insulators. We wanted to say a few more words about his exhibit. Many of the specimens in his collection were removed decades ago from a telegraph line that ran up Mt. Washington in New England. Ken was fortunate to acquire the cache of items from the family of the man who recovered them. Ramshorns, composite insulators that were mounted in blocks of wood, were among the earliest styles of insulators invented. They were widely used in the 1850's. However, the Mt Washington ramshorns are believed to be newer than that. Still, they are fascinating relics of by-gone times.

In the picture below, Ken shows off one of his favorite ramshorns. It's a Lefferts hook, a ramshorn of metal held inside an insulating cylinder of glass. Marshall Lefferts supplied wire and insulators to the burgeoning telegraph industry from the late 1840's into the early 1860's.