A Visit to Sediver Yields Exciting Discoveries! 
By Lis & Jim Bergman

Lis & Jim Bergman have been actively researching French insulator manufacturers for many years and have developed excellent relationships with French museums and the world's largest glass insulator manufacturer, Sediver. Thru their contacts and visit they were able to present the following report that I want to share with you. My comments (as editor) are noted in [brackets].

"We recently had the privilege and a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the glass factory of Sediver at St. Yorre, France. It was an exceptional visit and we were fascinated to watch the factory at work. Unfortunately, Sediver closed for good in May 2004; their products now being made in China."

"Although we were fascinated with how the factory worked we were awed at the small museum that Sediver had put together in 1998 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the factory. From photographs of the founders, the family Laurent, to photographs of the factory and the working men and women, to the fruit jars L'ldeale that they manufactured, to the huge busbars and suspension pieces of modern times, to some very old insulators."

"This is not an article on Sediver but on several extremely interesting insulators that they had at the museum. For the most part we had seen most of the old insulators that they had but there were a few exceptions. The first insulator of particular importance was made by L'Electro Verre - a U-12 [This is their catalog designation and not to be confused with U-numbers used to classify porcelain insulators].

This insulator shows up in a catalog of the early 1950's under L'Electro Verre. The 1950's U-12 has a smooth base, is 100 mm (4 inches) tall and has a 90 mm (3-1/2 inches) base diameter. The diameter of the screw shaft is 20.5 mm (13/16 inches) and length of screw shaft 40.5 mm (1-5/8 inches). This insulator has a square groove to "support the wire better.""

"By the early 1960's this insulator had changed in size a little. It is now listed under EIV. [Editor's note: EIV is short for Europeenne d'lsolateurs en Verre" (European Glass insulators). This trademark is found on some of Sediver manufactured insulators, and according to GIFONA 2nd Revision this trademark was dropped in 1988].

The base diameter became 92 mm (3-5/8 inches) and the diameter of the screw shaft had changed to 25.4 mm (1 inch). The most significant change is that the insulator now has drip points. This insulator known as a CD 155 has never been found in France nor do we know if it was produced in great numbers.

"[The 1960's EIV catalog mentions "the export packing quantities, volume and gross weight" for this particular insulator and the catalog is written in English. This indicates they were planning to export these insulators which may explain why no discoveries have yet been reported. I am aware of another European insulator manufacturer competitor that produced insulators with drip points, CD 400 that was exported to Morocco and New Equatorial Guinea. Perhaps the EIV CD 155 with drip points was created to compete with Esperanza, S.A. who made CD 400 and CD 154 insulators with drip points].

"The U-12 shown in the photo is with almost identical dimensions. The base diameter is 90 mm (3-9/16 inches). It too has drip points but it only appears in the early 1960's EIV catalog."

"The second insulator, also made by L'Electro Verre, is an "isolateur d'arret a coupe circuit." [translation: spool insulator with circuit cup]. We are familiar with the spools this company made: catalog #152 became A-21; #156 - A-22; #158 - A-23; #157; #171 and #173. This company also made spool insulators with a glass flange protruding horizontally from the top. This is insulator #154 (see photo and diagram). It appears in a 1948 catalog and continues to appear in later catalogs but it always kept its original number. See top photo on the next page.

"The other photographs show two interesting and very different insulators made by the Verreries Charboneaux (Charboneaux Glass Factory) at Reims. They are high voltage pieces - "a haut isolement par huile" (having upper insulation by oil). The first photo is model #7661 in three pieces. The height is 230 mm (9-1/16 inches), base diameter 160 mm (6-5/16 inches), diameter of the pinhole is 31 mm (1-1/4 inches)." See bottom photo on the next page.

"The second photo is of model #7665. This insulator is in four pieces with two sections of the insulator "having upper insulation by oil." The height is 302 mm (11-7/8 inches), diameter 305 mm (12 inches), and diameter of pinhole 35 mm (1-3/8 inches)." "A 1940's catalog of the Verreries Charboneaux also shows #7660, a larger size of the same insulator #7665. Height is 350 mm (13-3/4 inches), diameter 375 mm (14-3/4 inches), diameter of the pinhole 42 mm (1-21/32 inches). See top photo on the next page.

I suspect there were probably three other sizes following in numerical sequence but have no documentation for a #7662, #7663, or #7664. Several of the 7000 series of numbers appear in a 1911 catalog although none of these particular insulators are shown. They possibly appeared later than 1911 but by the 1940's only the #7660, #7661, and #7665 remained in production."