CD 155 Hemingray 45

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", November 1972, page 35

I am enclosing a sketch of the Hemingray #45 light straw or yellow tint (CD155) to use in your magazine. (See page following.)

I discovered the #45 clear (no drip points) and this CD design is very common, but I have never seen this color in any book or show. Out of 100 #45 Hemi's I got two years ago off the poles in northern Iowa (They were taking them down.), only 20 of them were this color. With the help of Mr. N. R. Woodward we came up with the following:

The base rim (Refer to sketch attached.) is small drip points known as knurled base. The base was made like this to allow free circulation of the air during annealing, so it is altogether different than the drip points which were intended to make a superior design. The KNURLED BASE was first used by OWEN-ILLINOIS about 1945, and since that time most Hemingray and Kimble insulators were made with the KNURLED BASE. These insulators were first used in 1938. In that year Hemingray and Whitall Tatum made sets of molds for manufacturing this style, and later Western Union and the Bell system adopted this method.

The 9-1:::::: on the insulator would be MOLD 9-51. Mold 9 1951 and the number of dots tell us when the insulator was made. I have yellow 45's from the years 1951, 52, 53, 54, 55, and 1957--although not all 45's made during that period are yellow. It was due to the variation in the glass batch.

Even the common clear #45 Hemingrays were made in the millions. During the 1950's open wire lines were coming down pretty fast, and insulator production was only a fraction of what it was ten years earlier, so there are not as many of these as made in 1940. This information is needed by all collectors who think the yellow #45 Hemingray is so common (in color), the main difference being the COLOR AND SMALL DRIP POINTS.

Best Wishes!
Brent Dingman
Long Beach, Calif.