Insulator Identified - Leonardson Patent

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", January 1981, page 21

This interesting item was sent in by T. P. Feddersen. He found it when he was going through some old magazines before tossing them out. It was printed in the December 28, 1971 issue of Collector's Weekly, a magazine which is no longer published.                                                                                                             

THERE WERE no correct answers received identifying the "What Is It?" which appeared in the Nov. 16 issue of Collector's Weekly. 

According to the Scientific American it is an insulator for electric wires. One side of the insulator is cut away and provided with a concave laterally projecting lip, having a transverse groove adapted to receive the wire. On the insulator is pivoted a lever, formed with two oppositely arranged cam segments, having grooves in their outward bounds to receive the wire: The lever is provided with an arm having a cross arm, made with hooks on its ends. The wire is placed in the concave lip when the arm is in a vertical position, and the wire is clamped between one of the cams and the concave lip, by turning the arm into a horizontal position, when the arm is held by the hook being brought into engagement with the wire. 

With this construction, the wires may be readily strung and securely fastened, and when it is desirable to remove them, they may be readily disengaged by releasing the lever and turning it to a vertical position. The body of the insulator has a circumferential groove, which permits of applying the usual binding wire, if desirable. 

The insulator was patented by John M. Leonardson of Ludington, Mich. in Sept., 1886.