CD145 Brookfield Postal

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", April 1973, page 3

Question sent in by Dick Mackey, Painesville, Ohio: Enclosed is a sketch of a CD 145 Beehive (reproduced on page following) that is somewhat different. I found this in a small antique shop in western Pennsylvania. It is the usual dark Brookfield green, and if you will note, the upper edge of the wire groove diameter is about one fourth of an inch larger than the lower, giving it somewhat of an umbrella effect. The sides of the dome also are reduced slightly.

In reply to Dick Mackey: The Brookfield CD #145 style that you have indicated is the Postal variation. It is smaller, has a lower wire groove and generally a longer pinhole cavity than the comparable Western Union style. The upper lip of the wire groove doesn't always protrude as much as the one you have drawn, but it is a characteristic often found in that particular Brookfield. If you can find one of the very few existing Postal lines that was kept in service after Western Union bought them out, you may find many of these; or they can be found scattered on railroad lines where Postal glass was borrowed for replacements. But they are far less common today than the larger ones used by Western Union and the railroads. (By the way, if you compare this insulator with a POSTAL CD #145, you will find it essentially the same.)