It seems like a broken record as often as I've said, "There seems to be no end to new porcelain insulators to report." I am still amazed at what people report and what I am able to find. A lot of people complain about eBay providing a market for "stained" glass and the occasional reglazed porcelain. However, several one-of-a-kind porcelain insulators have surfaced. I'm talking about old porcelain made by Fred Locke, Lima, Thomas, and New Lexington. We will report a few of them this month with more to come in the future. 

Chris Sistrunk lives near me in southeast Texas. He is an electrical engineer for Entergy, the local electric utility. So, Chris has plenty of opportunity to check out the company's dumpster for unusual insulators. To his surprise, he recently found one insulator like none other he had seen. It appeared to be a new glazeweld style - but what are the odds of finding such a rare animal in southeast Texas? When Chris showed it to me I knew right away that it was different. And turning it over to check the petticoats verified that it was a 2-pad glazeweld, too. It is rare to find a new glazeweld style and unheard of in Texas.

Chris' insulator was assigned U-747. From the glaze the insulator may have been made in the 1910's, which is the latest time period for a glazeweld. The glaze has a look of Ohio Brass but it could be Triangle M, too. After close examination, I found a faint recess-embossed O-B marking like marking No. 5 in Jack Tod's Porcelain Insulator Guide Book. The bottom left quarter of the marking is partially visible where the glaze is thinnest. 

You might think it odd that Ohio Brass would make a glazeweld style. Ohio Brass made three other triple petticoat insulators with glazewelds: U-926, U-926B, and U-933. And don't forget glazewelding used on three other O-B insulators: U-186 (Purkey patent), and fogbowls U-854 and U-855.

Bottom view of U-747.

Doug MacGillvary captured one rare eBay find for his threadless collection. Doug is an avid collector of threadless porcelain insulators many of which were made during the Civil War. His collection is the only complete collection of all the known 22 threadless styles and many are one-of-a-kind specimens. We use the term "porcelain" loosely to describe these early threadless insulators. The only true porcelain threadless insulators are the Elliot styles. All the other threadless insulators are actually made of glazed pottery. Doug's tiny threadless insulator is the smallest style known. It was assigned U-972A. The backside has a large chunk missing, which clearly shows the crude, threadless, glazed pinhole. It also has a large depression in the top, but the drawing was made flat across the top. The insulator is has a clear ash glaze.

Paul Birner has been very patient with me. I have been very busy the past three years working on a book associated with my work (www.TexacoHistory.com) and could not find the time to properly respond to his report of two new unipart styles by getting the drawings made. One was a very important find of a new Fred Locke insulator. This new style was assigned, U-972. It is 7-3/8" in diameter and a 3-part glazeweld! To make it even more exciting, it has the rare Fred Locke marking #0-1b. The "VICTOR" is much larger than PATENTED as shown below:

Paul Birner's U-932 with Fred Locke marking #0-1b.

Bottom view of 3-part glazeweld, U-932.

U-932 was shown as No.4 in Fred Locke's catalog No.5 (1900) and No.6 (1902). It was rated for 33,000 volts with a guaranteed test voltage of 66,000 volts in 1900 and 70,000 volts in 1902! That was stretching the truth. The glaze color was white in 1900 and available in white or brown in 1902.

No.4, THREE-PART,  PORCELAIN INSULATOR Standard model for transmission up to 33,000 volts. Three shells, fused together with glaze. Guaranteed working voltage, 33,000. Guaranteed test voltage, 66,000. Diameter, 7- 1/2 in.; height 4-1/4 in.; weight, 3-1/2Ibs.; packed 60 in bl. Price, each......45c No.5 Fred Locke catalog (1900)  showing U-932 in white.

Paul also reported a U-675 with Fred Locke marking #6-2. It is the only U-675 reported with that marking. And, Paul reported the first U-675 with marking #4-5! The photo below shows both U-675's with the U-932.

U-675 (left) #6-2; U-932 (center); U-675 (right) #4-5

Paul also reported a new style of 3-part glazeweld with the large insulator logo marking VICTOR R=oo. It is identical to the 2-part glazeweld, U-933. This new style has been assigned U-933B.

In the next PIN we will report a super find for a Fred Locke ink-stamped insulator. And, you will not believe the journey this insulator has made! An old piece of paper more than 30 years old tells the story.