Patent Pages
by Ray Klingensmith
Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", June 1978, page 20
The Combination Safety/Safty
This month, rather than a "patent", let's try a "patent applied
for". The unusual insulator this month is the Combination Safety. The CD
139 has some unanswered questions concerning its date of manufacture, use, and
inventors. I have not yet been able to locate a patent copy on this item. The
insulators found so far are embossed "PAT. APPL'D. FOR.", so a patent
may well have been granted.
The earliest information we have on this unit is an
ad which appeared in Telephony (Volume 18, No. 24, ca. 1900). This ad appears
on the following page. The unusual "ears" were designed in a manner in
which to receive the line wire and to prohibit the wire from dropping without
the use of a tie-wire. It's been reported there is also a listing of this item
in an Edwin C. Lewis catalog, ca. 1908-1910. This firm existed in Boston. In the
1912 Brookfield catalog it is listed as their number 63. What we have so far is
a very rare insulator appearing for sale from 1900-1912. This seems rather
unusual. One explanation could be that perhaps this unusual design was very
unpopular, that Brookfield had made a design no one wanted, and therefore it
took a long period of time to sell the ones already produced.
Up to this point
there seems to be a little mystery. Now comes the surprise promised last month -
a Combination Safty! What's a Combination Safty? It's an insulator similar in
many ways to the CD 139, yet different in many ways.
Fig. 1 - "Safety", side view. No tice the rounded wire groove and
tapering ears. |
Fig. 2 - "Safty", side view.
No tice squared wire groove and ears
with sharp corners. |
An early Combination Safety ad by Brookfield in Telephony, Vol. 18,
No. 24, circa 1900. The ad states the Combination Safety is "designed to
prevent dropping of line wire to crossarm, if the tie wire breaks, and to
eliminate the necessity of tying to every insulator". This is the revised
model, which indicates the Safty must have been produced before 1900. Notice
Brookfield's address listed at 2 Rector Street, New York.
The first noticeable difference in the two variations is the embossing error.
Safety is misprinted Safty. Notice in the photos and drawings the difference in
the wire groove. (See figs. 1 and 2.) The "Safety" has a wire groove
which tapers into the dome and skirt areas. The "Safty" has a more
defined groove with sharp edges. Notice, also, how the ears attach to the body
of the insulator on the two different styles. On the Safety, the ears are
"rounded into" the body. On the Safty, the ears project straight out
from the body, similar to the ears on a Columbia. (See figs. 3 and 4.)
Now let's cover a little history on the Safety/Safty which may shed some
light on the reason for the different styles. The first one to become widely
known in the hobby is the Combination Safety owned by Jarl & Karen Anderson
of East Freetown, Massachusetts. Their Safety was found in southeastern
Massachusetts on the outside of a building. Another one (which was sold at the
Florida National) has been traced to have originally been located in the
southeastern Massachusetts area also. A third unit somehow or another turned up
in Alaska. Hans Kettenburg was very helpful on supplying info on the Alaskan
unit, and stated he believed that one was found in the Anchorage area. That
makes a total of three Safetys, all of which were found between 1969 and
1972. The Safty appeared last year, and has been traced to Pennsylvania. Exactly
where in the state it was located is unknown; in fact, it may have changed
owners a couple of times before making its appearance in that state. At the
present time, I know of only one of these.
Why are there two styles? In corresponding with Jan Anderson (who was very,
very helpful), we seemed to agree on many opinions as to the explanation of the
two variations. Let's assume the Safty was made first. This more than likely
would have been done in the late 1890's. The "ears" and sharp wire
groove edges would be very prone to damage. The manufacturer, realizing this,
may have decided to "re-work" the mold and produce a mechanically
stronger insulator. This could very easily have been done. The result would be
the modified "Safety". The evidence of this actually having been done
is very apparent. The two styles are exactly the same size. On the Safty
embossing the word Safty is centered perfectly under the word Combination. Jarl
reports there is evidence of a possible TY being blocked out under the ETY in
Safety on his unit. All the letters have the same characteristics (some
positioned lower or higher, etc.). This, to me, is enough evidence to show a
high possibility of all these units being made in the same mold.
It's interesting to me, with two variations known, and with this item having
been advertised from 1900-1912, that only four of them have been located. This
is also true of many other "no tie-wire" types. The main reason for
their unpopularity with utility companies back in the "good ole days"
was due mainly to the fact that the line wire would sag or drop to the ground
for hundreds of feet on a circuit, should the wire be broken at one point. I'd
guess a very small fraction of Saftys ever were sold, due to the fact that a new
version was made. More than likely most of them were taken out of storage and
remelted, as glass companies didn't waste glass. The same could be true of the
Safetys. Perhaps one shipment went to Alaska and another to southeastern
Massachusetts, and the rest were destroyed.
Figs. 3 & 4 - Top view of the 'Safety" and
"Safty". |
photo by Hans Kettenburg
Front view of the "Alaskan Safety". A real beauty! |
photo by Jan Anderson
Notice Safety is written off-center, indicating the mold was reworked
for the Safty. |
The Combination Safty! A real surprise to the hobby. Notice Safety,
Safty emb. similarities. |
Side angle view of the Safty, showing the "ears" with a
little more detail. |
Anderson photo
Back view of the Safety. |
Three of the four units were definitely used on lines, as very minor wire
abrasions can be seen in the groove. Jarl suggested that "possibly this
style could have been for use with wires held in a somewhat vertical strain...
say for service drops or running wires from one floor to another outside a
building." This sounds very logical, as the "ears" would lend
themselves to this type of application. And Jarl mentioned their unit has a
slight wire abrasion, which indicates a vertical trend.
That's all on these items. A big thanks to A. L. Rash for his assistance in
initially confirming the difference in the two styles; to the Andersons for the
photos, drawings, and information; to Hans Kettenburg for the information and
photo of the "Alaskan Safety"; and to Larry Harmon, who sent the 1900 Telephony
ad to Crown Jewels. To Bob Pierce, for now, let me say THANKS - I owe you
one.
Next month, the 1865 Cauvet patent.
If anyone would like to see a particular item covered in the near future, let
me know. I'll see what I can dig up. Also, it's you, the readers, who can add so
much information to bring these articles up to date. If anyone has any color,
embossing, or size variations not included in the articles, please don't
hesitate to contact me. Also needed are drawings and info from old catalogs,
etc. Write to me at 709 Rt. 322, East Orwell, Ohio 44033. Thanks.
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