What comes to mind when someone mentions "common insulator" to you? Well, each of us as collectors will have in our mind a particular insulator that really sticks out. To many of us, it may be the Hemingray 42. To others it may be the Pyrex CSC. The list can go on and on, but we all can associate with an insulator that is "common" to our region. 

A particular insulator or insulators may be common in a certain region due to the use or need for that insulator. The phone or power company in the area may have liked the performance of that insulator so much they put it to use throughout their service area. Cost and design of the insulator could have played a part in it being used so heavily in the region. 

Now, in the not too distant past, there were hundreds of thousands and even millions of certain type insulator on poles across the nation. With the advent of buried cable, most of the open air lines and their insulators have been eliminated. The railroads are the only major users of insulators for use on their signal equipment. But, even the railroads are using more and more underground cable and microwave for their signals and communications. Insulators that were once common are in many areas becoming not so common. 

Fifteen miles north of where I live was one of the old style AT&T long distance lines. The local linemen often talk about the old "Nashville-Terre Haute Line". Back in 1975 the line was dismantled when underground cable replaced it. The poles had either 8 or 9 crossarms with up to 10 insulators per crossarm. On poles where the crossarms were doubled up, you could have over 150 insulators on one pole. The line was made up of more modern insulators with the Hemingray 42 being the most dominant. There were a few AM. TEL. & TEL CO. tolls, Hemingray CSA and 17's, plus every now and then a U-169 porcelain. Now, they are all gone. What few are left have been covered over and hidden from view by the weeds and brush. This same type story can be repeated time and time again in places all across the country. Where are those common insulators that we joked about fifteen years ago? The ones your friends said you were crazy to even bring back to the house because of their apparent abundance. Be thankful that you stashed back a few extras.

Even though some insulators may top the list as being very common, they do have something to offer the collector; and that is variety. Those insulators which seem to have been made by the jillions are not all alike, thank goodness! In order to manufacture these giant quantities, the insulator companies had to use many different molds over the years to satisfy the customer's demands. The different embossings, mold numbers, dates and color of glass can make for a good collection of just one particular style insulator. Just look at the variety you can get with the Hemingray 42, the Brookfield beehives or even the "Mickey Mouse" Hemingray 60.

Another factor to he considered when thinking about common insulators is the fact that there are more collectors now than at any time in the past. More collectors bring on more demand for insulators, which spreads them out more and puts more insulators into collections. The good thing about more collectors is that there is more interest generated on collecting, even with the common insulators.

The common insulator is the basis on which most of us started this hobby in the first place. We may have found one, saw some at a local flea market, or had someone tell us that they were "probably worth some money." Whatever the reason, it was probably that old reliable, the "common insulator" that got the bug fired up in us.