Enough porcelain insulator news has accumulated to fill our allotted space several times, but recent months have been very hectic for me, and I'm sorry that I haven't had time to prepare a number of drawings and photos relating to many items mentioned in the following news.

Research Bonanza

I left Phoenix March 29th on an eastern research trip to gather information on porcelain insulator companies and returned home May 1st, precisely 6,605 miles later.

It would be impossible to report all the information here if we took the whole column space for several months, but a considerable part of the material will eventually become available here in the column or in future insulator publications. Even though I considered the trip a bonanza for new porcelain insulator information, I'm already sorry that I didn't work at it harder while there instead of playing around so much on the way.

The following account gives only the highlights of the trip. To give you an idea of the quantity of material obtained, I brought back so many insulator specimens and shards that I wore down to the cords two perfectly good back tires on my pickup camper. It took three weeks day any night work to run all the paperwork information into my reference files, and work on drawings for many new and exciting pin type shapes hasn't even been started yet.

I visited again for the 3rd time five of the pin type manufacturers - O-B, Lapp, Pinco, I-T-E and Chance. At each of these companies other than Chance I was able to make a complete survey of the drawing files of every pin type ever made by them, and this turned up a number of new shapes previously unknown. More information on markings and experimental types was also sought at each company.

The old plant sites and/or the insulator dumps of quite a few insulator companies were inspected (some for the 2nd time) to obtain information from insulator shards. Success varied from practically zero to considerable. These plant sites included: Pass & Seymour, Imperial Porc Works, G. P. Co., Findlay, Federal, Cook Porc., J-D, Thomas, Franklin, Pittsburg H.V., Lapp, Lima Locke and Square-D Co. The following account will relate the most exciting of these visits to the old defunct plant dumps.

Westinghouse (Derry, Pa.) assured me that the new plant buildings constructed over the years had completely covered all traces of the old Pittsburg High Voltage dumpage areas, and I verified this when there. However, by playing a few hunches and doing some detective work, I finally found an area quite removed from the present plant, where Pittsburg had done their dumping for a number of years! Needless to say this resulted in some feverish digging for a few days and another 300 pounds or so to help wear out my truck tires. Here are some examples.

Pittsburg made the U-241A Johns-Manville insulators. They also made the U-154 postals, the U-187 Pierce tree insulators, U-393 types, the C.N.R. and C.P.R. beehives. Not only did they make the U-179 items (P.R.R. marked specimens found), but they also made a U-529 feeder cable with the P.R.R. marking - and also a two-piece transposition with dome marked P.R.R.! In between all these exciting finds I naturally kept finding in collectible condition a number of other nice shape surprises - and known Pittsburg items such as mushroom shapes, transpositions, pretty tolls, mickey mouses, etc.

A number of active dry process porcelain companies were also visited, plus the old plant sites of 43 defunct companies, mostly in the areas of East Liverpool, Ohio and Trenton, N.J. Several dozen markings were attributed to specific companies, and hundreds of new specimens were added to the reference collection. A number of sessions in libraries and museums in New Jersey and Ohio yielded considerable historical information on many of the old porcelain companies.

Yes, a real bonanza of information from this trip. But I can hardly wait to make a 4th such trip in the future. It's just a shame that all such bets are off though if the gasoline problem isn't cleared up. Future insulator research is at the mercy of Exxon and Texaco!

Dear Jack:

I have a white knob with the marking "R. T. & SONS" on the base and wonder if you can shed some light on this for me...? 
Mike Barbieri 
192 Bay View Ave. 
Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y. 12520

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Dear Mike:

This is undoubtedly for R. Thomas & Sons, East Liverpool, Ohio. In 1892 this company incorporated as "R. Thomas & Sons Co." and thereafter used markings of "T", "R. T. & S. Co." and "THOMAS".

The die for your knob was undoubtedly made and marked before the 1892 date but could have been used at later dates without change of the marking. Although the markings used after 1892 are all common, I would have to class your marking as a rare and desirable one.

Jack

Subscriber Carl Lencse of East Liverpool, Ohio is the undisputed winner of the grand prize this month for coming up with a new pin type porcelain. When visiting with Carl during my April trip to the east, I studied his glass and porcelain collections at length and practically went into orbit when my eyes came to this specimen.

This in a white, dry press pin type somewhat similar to U-270, and the embossed "O. P. CO." marking is on the top shelf of the wire groove brow. We have nothing to go on, but I tentatively attribute this item to Ohio Porcelain Co., East Liverpool. The specimen was found in "fill" at a building site. The "O. P. CO." marking was already known to me on other dry press items, but we can now add one more company to the list of those having made pin type porcelains.

Carl was very helpful in guiding me around the East Liverpool area to locate the sites of the dozen or more old porcelain companies there who had once made insulators. Since I had complete name, date and address data on all the 82 potteries ever operating in the East Liverpool area from 1830 to date and Carl knew the streets well, we were quite successful in locating the exact sites of most companies. Unfortunately some of these sites were buried under newer construction, including a freeway. A number of dry press markings were attributed to specific companies.

Dear Jack:

In my travels I've picked up an unusual dark brown porcelain insulator as shown in the sketch. It is hollow throughout, both ends are open and there are no threads or markings of any kind.

Can you help on exact use, current worth and who manufactured it? Thanks .
Lad Price 
398 Allen Park Rd. 
Springfield, Mass. 01118

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Dear Lad:

This is a form of "wall bushing", and these have been and are made by a number of companies in many shapes and sizes. I wouldn't know who made your unmarked specimen.

No, I can't help you with value on this and other oddnik porcelains that are considered offbeat collector items at best. But if it will help you any at all, I have a couple of very pretty items just about like yours and which won't sit up on the shelf. I'm getting tired of looking at them and would part with them for about $3 each, a good profit over the $1 each I paid at the flea market.

Jack

I managed to come up with file drawings at the Lapp Insulator Co. which show the date coding from 1919 to the present. This one should be of interest to collectors who are building date sets of the Lapp pin types, and it will extend their sets from the first under-glaze date stamps of 1927 back to the 1919 date.

The sketch here shows how the metal dating stamp for the incuse markings was notched to date code the insulators. The outer notches indicate the years 1919 through 1927, and the inner notches on the Lapp monogram indicate the quarter of each year. Lapp shipped their first insulators in 1917, so your date sets can now be carried back to nearly the beginning. 

Jack

Many collectors have aided the research on porcelain insulators, and I have always been careful to mention these people in the related news items. There are some collectors who have continually contributed all sorts of information on company histories, new insulator shapes, new markings, etc. I would like to list all these people but fear there would be no end to the list and I might forget some important contributors. I apologize to those whose names have not come up in the column as often as they should and hope that each will receive due credit in all publications of the future.

There is one person though who has done so much work behind the scenes for the benefit of the hobby that I must point this out. Elton Gish, Port Neches, Texas has spent countless hours on a number of trips to libraries to make search of the old industry trade journals. He has in the past year been going through one trade magazine volume by volume, page by page, and this really takes time.

Elton has come up with a great deal of info on many of the insulators and companies in the 1880's and 1890's and has been wearing out library Xerox machines extracting all this. But the best part in that he has found some really choice information on just what did happen in the high voltage insulator industry back in the 1894-1898 period. This information will lead to additional research which will ultimately cause the complete rewriting of our early histories on pin type porcelain insulators.

How about these for openers? By the 1897-1898 period, Peru Electric Mfg. Co., Peru, Indiana was in production on triple petticoat high voltage pin types - and we have the data and photographs to prove it. By 1895, General Electric at Schenectady was in production on high voltage triple petticoat insulators (a specimen of which recently reported to me by Larry Thomas, Oroville, Cal.).

Counting these companies, plus Imperial, Thomas and Elec. Porc. & Mfg. Co. all in production on porcelain pin types before Fred Locke built his plant in 1898, it now appears that Locke committed himself only after others had shown the way. All of this early history had been lost under the blanket of the publicity departments of the large surviving companies in later years.

It is understandable that the modern companies looked upon dry press insulators as a "dirty word" in connection with high voltage insulators and purposely wouldn't admit to the pioneering of these early companies. However, G.E. themselves were the biggest perpetrators of the "Locke was God" myth, and it is really odd that they never got around to mentioning that G.E. themselves were the first to make triple petticoat, high voltage insulators in 1894-1895.

All this goes to show that G.E. didn't have researchers who could do the job like Elton Gish of Port Neches.

We'll keep pursuing this forgotten history and hope in the future to be able to publish the true story about this part of the porcelain insulator history. Just thought you would like to know. 

Jack

Dear Dora & Jack:

 I got this brown porcelain tube out of the old Frisco railroad depot in St. Clair, Mo. They tore it down about a week ago. The wires went through this tube to the telegraph key. The tube in 2" in diameter by 7" tall. I believe it could be very old and can you please identify it and price it? 
Joe Ealer, Rt 1, St. Clair, Mo. 63077

Dear Joe:

The marking is probably that of Akron Insulator & Marble Co., Akron, Ohio. In 1904 this company consolidated with the Colonial Sign Co. and thereafter was known as Colonial Sign & Insulator Co. ("C. S. I. Co." marking on wiring cleats). After the 1904 date, the company quit making warbles and concentrated on electrical porcelain only.

In more recent-years (possibly 1930+) the company became Colonial Insulator Co. It is now defunct and the site is occupied by H & H Machine Shop in a new building.

I simply don't have a good feel for potential trade value for all these types of items. I find some such items in the any-item-25-cents boxes at shows and across the room find someone else complaining that he just sold one like it and only got 20 bucks for it. Naturally then, value depends on widely divergent opinions on the part of both seller and buyer.

Jack

Reference April 1973 Crown Jewels, page 28, the diameter of the Standard Porc. #13 knob should be 1-5/16" instead of the 1-15/16" shown. Sorry 'bout that.

All but a couple of the different Duplex and Mine insulators have now shown up, but here is something new. White U-90's have now turned up with an incuse Thomas marking. These are the first wet process mine insulators I've seen with a marking and the first mines with a Thomas marking. The only other porcelain mine insulators with marking I know of (pin types) are O-B dry press shapes with O-B and Square-D (Mfr.) markings.

Dear Jack:

On page 12 of the Feb '73 issue of Crown Jewels is the odd pin type insulator. This insulator was made by Diamonite Products Mfg. Co., Div. of United States Ceramic Tile Co., Shreve, Ohio 44676. This insulator and other items such as the Diamonite cable spacers are described in the Oct 1969 company house organ, Utility Products News, which I am enclosing for you. You can obtain complete data sheets on these items by contacting the company.

I also have a secondary rack spool with the marking shown here. This is a Class 55-2 spool with brown glaze. Any info on this one? 
Mathew Grayson 
46 Wren Dr., Roslyn, N.Y. 11576 

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Dear Mathew:

Mucho thanks for filling us in on the Diamonite pin type. Regarding your rack spool marking, I'm showing here a foil impression of a similar one I made from a sky glaze rack spool in 1972. I don't have the vaguest idea of the company involved - or which way is up on the mrkg. We'll once again ask readers for help on this one. 

Jack

New Porcelain Books

Frank Peters, 1240 W. Kearney Blvd, Fresno, Cal 93706 has recently published reprints of the 1902 C. S. Knowles and the 1907 Locke Insulator Mfg. Co. catalogs. These were reviewed in the May 1973 Crown Jewels, page 16.

Catalogs of fairly modern vintage can occasionally be obtained at utility companies and similar places, but these very early ones are scarce as hen's teeth and are nearly impossible to locate from any source. These very early catalogs not only furnish you information you just won't find in any of the published collector books, but they are great go-withs for any collection.

We are fortunate that these reprints are available, and I strongly recommend that porcelain buffs get them. Price is only $3 each, or $5 for the pair.

Dear Jack:

The local line crew came down our street yesterday to change the fire alarm circuit from 2 separate wires to a single cable containing 2 wires. This resulted in an extra insulator at each pole. After giving the crew a couple of beers they gave me 14 porcelain insulators .... Two light blue ones, Similar U-288, have this marking in the center of the dome, and can you tell me what this stands for?

Also, how do you price a U-610A, O-B "Teat Rest" which you say is scarce, but only have a Base Trade Value of $2 in the book for the U-61OA? 

Dan Rider
Buffalo, N.Y.

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Dear Dan:

I have also seen on several occasions small distribution pin types with the similar marking here in the center of the dome.

It appears that the crown part of the forming die was secured to the press with a flathead machine screw through the die instead of the customary external attachment from below. Other than satisfying your curiosity, I wouldn't attach any significance to this mark left by the screw head.

The Base TV of $2 for a marked U-610A ($1 unmarked) is correct, and a number of companies could have made this shape. However, the O-B "Teat Rest" job is an entirely different animal and in of great interest to us since it is the only U.S. pin type fired by this method.

Specimens which have these four firing teats on the crown but which were fired upright on the petticoat rest aren't too exciting, but ones actually fired on the crown tests and then broken out of the sagers should have a trade value In the order of $10 or so. 

Jack

Reference is made to the small fog type insulator on page 13, Feb 1973 Crown Jewels. Although this insulator appeared to me that it was a Lapp item, the company had advised last fall that they had no record of it.

In April 1973, I personally searched the pin type files at Lapp Insulator Co. and found this item to be their #7177 drawing, Sep 10, 1929. There is a larger version (5-1/2" by 5-7/8") also, drawing #5828, Feb 16, 1926.

Dear Mr. Tod:

Recently I purchased 3 porcelain insulators ... and including a U-611 with this "APR 21 A.M." marking on the crown. I had not seen this one before and would like to know whether it is common or not.

Mike Johnson (Warren, Ohio)

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This is a date control marking used by Pittsburgh High Voltage Insulator Co., Derry, Pa. (pre-Westinghouse), and all of these can be considered as scarce to rare.

Gerald Brown reported the first of these in his book published in 1971 (the PAID) and when Mike Dawkins turned up the REC'D one shortly thereafter, I predicted in the May 1972 column that the other ones possible from ordinary date stamps might all eventually turn up.

Congratulations, Mike, on completing the set. To recap these markings, the list below show who and when each of these was first reported here in Crown Jewels and also the exact date on each of the "discovery" specimens:

As explained before, the dating stamp item such as "A.M." was undoubtedly the year code for factory records just as with codes used by other companies. I have made some efforts in the past year to locate some old file print at Westinghouse which would show this date code but haven't had any success in this so far.

A number of people do have fun collecting date sets of pin types from companies such as Lapp, Illinois, P.P. Inc., and you must admit this early Pittsburg set would be an interesting one to work on.

Jack

Mr. & Mrs. Richard Anderson (Davis, Cal.) report that they have an old Locke porcelain having a handstamp error of "LCKE". Also Kim Sievert (Cupertino, Cal.) recently bought a U-597 pin type with a handstamp error "LOCRE".

I am relaying these reports by readers at their face value and have not personally confirmed them. So many past reports of errors in handstamp markings have turned out to be unfounded that by necessity I have a fairly firm policy of checking them out before reporting them here. In both cases here, the collectors have indicated the error marking was very distinct.

The markings are applied very rapidly with metal handstamps solely for the purpose of identification, and not much effort is made to obtain clear impressions. If you consider the many millions of insulators so haphazardly marked in the past 75 years, there is considerable room for many quasi errors made by normal marking stamps.

Dear Jack:

I enjoy your Porcelain News very much. One cannot learn unless he asks so here goes.

I have a white porcelain egg-shaped item 3-1/2" long, 1-3/4" at the middle and a 1/4" hole running the length of it. The un- glazed firing surface on its one side has the marking shown in the sketch. Do you have any ideas about this? You have an enjoyable column and the research you do for the hobby is appreciated. 

John D. Ellis
Beecher, Illinois

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Dear John:

Nope, you've stumped me with this one. A letter to the McGraw-Edison plant manager at Macomb also drew a blank, and a portion of the reply was, "I am wondering if this piece of porcelain was not made for some other purpose other than electrical insulation."

It may be of interest to you that so many of these "whatisits" keep turning up that I file them all in one file folder, and that is prominently labeled "Washing Machine Parts". Sometimes, but not too often, I take items out of this file and move them to another file labeled "Insulators". Am I coming through?

Also, many thanks for your compliments on this column. Although I and several others may be the focal point of insulator research, we certainly couldn't get very far in many areas without the continuing assistance from all the other collectors who communicate with us.

Jack