1975 >> September >> Porcelain Insulator News  

Porcelain Insulator News
by Jack H. Tod

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", September 1975, page 22

Preferably direct porcelain news items and questions directly to Jack H. Tod, 3427 N. 47th Place, Phoenix, Ariz. 85018. All mail will be answered if reply stamp is enclosed, and the most newsworthy items and questions of general interest will be published as space permits.

We've deferred several letters and miscellaneous this month to make room for a tabulation of registered trademarks involving porcelain insulators. This listing is not entirely complete, and also only goes up to 1950. The illustrations below are directly from the Patent Office records. Most of them are used directly in the insulator markings, or is the trademark from which the marking was derived. Several were trademarks for use on packing cartons and are included for their interest.

The first group (3 pages) are for companies involved in the manufacture of pin type porcelains. It is interesting to note how some companies used a marking for many years before getting around to registering it. Even more interesting is the fact that many prominent "trademarks" of the big companies were never registered! Where is "THOMAS", Imperial, Cook, G, P. Co., etc.? And Fred Locke had a craze for stamping Patent dates all over his insulators, but he never bothered to register his "VICTOR" trademark. The Locke Insulator Mfg. Co. finally registered it in 1914 as an afterthought.

The second group (3 pages) are trademarks of companies manufacturing predominantly porcelain insulators other than pin types. There are a number of others in my files, but these are the most interesting and often seen, Here again, many widely used trademarks were never registered, including nearly all the nail knob and cleat bywords of the day. The third group (last page) are registered trademarks relating to glass insulator manufacturers, just included here for their possible interest. In a later issue, we'll list a number of the registered trademarks used on composition insulators if readers are interested in them.

The "Used since" dates are given on the registration applications by the companies in some cases. These are at times helpful in estimating the first use of certain marking stamps, but more often the date is either an incorporation date, when the company started making a given product, or just a wild guess on someone's part. For instance, Illinois gave 1926 an first use of the "Map" trademark, but we have specimens with the map and dated as early as 1923.

For brevity, some company names are abbreviated, and addresses may be omitted for well known companies.

(1) 

 #68,192  3-10-08  The Ohio Brass Co., Mansfield, Ohio

(2) 

 #70,209 8-11-08  ditto

(3) 

 #100,131 10-6-14  The Locke Insulator Mfg. Co., Victor, N.Y. Used since: 10-13-10 (actually used since 1901, started by Fred M. Locke)

(4) 

 #107,575 12-14-15  Ill. Electric Porc., Macomb, ILL. Used since: 1-1-15 (filed 3-25-15)

(4) 

 #335,999 6-23-36  Ill. Elec. Porc., Macomb, ILL. Used since 1-1-15 Republished 6-15-48

(5) 

 #126,588 9-16-19  Westinghouse Used since: 7-1-18

(6) 

 #134,717 9-14-20  Locke Insulator Mfg., Co., Victor, N.Y. Used since: June 10,1908

(7) 

 #140,418  3-15-21  Lapp Insulator Co., Inc., LeRoy, NY Used since: 5-1-19 Renewed 3-15-41

(8) 

 #144,588  7-12-21  Jeffery-Dewitt Insulator Co., Kenova, W. Va. Used since: Aug 1, 1915

(9) 

 #153,282  3-14-22  The Porcelain Insulator Co., Lima, NY Used since: 6-21-21 Renewed 3-14-42 Republished 5-4-48

(10) 

 #158,544  9-5-22  Square D Co. Since:10-15-14 Renewed 9-5-42

(11)

 #167,606 5-1-23  Locke Insulator Corp. Baltimore, Md. Since: 4-1-22 Renewed 5-1-43

(12)

 #198,103 5-5-25  R. Thomas & Sons Co., E. Liverpool, Ohio Used since: 8-20-24

(13)

 #208,848 2-9-26  R. Thomas & Sons Used since: 1918 

(14)

 #232,107 8-30-27 ditto Used since: Jan 1924

(14A)

 #211,881 4-20-26  Franklin Porcelain Co., Norristown, Pa. Used since: July 1925

(15)

 #248,390  - -28  Porcelain Products, Inc., Findlay, Ohio Used since: 10-1-27

(16)

 #344,701 3-30-37 Locke Insulator Corp., Baltimore, Md. Used since 5-10-33

(17)

 #360,986 10-4-38 Porc. Prod, Inc., Findlay, Ohio Used since: 6-1-37 (high tension insuls)

(17A)

 #369,868 8-8-39 Saburo Moriya, New York, NY (Japan) Used since: 8-1-37

(18)

 #446,950 3-3-42 Locke Insulator Corp., Baltimore   Used since: 8-1-41

(19)

 #396,924 8-11-42 Victor Insulators, Inc., Victor, NY Used since: 8-25-41 Repub'd 4-20-48

(20)

 #502,121 9-14-48 Illinois Elec. Porc. Macomb, Ill. Used since: Dec 1935

(21)

 #509,294 5-3-49 ILL. Elec. Porc. Used since: 1926 (specimens dated early as 1923 exist)

(22) 

 #59,316 1-8-07 Bryant Elec. Co., Bridgeport, Conn.

(23)

 #59,317 1-8-07 ditto

(24) 

 #60,741 2-19-07 Trumbull Elec. Mfg. Co., Plainville

(25) 

 #61,992 4-16-07 Geo. Cutter Co., South Bend, Ind.

(26) 

 #65,586 10-8-07 Electric Service Supplies, Co., Phil.

(27) 

 #67,282 1-28-08 Arrow Electric Co., Hartford, Conn.

(28) 

 #71,992 12-29-08 Crouse-Hinds Co., Syracuse, NY

(29) 

 #72,721 2-16-09 Pass & Seymour, Inc., Solvay, N.Y. "Used 10 years"

(30) 

 #76,338 1-4-10 Delta-Star Elec. Co., Chicago

(31) 

 #76,814 2-15-10 Chas. S. Knowles, Boston, Mass.

(32) 

 #80,769 1-31-11 Elec. Serv. Supplies Co., Phila.

(32) 

 #266,285 1-14-30 ditto Used since: 1901, Trolley insuls; 1906 elec insulat'g material; 1908, lamp guards; 1915, truss pins; etc.

(33) 

 #81,797 5-9-11 Electrical Engineers Equipment Co., Chicago Used since: 11-3-10

(34) 

 #98,999 8-11-14 Elisha W. Buffinton, Fall River, Mass. (cleats) Used since: 1893

(35) 

 #114,735 1-2-17 Findlay Electric Porcelain Co., (insul knobs) Used since: March 1914

(36) 

 #147,509 10-18-21 J. H. Parker & Son, Parkersburg, W. Va. (split knobs) First: 4-1-15

(37) 

 #172,397 8-28-23 Illinois Elec. Porc. (insulators & knobs) First used. July 1, 1918 Renewed 8-28-43 Republished 6-15-48

(38) 

 #188,___ --24 Trenton Porcelain Co., Trenton, NJ Used since: 4-1-22

(38) 

 #199,077 6-2-25 ditto

(39) 

 #188,591 --24 Trenton Porcelain Since: 4-1-22

(40) 

 #191,415 --24 ditto Since: 8-27-23

(41) 

 #198,982 6-2-25 ILL. Elec. Porc. Used since: July 1918 Renewed 6-2-45 Repub'd 6-15-48

(42) 

 #231,101 6-9-27 General Porcelain Co., Parkers burg, W. Va. Used since: 7-7-26

(44) 

 #278,282 12-16-30 Porc. Prod. Inc, Findlay, Ohio (Assmbld insul knobs) Used since: 1-1-26

(45)

 #328,112 9-17-35 Porc. Prod. Inc. Since: 6-28-34

(46)

 #374,997 2-6-40 Superior Porc. Co., Parkersburg, W. Va. Used since: 10-25-37

(47)

 #432,107 8-19-47 Universal Clay Products, Sandusky, Ohio Used since: 1918

(48)

 #518,499 12-6-49 The Star Porcelain Co., Trenton, N.J. Used since: 1899

(49)

 #518,500 12-6-49 ditto Star, 1899

(50)

 #78,096 5-31-10 Hemingray Glass Co., Muncie, Ind. "used 10 yrs" (Repub'd 1-13-48, "since 1870")

(51)

 #81,324 3-28-11 Brookfield Glass Co., Oldbridge, N.J. "Used 10 years"

(52)

 #198,173 5-5-25 Corning Glass Works, Corning, NY Used since: 6-16-23 Renewed 5-5-45

(54)

 #302,218 4-4-33 Whitall Tatum Co., Millville, NJ Used since: Oct 1924

(56)

 #370,320 8-22-39 Owens-Illinois Glass Co., Toledo Used Since: 3-14-39 Republished 2-24-48

(57)

 #382,463 10-29-40 Armstrong Cork Co., Lancaster, Pa. Used since: 2-22-40 Republished 4-13-48

(58)

 #515,543 9-27-49 Armstrong Used since: 12-1-38

(59)

 # - -- - -49 Armstrong Used since:1938



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