WHAT! Brook's Pat Aug 6, 1867 WHY?

This is the story of the Ram's Horn insulator as I know it to be from my own experience and from information received from the pioneer in the Ram's Horn field, Mr. John Hayes, of Ogden, Utah.

The WHAT of this story will not only describe the insulator, but tell., as well, how it was made. By whom and when is evident on almost all examples of them to be found, but will be related in more detail, and also where they were used.

The WHY of this story is the shortest, but most interesting, and left for last in hopes it will be the spark that creates a great interest in this insulator, as it served a most important part of the history of the insulator story.

The reissue Patent of Aug. 6, 1867 was issued to David Brooks of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The words of the Patent best explain how they were made, and what an extensive operation it was compared to the glass insulator, so will fill in here with those words.

"In preparing my improved insulators, I in the first instance place the glass on a table or slab and pour into the opening melted sulphur and then deposit the stem of the wire-holder G in the opening of the glass, which is perfectly secured to the holder when the sulphur has become hard by cooling.

After this I cement to the upper edge of the glass a strip of paper, H, made in the form of a hollow cylinder, when the glass with its wire-holder is ready for attachment to the casing A. In order to do this, I in the first instance heat the casing and then pour into the same a suitable quantity of molten sulphur, and in this I deposit the glass block with its paper cylinder H. As the latter extends to the upper edge of the casing A, there will necessarily be a body of sulphur between the said casing and the paper. The sulphur and paper at the upper edge of the casing A are then trimmed off, after which, while the insulator is still in an inverted position, molten paraffin is poured into the space above the glass within the paper cylinder until the space is full and the paper and sulphur have become thoroughly saturated with the paraffin. The insulator is then inverted and the greater portion of the melted paraffin is poured out, the remainder adhering to the paper and to the upper edge of the casing. When the coating of paraffin has congealed the insulator is ready for being attached to the pole in the position seen in Fig. 1."

Now this, as you can see, was quite a process, and raised the price of this insulator to 32 cents, a price compared to 4 1/2 cents to 6 1/2 cents for the ones in glass from the same period.

These insulators were used, for the most part, on the line being constructed along the new Central Pacific Rail Road and the driving of the 'Golden Spike" in 1869.

This insulator not only cost more, but also added to construction cost because it needed a special crossarm to hold it, that had to be bolted to the pole. This was not required on two wire leads up until this time, and again after their use, because the pins on the glass ones could be nailed to the poles.

I was one of the lucky ones to find some of these old rams horns lying along the old railroad bed in Nevada and Utah. What a thrilling experience this was, even though it required many miles of walking with our metal detectors in hand! I even have a couple of the original cross arms, which being made of wood are much rarer than the insulators themselves, so few survived.

The line consisted of two rams horns to the cross arm, one cross arm to the pole. Each cross arm had one insulator marked Brook's Pat. Aug. 6, 1867, and the other had the addition of C. P.R.R. which have been found in three types of embossing. Altogether I know of five varieties and will list them., along with other characteristics.

The five styles of embossing in order of their rarity are:

#1 Plain Case - No embossing evident at all
#2 Embossing stamped in base - Figure 2.
#3 Embossing in raised letters on base - Figure 3.
#4 Embossing in raised letters on base - Figure 4.
#5 Embossing in raised letters on base - Figure 5.

The glass liner in #1 through #4 is S.C.A.; while the glass in #5 is pale aqua blue.

Although many miles were covered with this line, relatively few of the insulators have been found in one piece. So much of the soil in Nevada and Utah is alkaline, which eats up the metal cases. You find many pieces, but seldom a complete one in this type soil. Also, any place there has been a fire through the area, you find the cases and the horns, but the glass has been melted.

This leads us to the fascinating WHY. Why do we pay four times as much for an insulator that adds greatly to the costs of construction of the line? For an insulator that is three times as large and four times as heavy, and, made, of all things, metal, which is hardly an insulating material, and leads to the complicated construction of not only the insulator but the line itself? Simple. To keep the insulators and lines on the poles and in working condition, which in the years 1867 to 1869 across the vast open spaces of the western frontier was an almost impossible job, with the Indians stealing the glass ones to make arrow heads, and the weather taking its toll as well, and no way to quickly repair a line which was so vital to the people it served. They needed something that would last. And last they did, as is evident today, for some still exist in perfect condition 102 years later.

Couple this with the fact that the screw thread insulator was only two years old at this time and not yet accepted as the standard throughout the country, and you have the Rams Horn story.

If this article adds to the interest in this insulator, it has accomplished its purpose and has been well worth the effort.

The Aug. 6, 1867 is a reissue of the letters Patent NO. 45,221 dated November 29, 1864, which dates the rams horn prior to the advent of the thread.

It is the opinion of the author that with the advent of the thread, in the following year, July 25, 1865, that the rams horn was not successful, but was later reissued when the need arose for one with its special qualities.

In the spelling of the word BROOKS the apostrophe is very important.

Figure #2 BROOK'S Figure #3 BROOKS'

Figure #4 BROOK S Figure #5 BROOKS'

(In figure No. 4 note the space, but no apostrophe.)