Posted 7 years ago
SpiritBear
(813 items)
Yep, I still collect insulators; it's just been a long time since I found one I didn't have at a price I like.
At left is a CD 134 Pat. 1871 and 1893 Hemingray distribution insulator. With both patents on it, it's a little bit less common than just the Dec. 19th, 1871, and the May 2nd, 1893, dated ones.
My guess is, it was made in 1893 or 1894, as they were just engraving new moulds for the new patent seen on pretty much everything they made till 1910 and, for some models, several decades after!
The 1893 patent was for drip-points, but they often engraved non-drip-point moulds with the patent. I guess they were proud of their invention?
The second one is an untraceable lightning rod insulator. No, it's not broken. They were often crudely made as they didn't have to do much but screw into a house's siding and have a rod inserted through them. Date unknown. Probably around 1900.
Hi,
My husband is just getting interested in collecting insulators but he's having trouble finding good resources that help him with what to look for. Do you have a favorite website or book that you use for reference? We've gotten a few at estate sales and auctions but he's interested in learning more about them.
Thanks in advance for any help.
ThriftStoreAddict
Thrift-Store Addict, there are only two sites I use. One is a bottle forum on which is a small section for insulators. The other is the Hemingray site, which is good to explore and has helped me pin down catalog numbers.
If he desires to collect insulators in a serious manner, he'll have to learn common CD numbers and names. CD numbers are modern catalog numbers given to styles of glass insulators produced from the 1850s to at least the 1960s. A CD 121 made by Hemingray is the same shape/style as a CD 121 made by Brookfield, a company which was gone before 1922.
Here is a link to the Hemingray catalog:
http://www.hemingray.info/database/commons.html
For example, a commonly seen CD, nicnamed the 'pony' due to its smaller size (one of my favourites), made by numerous glass-companies was the CD 102 seen here:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/184097-dark-olive-yellow-canadian-insulator
And the 'Signal' style CD 162, seen here:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/185739-california-cd-162
Try to avoid clear insulators and those marked HEMINGRAY 42 or HEMINGRAY 40. Those two are super duper common.
I should like to think I wrote a decent short piece about insulators for my CW Collection, to which I'll be adding many more as I have posted only about half the insulators I have on display. He can read it here if he should like:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/user/SpiritBear/antique-insulators
Dang. I was never notified of your response, SpiritBear. Thank you very much for the information. I will pass it on to him.
I hope that it is of some benefit to him.
If you're looking for books on insulators, you can't really go wrong with the last edition of Milholland's guide. If you're looking for more up to date info, including newer and insulators from places outside the americas, then John and Carol McDougald's guides are better....and they're illustrated as well.