Whitall Tatum Co. Insulators

Whitall Tatum Co. Insulators

The large one is a number 1 -CD 154. This would be a telegraph insulator. The smaller one is a number 3 - CD 115

The photo is of the New Jersey plant. This photograph is in the Library of Congress.

The Whitall Tatum Company, or Whitall Tatum, was one of the first glass factories in America. Located in Millville, New Jersey, it was in operation from 1806 through 1938.

MILLVELLE GLASS WORKS
Located in New Jersey, because silica-based sand and water was plentiful for glass making.

JOHN BECOMES A PARTNER
John M. Whitall became a partner in 1838. He lived in Philadelphia and worked at the company's headquarters.

JOHN'S BROTHER JOINS
His brother Israel Franklin Whitall joined him in 1845 and the firm became Whitall, Brother & Company.

TATUM JOINS IN
In 1857, Edward Tatum also joins the partnership and the name was again changed to Whitall Tatum & Company and later in 1901 to Whitall Tatum Company.

THE INSULATORS
Whitall Tatum entered the insulator manufacturing market in 1922, mass-producing them for use on power and communications lines across the country.

THE END IS THE BEGINNING
In 1938, Armstrong Cork Corporation purchased Whitall-Tatum. Insulator production continued under the Armstrong trademark until 1969. Then it was purchased by Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corporation. They produced insulators until about 1976 ish.

**Although Armstrong had taken over, it took awhile to switch the name over. Some insulators still had the Whitall Tatum name on them up till about 1945.**

THE END
"One final run of Kerr DP-1s was manufactured in 1978. These particular units have flat domes, and are rather scarce among insulators found "in the wild"."

There's much more to the history than my condensed version. So if your interested, look them up. There's lots of great reading online.