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Unipart, Multipart & Other Porcelain Insulators |
This site is dedicated to collectors of UNIPART, MULTIPART, and other Porcelain Insulators.
This site was last updated on: April 20, 2013
Click on the insulator links below to enter the world of beautiful Unipart and Multipart Porcelain Insulators. This site belongs to Elton Gish. If you have question, please feel free to email me by clicking on the Letter Box below. I will try to answer any of your questions about porcelain insulators.
Porcelain Insulator Value Guide
The latest 2008 128-page spiral bound Value Guide is intended to be used with the Porcelain Insulator Guide Book and the 2nd edition book, Multipart Porcelain Insulators. You will need those books in order to identify each U-number and M-number. The Value Guide provides values for more than 4500 unipart insulators and more than 1100 multipart insulators as well as scale drawings for 224 additional unipart styles added to the U-Chart and 66 additional multipart styles added to the M-Chart. The book lists known manufacturers, markings, and glaze colors, and helps you identify the correct U-number or M-number. The Value Guide is only for U. S. made unipart insulators and U. S. and Canadian multipart insulators. Foreign porcelain was covered in the Tod/Albers books on foreign porcelain and are not in the Value Guide. Click on the book link below for price and ordering information. Price is $33 ppd. (Canadian orders please add $4 making total $37.)
I have several reference books available for purchase. These are the only books about U.S. porcelain insulators. To learn more about them and details about purchasing the books, please click on the BOOK image below:
NOTE: Price Reduction on Reference
Books!!
Visit The Insulator Gazette at: http://reference.insulators.info/publications/ This is a searchable database of over 13,000 articles from hundreds of newspapers and trade journals published since 1850. The content is all about insulators in some way. The people involved, the companies involved and the insulators and how they were manufactured, tested and used. You can spend hundreds of hours reading, searching, and researching your favorite insulator, manufacturer, etc.
Visit the Insulator Patent Library at: http://reference.insulators.info/patents/ There are more than 3,000 patents relating to insulators of all kinds including design patents.
Visit the Fred M. Locke web site: Dedicate to just porcelain and glass insulators made and sold by Fred Locke. It also includes Lima Insulator Co., recent hunts and finds, advertisements, patents, family and factory history, and much more. You can spend thousands of hours reading, searching, and researching your favorite insulator, manufacturer, etc.
Two PINCO Films on DVD Both films show how porcelain insulator were made in 1935 and 1955 at the Pinco plant in Lima, NY.
Insulator Manufacturer's and Markings: List of company markings found on porcelain insulators.
Unipart Porcelain Insulators:
Odd Numbers and Letters found on Fred Locke porcelain insulators.
Fred Locke's Attic: The latest photos of the insulators Jeff Katchko and Ken Willick have dug up.
New Lexington Plant Site Dig: Josh Guisinger's latest finds
New Fred Locke Insulator Reported (A unique 3-part glazeweld with under-glaze ink marking made by Electric Porcelain & Mfg. Co.)
Multipart Porcelain Insulators (Click on the link at left to start or links below for specific manufacturers)
Article by Paul Greaves: Hunting Along a Northern California M-2795 Line
Fred Locke Updated photos of rare insulators.
New Lexington insulators (An in-depth look at insulators made by the New Lexington High Voltage Porcelain Co. 1903-1912)
Baum Ringed Multipart Insulators made by Lima and Thomas (These nearly 100 year old insulators have concentric rings under the top skirt)
Old Gray Multipart Insulators (The most comprehensive look at gray multis from circa 1904-1915)
Kern-1 Line (1907) M-4800 insulators made by Victor (Locke), Thomas, and New Lexington. View the story and details of this incredible find by Carver Mead and Barbara Smith!!!
Porcelain Suspension Insulators:
Locke Duncan Suspension - This is a link to an article by Carver Mead. Here is a link to the full Duncan patent.
Remnants of the Southern Power Co. Part 2 - Another excellent article written by Carver Mead and Barbara Smith that appeared in the Spring 2004 issue of Power Line Explorer Journal. It is about their hunt for the very rare 14" diameter Thomas 2-part suspension insulator.
The 12th (---) of Christmas - Another excellent article written by Carver Mead and Barbara Smith that appeared in the April 2004 issue of Crown Jewels. It is about their hunt for the 12" diameter flat Thomas suspension insulator. The title of their article has several meanings.
Hewlett Suspension Disc Insulators - Learn how the Hewlett suspension and fish-tail insulator was developed and see some strange and rare suspension insulators.
Hewlett Suspension Disc handwritten markings - Unusual handwritten markings scratched typically on the underside of the disk.
Other Porcelain Insulators:
TWINANTELEAK Blue Porcelain Radio Antenna Aerial Insulators
Standard Porcelain knobs, spools, etc. - Standard styles of surface wiring insulators (228 insulators described and photographed)
Wooden and Porcelain Cleats - Brief history of cleats including rate wooden cleats and an extensive listing with photos of known porcelain cleats.
1-Wire Cleats - 1-wire cleats are heavy duty industrial cleats for conductors with insulated covering.
Nail knobs, split knobs, and other misc. house wiring knobs - These small house wiring insulators are covered by many different patents and were used extensively from the 1880's until about the 1950's
Specialty Porcelain - Telephone styles and special designs not covered in Standard Porcelain or any of the other categories.
Forestry Insulators - Brief history of forestry insulators and extensive listing with photos of known insulators.
Glazed Wall Tubes - A comprehensive study of the older glazed tubes that are over 90 years old.
Jack Tod's Electrical Porcelain Book now available in PDF - The culmination of years of research Jack Tod did on electrical porcelain manufacturers.
Historical Reference Materials (Includes all forms of glass, porcelain, and foreign insulators):
Insulator Company Listing (both US and Foreign manufacturers and distributors of Glass and Porcelain insulators and some markings found on insulators that are company name abbreviations)
Insulator Catalogs (This is a list of catalogs currently in the IRS - Insulator Research Service - files.)
Old Company Photos and Postcards
R. Thomas & Sons Co. - Early history and dozens of historic photographs
Niagara Falls Power Transmission: Niagara Falls to Buffalo
Niagara Falls Power Transmission: Niagara, Lockport, and Ontario Power
Lapp Museum at LeRoy, NY (May 1993) When I was doing research for the Fred Locke book, I went to Victor, NY in May 1993. Part of the trip was to the Lapp factory in LeRoy, NY with the sole purpose to visit the Lapp Museum, which was set up by Brent Mills. Click on the link to see the photos of the museum.
Pittsburg Date Control Markings:
Pittsburg Date Markings Very few porcelain insulator made by Pittsburg High Voltage Insulator Co. were marked with the name PITTSBURG. However, many insulators were marked with manufacturing dates and various date control markings. Click on the link above to see the current listing of these types of markings. If you have any that are not on the list, please contact me using the email link at the top of this page or send you reports to the address shown in the book section below.
Miscellaneous and Insulator Shows:
3. Electric Porcelain & Mfg. Co.
5. R. Thomas & Sons, Lima Insulator Co.
6. Macomb, Square D, and Peru Electric Mfg. Co.
7. New Lexington High Voltage Insulator Co.
8. Misc. photos and advertisements
Power Line Explorer Journal (Highly recommended bi-annual publication about the history of old power lines and the insulators found along those lines. Dedicated to those who love the hunt!!)
Porcelain Insulator Displays at Washington Courthouse Show Nov. 2000
Insulator Related Patents: We now have a database with over 2,260 insulator related patents and design patents including an extensive listing of Lightning Rod related patents. There are several dozen trademarks, too. If you are looking for a particular patent, chances are it is already in the database. Please feel free to contact me via email or follow the link below for Insulator Research Service. The insulator patent database can be accessed by clicking this link: Insulator Patents
Insulator Research Service: If you have an insulator you would like to learn more about, please feel free to contact the Insulator Research Service (go to www.insulators.info/irs). I can send you links to make your own Patent copies. The IRS is a good resource if you are designing an insulator display and would like additional research or copies of advertisements (over 1200), trade journal articles (over 1000) and patents (over 2800). No fees are charged if you are building a display or doing research for future article. Please be aware that no patents were granted for threadless insulators and very few specific insulator CD styles. Click on the IRS link above to see a nearly complete list of CD styles covered by patents or click on this link to go to the patent database: Insulator Patents and do your own searching. The IRS has copies of more than 2800 insulator related patents which includes more than 300 patents dealing with Lightning Rods: Points, Insulators, Ornaments (lightning rod balls), Conductors, and Rod Supports.