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Unipart, Multipart Pin-Type & Miscellaneous Porcelain Insulators |
This site is dedicated to collectors of UNIPART, MULTIPART, and other Porcelain Insulators.
This site was last updated on: March 1, 2023
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.
NEW Book 2nd Edition Collector's Guide Book for Porcelain Insulators NEW Book
Value Guide for Unipart and Multipart Porcelain Insulators
NEW Book: 2nd Edition: Collector's Guide Book for Porcelain Insulators (Unipart Pin-type)
This 2019 book is the newest Guide Book for unipart (one-part) pin-type porcelain insulators. It is like no other book about porcelain insulators. This is the culmination of more than 45 years of research and nearly 5 years of work to write and photograph all known unipart styles. 21 new U-number styles have been added. The 1028 pin-type styles in the U-Chart are shown in COLOR using reference photographs of actual insulators. The Unipart Chart has been reduced by 20% by removing most of the trimmer variants and styles assigned from catalogs that did not match actual insulators. All the new U-numbers assigned since the first edition was published in 2015 are included in the 2019 second edition. It has a very detailed history of each manufacturer with nearly 500 historic and other photographs many of which are in color. Every aspect of unipart pin-type porcelain insulators is discussed as well as examples of 286 types of markings that have been reported. Mike Spadafora wrote an Appendix section summarizing his decades of hunting and researching Fred Locke insulators and digging in the Victor plant dump. He tells how you can determine the approximate year of manufacture by glaze and manufacturing characteristics.
The book is 278 page book is spiral bound so it will lay flat when opened. The size is 8-1/2 x 11. The book is available NOW!
Price is $45 plus $7 U.S. shipping. (Canadian orders please contact me for shipping cost.) You may send a personal check, money order, or use PayPal. Elton Gish, 5415 Lexington Circle, Lumberton, TX 77657
If paying with credit card or Paypal, shipping will be added automatically:
(must have new Guide Book, too, for U-Chart and U-numbers)
[Value Guide can NOT be used by itself -- alone -- without the Guide Book]
Value Guide (3rd edition) for Unipart and Multipart Porcelain Insulator
The 126-page Value Guide lists manufacturer, marking, catalog number, color, rarity and value for 4354 different unipart pin-type styles and 1201 different multipart pin-type styles. In addition there are color photos showing 10 new U-numbers; 82 new M-numbers; 4 pages of color photos showing various glaze colors and typical descriptions; and 2 pages of color photos showing some rather odd and interesting examples of glazes. The 8.5 x 11 spiral bound 3rd edition Value Guide has a heavy weight cover for better durability. Price is $29 plus $4 shipping ($33 total). Add $16 for Canada ($45 total).
For those of you not familiar with the porcelain Value Guide, the bulk of the iconic photo-illustrations of each U-number style are NOT in the Value Guide. You will need the new 2019 Guide Book ($45 plus $5 shipping). The bulk of the M-number styles for cemented multipart styles are NOT in the Value Guide. You will need the book Multipart Porcelain Insulators ($25 ppd). All books may be order on this web site (www.r-infinity.com/Books_Porcelain_Insulators.htm) or send personal check or money order to the above mailing address.
Canadian orders for the Guide Book and Value Book combined, please contact me.
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:
BOOKS about Porcelain
Insulators 
BOOKS about Porcelain Insulators
Unipart Porcelain Insulators:
Unipart Profile Categories: U-Chart is separated by styles such as "pony", "exchange", "pogo", Mickey Mouse", "signal", etc.
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:
Pin Bases - Porcelain
NEW American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company - Early manufacturer of porcelain marbles as well as electrical knobs, tubes, cleats, third rail, and misc.
TWINANTELEAK Blue Porcelain Radio Antenna Aerial Insulators
Standard Porcelain knobs, spools, etc. - Standard styles of surface wiring insulators (234 insulators described and photographed)
Porcelain Wiring 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.
Fireplug Insulators - Universal Specialty Co.
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.)
Insulator Manufacturer's and Markings: List of company markings found on porcelain insulators.
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.
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.
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.
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
Old Videos Showing How Insulators Were Made
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
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.