A few recent digs turn up a few things.

BillinMo · Jul 14, 2015

Hey Robert - nice finds. For age, I'd guess the ITE is probably from the 60s or 70s. The gray known as "sky glaze" was intended to blend into the sky to make the insulators less obtrusive on the pole, and that became the standard insulator color in the USA in the mid-late 1960s. Supposedly Ladybird Johnson suggested sky glaze as a "beautification" project but it seems to be a story circulated with no real evidence behind it. The Pinco is probably from the 1930s up to 1945. Earlier Pinco products from earlier have the incuse marking, and yours has an underglaze marking. After 1945, Pinco used an underglaze marking with "PINCO" enclosed in a box. Also, that mottled brown color phased out sometime after WW2, when a dull chocolate brown become the standard.

Robby Raccoon · Jul 14, 2015

Thank you so much! But what do you mean by 'incuse'?

BillinMo · Jul 15, 2015

Good question.There are several different ways to mark porcelain insulators. "Incuse" is probably the most common. The insulator body was pressed and trimmed, then the clay is dried. At that point, someone at the factory uses a metal stamp to mark the clay with an impression, then the insulator is glazed and fired in the kiln. Your ITE is a good example of this type of marking. A few porcelain insulators are embossed, just like glass. The clay was pressed in a mold with lettering, so the lettering is raised. These are usually only small types like spools or telephone styles.Others, like your Pinco, have underglaze, where the lettering is applied with a dark glaze (usually black or blue) and then the rest of the insulator is glazed with another, usually lighter color like brown or white. After firing, the dark colored marking shows through the lighter body glaze. There is also overglaze, which is just like underglaze except the marking is added after the rest of the insulator is glazed. Usually the overglaze is a lighter color than the rest of the insulator. A few companies used a sandblast marking, where the marking was etched into the glaze after the insulator is made and fired.

Robby Raccoon · Jul 15, 2015

Incredibly educational!! Thanks so much!

Nevadabottles · Jul 15, 2015

Cool insulator, I have never seen one like that.

A few recent digs turn up a few things.

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BillinMo

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Robby Raccoon

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