Don't have a clue about these Things! HELP

[dirtdiggerswife]

So here is a pic! clear Pyrex Trade mark REG. US. PAT OFF PAT.APPD. FOR KI...Whitall Tatum No1 79-46 A INSIDE OF CIRCLE 2 Dots under & 1 on upper left...,next one 76-46 A ( SAME THING BUT TWO DOTS ON RIGHT)...,68-46 A Dot same as first...,67-46 A 1 dot on upper left 2 on rt & 2dots under...,60-46A SAME DOTS AS THE FIRST...,Whitall Tatum Co TRIANGLE INT. INSIDE ONE WITH A 44, ANOTHER WITH A 32, Another Light Aqua 19, White glass Whitall Tatum No.3 16 & 1 more that isn't pictured Pyrex clear has KLL. So I didn't know exactly what you guys called them things until today! Duhhuh!

 

[botlguy]

It's amazing but true: "A picture is worth 1,000 words". Your description, I'm sorry, is more confusing than helpful. However, the super intelligent being that I am, [][], I believe you are describing several CD 128s and a CD 162. None of these are worth much of anything to even an intermediate insulator collector but are a good start if you are a rank beginner. Heck, I started 20 years ago with the same stuff.

Show us some good side on pictures and we can help more accurately.

 

[dirtdiggerswife]

OK well I'm still trying to get the pic small enough to send. I am Landscape designer,outside mot of the time computer illiterate. MAYBE THIS TIME!

 

[Bixel]

Sorry, that picture is like 1/2" large.

Sent you a PM

 

[Bixel]

Here is the picture of the insulators.

These all look common to me.

 

[dirtdiggerswife]

Thank you, we will just display them on the bottom shelf of our bottle cabinet /case with little lights shining up from inside each of them!

 

[dirtdiggerswife]

Anyone know the age on these,history so we can tell our Grandchildren! Heck I thought they had something to do with electricity!

 

[andy volkerts]

Hello Dierdre, welcome to the blue pages, My guess would be turn of the century up to maybe the 1940s, and I think they were all made for communication lines, like telegraph,telephone, and railroad signaling-communications, there are quite a few Insulator heads here so somebody will come along soon and give ya more accurate info......Andy

 

[BillinMo]

Glad you’re interested in keeping these on your shelf. Even though they’re common styles without much collector value, I think insulators are great little pieces of history. I’ve seen some people create really interesting collections without spending much money at all.

So here's a splattering of insulator geek info! Feel free to ask questions.

All of the glass insulators in the photo are communication types.

The clear one at the far left is a telephone carrier style. Corning Glass Works in Corning, NY developed the earliest versions in the 1930s, embossed with their PYREX trade name. Bell Telephone used these on local and long-distance high-frequency lines up through the 1940s.

The small two-groove insulator near the front (I think that’s the one you say is embossed WHITALL TATUM No 3) is a telephone exchange. These are typically from local phone distribution lines and I'd guess your example is from the 1930s. Whitall Tatum was a very old glass company, located in Millville, NJ. They made insulators from around 1920 to 1938 when Armstrong purchased the company.

The bluish aqua insulators in the back look like HEMINGRAY 42s. The aqua ones would have been made in the 1920-1931 period, and at the time Hemingray’s plant was in Muncie, IN. Bell began insisting on clear glass, so we don't see many aqua insulators after 1931. You'll see the post-1931 glass insulators might have a subtle tint and aren't truly "clear" but they managed to get somewhat close. The Hemingray 42s are probably one of the most common insulators made. Both Bell Telephone (AT&T) and Western Union adopted this style as standard for their long-distance telephone and telegraph lines. The Whitall Tatum No 1 (those are toward the left, I think) is nearly identical in shape and would have been used the same way. Both Bell and WU rebuilt a lot of lines in the 1920s so the glass companies cranked out this style by the millions.

Most of the others in your photo (that sort of triangle of six in the front/middle right) look like Hemingray 45s or Whitall Tatum 1. Around 1938 the glass companies beefed up the fine edges of the older Hemingray 42 style to make them a bit more durable. Hemingray changed the style number to 45 (and kept making and selling 42s) but Whitall Tatum phased out the old style No 1 and put the number 1 on their new version.

We can date most Whitall Tatums by the logo, usually on the back near the MADE IN USA lettering. If they have a WT triangle logo, they were made by Whitall Tatum prior to the 1938 buyout. If they have an A in a circle, they were made after Armstrong bought Whitall Tatum in 1938, but they kept using the WT name for a few years.

The numbers on the back are most likely mold numbers and maybe date codes. It’s possible to decipher those if we get complete info, including dots.

Are any of the porcelain insulators marked? I’m don’t have as much experience with them. I can say the one on the far left looks like it might be for low-voltage power distribution. The other two are “signal†styles that would probably have been used on a communication line, like railway signals or police/fire alarm systems.