Telegraph Insulator ID

Reading T1 2124 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 16, 2015 12:57 pm

I recently purchased from my local flea market a telegraph insulator for $1. It has writing imprinted on the glass that reads "MADE IN U.S.A 68 61 :. Armstrong DPI". What does it mean (and yes, I do know what "made in USA" means)

Steamnsteel · **Joined:** Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:29 pm **Posts:** 12

You may have a Telephone open wire insulator or power insulator instead of a Telegraph insulator. If it is about 4" inches tall my guess would be a power insulator or one that was used by a RR for their open wire lines. I am a novice at best in answering but
I do have a few and I have 2 HEMINGRAY NO 9 insulators that came from Western Union Telegraph. At 1 dollar for the purchase price, you can make a hefty profit in the neighborhood of 10 dollars.

Rainier Rails · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2015 4:27 am

2124,

The insulator you acquired is an Amstrong DP1 insulator. "DP1" is the "style number" of this particular insulator. Style numbers were used by the different manufacturers of insulators (Hemingray, Armstrong, etc.) to denote the different lines of insulators they were manufacturing. Each line of insulator served slightly different, and sometimes overlapping, purposes. The insulator collection community came up with a unified numbering identification system for all insulators made by the various manufacturers over the decades; the numbers of this system are known as "Consolidated Design", or "CD" numbers. The CD number for the DP1 is #155. CD #155 insulators replaced the earlier CD #154 insulators. Both the #154 and #155 insulators were "the standard for both telephone and telegraph use for many years." (The #154 insulators had previously replaced the even earlier #152 insulators.) Now, regarding the numbers 68 61 and the 3 dots :. During the course of production of a particular line (style) of insulator, which would normally last a number of years, from introduction until it was replaced and phased out by a newer style, multiple molds would be used at the factory to produce the individual insulators. When a particular mold would get older and start to wear out to the point that it would affect the quality of the product, it would be replaced by a new mold. To keep track of these multiple molds, they were numbered by the manufacturer. Therefore, your insulator was made by Armstrong using the 68th mold for the DP1 production line. The second number designates when this mold, or line, was introduced, and the 3 dots afterward represent the number of years after that time, so therefore, your insulator was produced in 1964. A little more info: Armstrong was the successor company to Whitall Tatum, which had originally begun the production of the DP1. Production of the DP1 continued under Armstrong's successor Kerr. Now, just because the Armstrong DP1 is a #155 insulator, doesn't mean that Armstrong was the lone manufactor of #155's: Hemingray also made #155 insulators, with style #45, which replaced the style #42 insulators of CD #154. The #152, #154, and #155 insulators are all examples of "side wire groove, double petticoat" insulators. A "wire groove" is the "square or concave section between the wire ridges on the side of the insulator that holds the line wire". "Double petticoat" refers to the fact that these insulators had 2 "petticoats", or "skirts": the "outer skirt", which is the "outer part of the insulator, from the wire ridge to the base", and the "inner skirt", which is the rim of the insulator's central bore, below the screws, where the insulator would rest on the pin. On the #155 insulators, the "inner skirt" does not extend below the "outer skirt" to form the insulator's actual base, but on other styles of insulators, it could. Your insulator should look something like this:

http://glassian.org/Gallery/155/arm_grnsmk.jpg

Vincent,

Your 2 Hemingray style #9 insulators could either be CD #106 or #107. #106 "was a standard style that replaced the CD 102 for small signal lines for both telephone and telegraph." The #106 is a "pony" insulator, pony being a "nickname for a number of smaller styles of insulators". The #9 insulators were "designed for rural telephone lines." The #107 insulators later replaced the #106 "because [they] used less glass and [were] generally more robust."

If your 2 #9 insulators are of CD #106, they should look something like these:

http://www.nia.org/general/cdimages/cd106.jpg

http://www.nia.org/general/cdimages/cd106_hemi_jade.jpg

http://www.nia.org/general/cdimages/cd106_hemi_aqua.jpg

http://glassian.org/Gallery/106/mcl_apple.jpg

If your 2 #9 insulators are of CD #107, they should look something like this:

http://www.nia.org/general/cdimages/cd107.jpg

Steamnsteel · **Joined:** Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:29 pm **Posts:** 12

Ted,

Thanks for the information, I will research and compare in detail as time permits. It appears that my No 9 insulators are of the dark aqua color and they are in pretty nice shape. They are also marked with a patent date of May 2, 1893 and I also have the wooden posts for the insulator to screw onto. My Dad worked for Western Union and this is where they came from, along with some other things that are in safe keeping. I remember him also saying that they would ride Hy-Rail trucks to reach the hard to get places so that repairs could be made.

Ron Travis · **Joined:** Sun May 15, 2005 2:22 pm **Posts:** 1543

I have casually collected a few insulators that I have found. In looking at the array of information and photos on the Internet, I have come to see antique insulators as being quite appealing, particularly the earlier ones with lots of character and a more primitive nature of their manufacturing quality.

I found one half exposed in a washout of a railroad fill on a line that was operated from 1871-1902. From what I gather, it is a Brookfield insulator. The molded markings are extremely obscure, but it says:

W. BROOKFIELD

45 CLIFF ST.

NY

PAT.

JAN. 25TH 1870

On the top, there is a prominent number: 2

It is light aqua color with lots of swirls and bubbles and other imperfections. It also has a lot of cracks around the threaded sleeve, which apparently were produced in the molding process, since they appear to not pass completely through the glass wall. The threaded bore is slightly off center to the insulator body.

I found this reference: http://www.insulators.info/articles/bro ... 5-creb.pdf

It mentions that the wire groove has sharp edges that were often chipped during making the tie. Mine has a chip in the lower edge. The overall character seems to connect tangibly to that long lost period of time in which this insulator played its part. I think of the circa 1880 New York air trapped in the bubbles.