CD 160 HEMINGRAY [080] and [120]

By Andrew Gibson; posted December 14, 2009

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On the left, both top and bottom, is the [080]. On the right is [120].

These insulators were made around 1919-1923, based on the presence of the "MADE IN U.S.A" which was added around 1919, and the sharp drip points, which disappeared around the introduction of round drip points in 1923.

My personal belief is that when Brookfield stopped producing insulators around 1920, a large part of the demand they had previous filled moved over to Hemingray. They didn't have sufficient molds available to fill the demand, so they pulled some old molds out of storage, fixed them up, re-engraved them, and used them until they had time to order and get new molds. I assume that would have been a relatively short period of time, and so the quantity of these insulators would be rather limited.

These two insulators shown here are almost identical in color -- the one of the left might be a tiny bit darker. Both of them have a very rough, orange peel-like surface texture on much of the insulator. Both show signs of repair to the mold lines. Both have had the wire ridge heavily re-done -- both of them have a horizontal line above the wire groove, and another underneath, that show where the mold was re-worked and metal removed, leading to a larger wire groove than originally present. Both have a slightly out-of-round bottom, with the larger part of the oval lined up with the mold lines. Both have 48 drip points of the same size and shape.

If you have an example of either of these insulators, I'd love to see some photos!

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