This insulator was purchased at a flea market in Montevideo, Uruguay. I was fortunate enough to win it on eBay I have been trying to research the significance of the word SILVERTOWN. Only yesterday did I find another item on eBay with the name Silvertown, but it was telegraph equipment, so I followed up on that lead. Seems that from 1850 on, there was a Silvertown just outside London, England.

+++Silvertown is an industrial area situated downstream from the traditional docklands of London. Originally marshland, and named after a Samuel Winkworth Silver who began his India Rubber, Gutta Percha & Telegraph Cable works there in 1852. Silvertown, properly known as the Indiarubber, Guttapercha and Telegraph Company of Silvertown. The company is still (note that this was written in 1984) in existence as part of BTR Industries Ltd. [ BTR is the British Tyre and Rubber Co.] +++ A separate note here said there were no insulators made after 1930. [No indication given as to what insulators were made before 1930]

Click on View Original for greater detail

The picture also shows 2 Bullers marked porcelains that were made for use in Uruguay. The unit on the left is marked FCC, as in Ferro Caril Centrale, while the terminator unit is marked with the English equivalent CUR for Central Uruguay Railway.

Back to Silvertown. In some additional reading I found there was a tender [ship] by name of Silvertown used in the laying of the 1865 Trans-Atlantic Cable, and the data suggested there was a link to the Silvertown Telegraph Company.

The manufacturer of the SILVERTOWN insulator is unknown. The threads are British size, but then further reading suggests that nearly all the early Uruguyan railways were British built and operated.

Any further information about this Silvertown insulator would be greatly appreciated.