U-944 just found in the wild yesterday!!!

By Michael Spadafora; posted March 27, 2011

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I needed a break from the endless quest for Fred Locke stuff this weekend and decided to focus my hunting efforts on other insulators ... so yesterday I went out and found this.... A U-944 Mershon Thomas!!!. Sometimes it is more fun and rewarding to find something yourself rather then pay $800 in an auction for it! True enough, this piece had damage but so what....? it cost only the gas to drive and find it and a few slices of good pizza to keep going ! This is the first one of these I have ever found in the wild ... And man what a thrill !

These insulators have been closely associated with Ralph Mershon they, were used in the Shawinigan Falls plant in Quebec. Some were also found in eastern New York., Connecticut, the S.F. bay area, The Folsom Power house lines, and at least a few other locations . This specimen was found on the Albany- Hudson interurban RR in eastern, New York. this design introduced around 1901 superseded the earlier U-945 Mershon design [id=325992929]. obviously it is a much beefier insulator both this and the U-945 were produced by Thomas under the Boch "glaze filled" patent

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