Enjoyed your video as I started with Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph in 1969 after Vietnam and as a Lineman. I tried to keep all the interesting insulators and keep a bunch displayed in my garage and outback and they are so great to bring back memories each day of my youth climbing poles almost every day. Thanks for the show!
Rickarama Trama I’m 23 I started working for southwestern bell a few years ago. I love the job but it seems to have lost all craftsmanship, the only focus is how cheaply can it be done. I’d love to talk to old timer telephone man... what a dream job.
Love the video. Been cleaning out an old house, from a deceased friend and came across 23 insulators. One has a star on it and is worth 150 bucks! The colors are beautiful. Purple, green , aqua, blue. Thanks again for the imfomative video!😁
Thanks. Using this with my students. They were given an insulator (glass and porcelain) and asked to analyze it (size, weight, inscriptions, materials, ...) and guess what it was. I am sharing this with them after they have completed their analysis. dm
I have been collecting insulators for many years since 1961 when the old lines were being replaced on Long Island. I have taken many pictures of the different colored glass ones when visiting the insulator shows in more recent years. Various shades of green and blue, clear, carnival glass (yellowish), even purple and dark brown.
Great video. I work on the railroad and sometimes find these as the telegraph lines used to be ran along side railroad lines. It's always a nice surprise when I stumble across these. I've thought about making them into something but always stop because I don't want to modify them.
2:07 These type of insulators were so common here in Spain, they were produced by the C.T.N.E. (Compañía Telefónica Nacional Española) translated to Spanish National Telephone Company. Also, I have one of this, and it is a type of bluish green, I found it near my town, in an old telephone line
Beautiful! I didn't know they came in other colors than aqua blue. My grandmother would heat crack them and recycle them into candle voltives, or hearth decorations. In sure she'd roll in her grave if she knew the worth.
crazy i just made a video about these guys because so many people kept asking me about mine. I also have a hemingray 12. they are such neat little pieces of history
Not sure about your backstory. The Hemmingray 42 was probably the most commonly used insulator for telephone and telegraph lines. Rarely were they ever used on power lines, because of the higher voltages involved, and the fact that these old glass insulators were not tempered. Most of the insulators used for power lines in the early days of rural electrification were either ceramic or tempered glass. One of the ways you can recognize power insulators is by the cable top design, where the wire would sit in a saddle on top of the insulator, while the telephone and telegraph insulators mostly used side grooves.
I’ve been collecting them for over 50 years, I can’t explain the attraction but I just love ‘em!
Enjoyed your video as I started with Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph in 1969 after Vietnam and as a Lineman. I tried to keep all the interesting insulators and keep a bunch displayed in my garage and outback and they are so great to bring back memories each day of my youth climbing poles almost every day. Thanks for the show!
Rickarama Trama I’m 23 I started working for southwestern bell a few years ago. I love the job but it seems to have lost all craftsmanship, the only focus is how cheaply can it be done.
I’d love to talk to old timer telephone man... what a dream job.
Love the video. Been cleaning out an old house, from a deceased friend and came across 23 insulators. One has a star on it and is worth 150 bucks! The colors are beautiful. Purple, green , aqua, blue. Thanks again for the imfomative video!😁
Thanks. Using this with my students. They were given an insulator (glass and porcelain) and asked to analyze it (size, weight, inscriptions, materials, ...) and guess what it was. I am sharing this with them after they have completed their analysis. dm
I have been collecting insulators for many years since 1961 when the old lines were being replaced on Long Island. I have taken many pictures of the different colored glass ones when visiting the insulator shows in more recent years. Various shades of green and blue, clear, carnival glass (yellowish), even purple and dark brown.
Great video. I work on the railroad and sometimes find these as the telegraph lines used to be ran along side railroad lines. It's always a nice surprise when I stumble across these. I've thought about making them into something but always stop because I don't want to modify them.
2:07 These type of insulators were so common here in Spain, they were produced by the C.T.N.E. (Compañía Telefónica Nacional Española) translated to Spanish National Telephone Company.
Also, I have one of this, and it is a type of bluish green, I found it near my town, in an old telephone line
Beautiful! I didn't know they came in other colors than aqua blue. My grandmother would heat crack them and recycle them into candle voltives, or hearth decorations. In sure she'd roll in her grave if she knew the worth.
Love that hoodie Mike, GO PACK GO! I have a couple of green #42's that I found years ago, your vid was very helpful.
crazy i just made a video about these guys because so many people kept asking me about mine. I also have a hemingray 12. they are such neat little pieces of history
Not sure about your backstory. The Hemmingray 42 was probably the most commonly used insulator for telephone and telegraph lines. Rarely were they ever used on power lines, because of the higher voltages involved, and the fact that these old glass insulators were not tempered. Most of the insulators used for power lines in the early days of rural electrification were either ceramic or tempered glass. One of the ways you can recognize power insulators is by the cable top design, where the wire would sit in a saddle on top of the insulator, while the telephone and telegraph insulators mostly used side grooves.
Yes. Most common.
Thanks. Wonder what the difference was.
Very well done video!
For more information on aerial wire history type in "Song of the Open Wire".
i've probably come across them in an old barn before, but didn't even know what they were
I have a Hemingray No. 40. Patented May 2, 1893
I wonder if they're radioactive?
There is one radioactive one-Green Vaseline glass mini #42 hemingray insulator- It has uranium.
Really ? I didn't know that these glass insulators were used by the REA. I thought these were mostly used by telephone and telegraph ?
Well he’s slightly right, Hemingray did make insulators for REA but with the bigger “high voltage” insulators made by hemi.
They made billions of these....