Shed Building Plans

I love lighting!  Now that I'm about to start ripping walls down and expanding spaces (God help me!) I'm looking at picking up new chandeliers and ceiling lights for my dining room and home office and I've been exploring the different online shopping sites.  I do like the affordable light fixtures from ParrotUncle.
I love this traditional look:

This year I almost skipped the big insulator show that happens every year in November at Springfield Ohio.  In the end I did decide to go after all.  The show is a bit of a tradition now with this being my fourth year of attendance in row.  As one of the biggest shows in the country I just cant pass up the opportunity of possibly adding some new pieces to my collection.

When I first got into collecting glass insulators I quickly took the sage advice of an experienced collector and specialized my interest in the hobby around the California Glass Insulator Company.  I love the soft pastel colors of the California glass and the interesting history of the company that operated for only four years. (1912-1916)  Now on the eve of 2014 I am certain that the pieces in my California collection are between 98 and 102 years old.  2014 is the 100th anniversary of the reorganization of the small upstart company which occured in 1914.

During a rare sunny day in December I set up in the back yard to photograph my new pieces.  In the above picture are four sage green CD 161 "Signal" Insulators.  These are a relatively common shape and color from CGIC and can be found for around $5 a piece or a bit more for a pristine example.  Note the difference in "Dome Glass" at the top of each insulator.  Dome glass is a term used by collectors to describe the solid glass at the very top of the insulator.  Because CGIC did not adhere to strict quality control measures back in the day the depth of the threaded hole and resultant dome glass can vary widely.

Even though I already have a few of these I couldnt pass up this nice pale purple CD 152.  A common insulator that once probably sat atop a pole along a railroad out west.

Two CD 102 Ponies and a CD 112 "Keg".  These little guys are a bit more rare. They were used on telephone circuits.

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For the past couple years Ive been looking for a scarce power insulator called a CD 208 "Cross Top"  Although commonly produced in larger numbers by eastern glass houses the California cross tops were made in limited quantities and used on only a few power distribution lines in the west.  These unique insulators got their nickname from the double grooves situated in a cross pattern at the top of the dome.  Im not sure of the purpose of the double grooves but I suspect the arrangement offered more options to the lineman who secured the heavy power conductors to the insulator with tie wires.  Perhaps two tie wires would  be fixed at 90 degrees to one another providing a very secure attachment of the power line to the tower.

    

After carousing most of the show floor I settled on a beat up CD 208 that had some cracks, a broken inner skirt and severe wear on the top of the dome.  Normally I dont choose to buy an insulator unless it is very near if not mint condition.  This trade off in my collecting method means I have to be patient and wait for the right piece to come along or else settle for a less than perfect example of the CD Im looking for.  In this case the desire to have a cross top in my collection won out over my normal modus operandi and besides the price was right on the damaged 208 at ten bucks.

After passing just a few more tables and nearly at the end of the show floor I spotted another cross top and to my amazement this one was in perfect shape.  Of course I had to pay full collector market price for this one but I finally found a winner cross top for my main window display.

One day last month I was riding along my local rail trail from the north end to the south end as is usually my practice. When on the return leg I noticed one of two old telegraph poles I pass along the way was not sticking up vertical anymore but laying in broken pieces on the ground.  The poles are noteworthy to me because they make up the last few that are still standing along the old B & O spur route that once connected Mansfield and Butler Ohio.

A few years ago I happened to be looking up (Something Im often doing while reclined comfortably on my recumbent bike) and noticed that the two weathered poles still had some old aqua colored glass insulators on the cross arms.  I even took a picture of this particular pole with its cross arms tilting haphazardly.  The ever present tug of gravity and crumbling decay of the wood eventually brought the pole down and this is how I found it.  I noticed right away as I pulled off the trail and looked down at the broken pieces that there was not a single insulator in sight.

Oh well I thought the pieces were already picked and I just wasnt in the right place at the right time.  I was about to head on my way but I decided to get off my bike and take a closer look anyway.  In the grass half hidden under the pole a small patch of blue caught my eye.  I kicked away the debris and found an insulator still screwed onto a rusty pin.  In my excitement I scanned around the surrounding area and found the second one a few feet away just barely visible in the scrub.  At some point after the pole was already on the ground someone had cut down the taller brush in this little section between the road and the bike trail and I think that provided some of the cover for these two insulators to remain hidden until I came along.    

As an antique insulator collector this was a monumental piece of luck for me.  All of the insulators in my collection I have purchased from other collectors, found at garage sales and at insulator shows.  I have spotted many old insulators still stuck on poles some even with telegraph wire but this is the first time in my four or five years as a collector actually picking some pieces from a pole.

Long ago the copper wires these insulators supported carried land line Morse code telegraphy probably B & O railroad business, news and personal messages of citizens living in the area.  These two Hemingray - 42s were probably made in the 1920s or 30s.  They are not worth much maybe a quarter dollar a piece or fifty cents but knowing exactly where they came from and being able to document their provenance here for the future is something valuable to me.