Tips for Finding Glass Railroad Insulators? - Antique-Bottles.net

Minuteman Archaeologist said:

Where could I likely be able to find a good concentration of intact glass railroad insulator? I just started following the telegraph poles with some success, but still looking to broaden my scope of research. Any tips would be helpful.

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I have found thousands of insulators in the wild. I could write a book on it. I think knowing too much about it can be crippling because there are exceptions to every rule. I will give you a few fundamental pointers and then you would have to email me or call if you really want to learn. Much of the digging I did was years ago when research involved the library since there was no internet. So here are a few tips. 1. HOMEWORK HELPS THE HUNT! If you are looking for threadless or old stuff the first thing you need to know is which side of the tracks the poles were on. It gives you a 50% better chance of finding what you are looking for. I used to go to the library and find old photos of the railroad stations. You could then see what side of the tracks the poles were on. They can switch sides, but normally stay on the same side. When in doubt pick the leeward side based upon the weather patterns since the would prefer the poles fall away from the tracks in the event of a storm. 2. Find the pole spacing. Is it 32 poles per mile or 34? The more wires on the pole, the closer the spacing usually is. 3. Metal detectors are good for finding the tie wires that were often left on the insulators or near them if disposed of in a pile. 4. Two tine pitch forks are good and can be made from a ten tine fork. Make sure you straighten the tines for easier probing. 5. Potato hoes are my favorite tool for digging. A pruner and spade also come in handy. 6. Learn siltation rates. Deciduous trees can add an inch of soil every 10 or so years. Conifers add less. If it is on hill, the rates are diminished proportionally to the steepness of the slope of the hill. 7. Habits of the lines are also important. Some companies kept the insulators, some dropped them in old pole holes, some just dropped them anywhere, and some dumped them in little piles in strategically out-of-sight places. 8. I bring red and yellow duct tape with me if I am really going to work a line. Yellow means I found a stub or pole hole. Red means I found threadless glass. I put the tape where I can see it from the tracks or rail bed so I know where I was and I can also figure out the spacing of the poles. 58 of my paces = 30 poles per mile. 9. There are many good books and maps out there on this as well. Wiring a Continent, The Telegraph in America, Electricity and the Electric Telegraph, In Search of Threadless, History, Theory, and Practice of the Electric Telegraph, and of course the Poor's Manuals area all good. (SEE PHOTOS)

I have found thousands of insulators in the wild. I could write a book on it. I think knowing too much about it can be crippling because there are exceptions to every rule. I will give you a few fundamental pointers and then you would have to email me or call if you really want to learn. Much of the digging I did was years ago when research involved the library since there was no internet. So here are a few tips. 1. HOMEWORK HELPS THE HUNT! If you are looking for threadless or old stuff the first thing you need to know is which side of the tracks the poles were on. It gives you a 50% better chance of finding what you are looking for. I used to go to the library and find old photos of the railroad stations. You could then see what side of the tracks the poles were on. They can switch sides, but normally stay on the same side. When in doubt pick the leeward side based upon the weather patterns since the would prefer the poles fall away from the tracks in the event of a storm. 2. Find the pole spacing. Is it 32 poles per mile or 34? The more wires on the pole, the closer the spacing usually is. 3. Metal detectors are good for finding the tie wires that were often left on the insulators or near them if disposed of in a pile. 4. Two tine pitch forks are good and can be made from a ten tine fork. Make sure you straighten the tines for easier probing. 5. Potato hoes are my favorite tool for digging. A pruner and spade also come in handy. 6. Learn siltation rates. Deciduous trees can add an inch of soil every 10 or so years. Conifers add less. If it is on hill, the rates are diminished proportionally to the steepness of the slope of the hill. 7. Habits of the lines are also important. Some companies kept the insulators, some dropped them in old pole holes, some just dropped them anywhere, and some dumped them in little piles in strategically out-of-sight places. 8. I bring red and yellow duct tape with me if I am really going to work a line. Yellow means I found a stub or pole hole. Red means I found threadless glass. I put the tape where I can see it from the tracks or rail bed so I know where I was and I can also figure out the spacing of the poles. 58 of my paces = 30 poles per mile. 9. There are many good books and maps out there on this as well. Wiring a Continent, The Telegraph in America, Electricity and the Electric Telegraph, In Search of Threadless, History, Theory, and Practice of the Electric Telegraph, and of course the Poor's Manuals area all good. (SEE PHOTOS)Dario, da dumb dude diggin dumps daily...... dario@dariodesigns.com

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Glass is not a good insulator. A pane of glass is a bad insulator. You can easily feel how cold a simple pane of glass gets on a winter day such as the windows on a car.

The glass used in in fibrous glass insulation is used, not because glass is a good insulator, but because glass is fireproof. Asbestos used to be used for the same reason. Fiberglass insulation insulates in spite of the glass being a poor insulator by being mostly poorly conductive air and the glass is used to stop that air from being able to circulate.

You could use anything fibrous to do that. It's the air that is actually doing the insulating, not the fibrous material that is used. You could use fibrous copper or aluminum (which are both very good thermal conductors) if you wanted to and it would largely have the same performance. It would just be a LOT more expensive.

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