Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Ten-word Wednesday 4


What was original use of these?
No, not interior design.

10 comments:

Vee said...

Something to do with electric lines - I think.

Secondary Roads said...

They are glass insulators that were used on electric distribution wires. You can see the internal threads that attached these to short wooden posts on utility poles or to cross bars those poles.

vanilla said...

Vee, good guess. Aunt Fern collected these and attempted to school me on the finer points of collection. She had dozens of them; I never really got hooked on them, but I do have a few.

Chuck, exactly. I have a few insulators, but what I don't have and apparently no one preserved are any of the threaded posts they attached to.

Grace said...

It's rather a pretty thing. (While running my cursor over the image the word insulator appeared and then I did a google image search - I'm such a cheater!)

vanilla said...

Grace, not cheating, it's how we learn! These things came in various sizes and colors: the greens as shown, blue, brown, yellow, purple, clear...
There were even collector catalogs published.

Ilene said...

Used on telephone poles.

vanilla said...

Ilene, yes, they were. And on secondary power lines, telegraph lines.

Secondary Roads said...

Because they (the threaded posts) were made of wood. They probably didn't stand up well to the weather. Perhaps no one thought they were worth collecting.

vanilla said...

Chuck, I assume that was the case. The drip bib on the insulator protected them while they were in use, but not doubt when discarded they returned to the soil from which they grew.

Sharkbytes said...

I have a boxfull. Can't even sell 'em for $3 on ebay. Costs more to ship 'em.