In correspondence with N.R. Woodward during the early eighties, John J. Macken, a former Hemingray employee, stated that in late 1930 or early 1931 Hemingray who was their largest customer at the time. Mr. Macken stated that the high iron sources for their sand. Initially, the glass was not actually crystal clear, but ice blue in color. In 1936, Hemingray required true clear glass for the production of glass building blocks, and altered their de-colorizing process to produce a crystal clear glass. This same raw glass was used for the production of insulators. Thus ended the era of the Hemingray Blue, and all other aqua colored Hemingray insulators.
Date codes began to be implemented around 1933 or shortly afterward, that being the year that Owens-Illinois acquired ownership of the Hemingray Glass Company. Judging from date codes, the ice blue color seems to have been commonly (before the dash) represents the mold number, the second number(s), after the dash indicates the year the mold itself was made. Any dots (if present) after the example, 12-41::: [six dots] indicates an insulator made in 1947 from mold No. 12. Not all 42s have this type of date coding, especially some of the earlier units dating between 1930-1940. The 42 continued in production until around 1961, concluding an impressive 40-year production run. Hemingray produced their last glass insulator of any type in 1967. Today it is rare to see glass insulators on abandoned poles any more. Many of those still to be seen are 42’s as we approach the 100th anniversary of the introduction of this iconic insulator.
Hemingray 42 Time Line:
1921
1922-1924 Blue / Green Round Drip Point Insulators 1924 to Mid-1930’s
For a larger view of these classic Hemingray 42’s
see the Picture Gallery on the following two pages.
1930’s 1930’s to 1961
Credits: David Whitten, “Hemingray Glass Company History”; ICON, N.R. Woodward on the Web, March 3, 2003. I also wish the thank Dave Watkins for allowing me to purchase outstanding examples of his early Hemingray 42 insulators.
August 2017 31
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