hemingray glass company
the hemingray glass company was a glass company founded in cincinnati, ohio, in the mid - nineteenth century .
owens - illinois buys the hemingray glass company. production remains at the muncie, indiana plant .
m. g. co. ~ mississippi glass company, st. louis, missouri
hemingray operated under several slightly different company names during it’s long history, first as gray & hemingray (1848 - 1856), then gray, hemingray & bros. (1857 - 1860), gray, hemingray & brother (1861 - 1863), hemingray bros. & company (1864 - 1867), r. hemingray & company (1868 - 1869), and finally incorporating as the hemingray glass company, inc. in 1870 .
the kimble glass company takes over the hemingray insulator division and produces several new power insulator styles embossed
kimble
.
obear - nestor glass company. east st. louis, illinois: “n in a square” mark
ohio valley glass company, pleasant city, ohio (o. v. g. co. )
yet it appears that hemingray glass company and the knights of labor (k of l), predecessor of the american flint glass workers union, coexisted remarkably well .
the company remained in cincinnati only until 1852, when it relocated across the ohio river to covington, kentucky. many cincinnati residents continued to find employment in the firm. with ralph gray' s death in 1863, the company was renamed hemingray, bros. , & co. in 1864, and then as r. hemingray & co. in 1868. finally, in 1870, the company adopted the name hemingray glass company .
at the demand of western electric company, hemingray switches to
clear
glass. the color is not actually crystal clear but ice blue .
1933 hemingray glass co. is sold to the owens - illinois glass co. the muncie plant is operated as the hemingray division .
nice one! orange carnival glass old w. u. tel co. / / hemingray glass insulator
the firm grew relatively quickly in the years after the american civil war. in 1888, hemingray glass company opened a plant in muncie, indiana, effectively closing its manufacturing facility in covington. in 1892, a fire closed temporarily the muncie plant, causing hemingray glass company to reopen the covington establishment until the firm completed repairs in muncie. hemingray glass company remained as a separate entity until 1933, when owens - illinois glass co. purchased the firm. known as the hemingray division of the owens - illinois glass co. , the muncie plant remained in operation until 1972 .
welcome to the hemingray on - line museum. on this site you will find photos of hundreds of glassware made by hemingray glass co, vintage advertising showing hemingray glass, research articles, information on identifying hemingray made items and naturally, many photos of hemingray made insulators, after all, hemingray was the worlds largest manufacture of glass insulators .
occasionally you can find lids that have hemingray glass company, muncie indiana good housekeeping embossed on the lid, fairly early examples of this now famous seal of approval .
in 1848, robert hemingray and ralph gray established a glass company in cincinnati. it is unclear what the company was named at its founding, but by 1857, the firm was known as gray, hemingray, & bros. the company made numerous glass products, including salt and pepper shakers, dishware, and various knick - knacks, but it became especially well known for glass insulators, which were needed in the telegraph and eventually the telephone industries .
1864 - 1867 after ralph gray' s passing in 1863, the company is now known as hemingray, bros, & co .
kimble glass co. takes over the hemingray division to produce kimble power insulators .
the
pressed octagon
syrup is made of white milk glass then painted with a floral pattern. this same type of painted design is also seen on glass lamp shades made by hemingray. the paint is original and was applied after production at the hemingray glass company in covington, kentucky .
hemingray produces true clear insulators. a true clear glass is needed for the production of glass building blocks, and this glass is used for insulator production also .
in muncie, in, hemingray glass co. site becomes a historic site. exactly 123 years after hemingray moved to muncie
the hemingray on - line museum at: urltoken. you will find hundreds of photos of hemingray - made glass items !
hemingray glass company is the best known and was the most prolific glass insulator manufacturer in the world. although best known for their electrical insulators, hemingray also produced many other glass items, including bottles, fruit jars, pressed glass dishes, tumblers, battery jars, fishbowls, lantern globes, oil lamps, and much, much more .
owens - illinois buys hemingray glass co. for $ 1, 000, 000 .
deeds show that ralph gray and robert hemingray leased part of lot 61 in cincinnati, oh on april 5, 1848 to establish their glass company, then known as gray and hemingray. williams' cincinnati guide and general business directory for 1848 - 1849 lists gray and hemingray as glass manufacturers and places their business on the east side [ of ] hammond st. in cincinnati. advertisements such as those appearing in the electrical review and official histories of the hemingray glass company also confirm the 1848 date .
two hemingray - 42 insulators – in “hemingray blue” and a medium shade of true green .
... my purpose in writing this book is to help all glass collectors understand how their collectables were made. i hope that they will benefit from my 23 years of research into the people, places, and things of the hemingray glass company ...
hemingray announced in january of 1888 it would move part of its glass factory operations to muncie, in .
according to the muncie evening press and histories of the hemingray glass company (then known as gray and hemingray), the company relocated its plant operations to covington, kentucky in the early 1850s. a warranty deed dated october 19, 1852 reports that henry pace sold land in covington to gray and hemingray for $ 7, 000. operations there continued to grow throughout the 1850s and 1860s. on march 21, 1870 the general assembly of the commonwealth of kentucky approved an act to incorporate the company. the annual foreign corporation report offers further details of the incorporation, including financial information and officers .
this site was created to show examples of the products of the hemingray glass company. hemingray is known for their insulators, but they also made many other items. bottles, fruit jars, kerosene lamps, tableware, and other misc. items are but a few of the items they produced .
the hemingray glass company operated between 1848 - 1972 and was the largest manufacturer of glass insulators in the world. this web site is dedicated to providing information on every insulator style made by hemingray. there' s plenty of information here and i' m always working to improve the site, so have a look around and feel free to check back often !
[ 2 ] warranty deed, covington, ky, henry pace to gray & hemingray, october 19, 1852, deed book 19, 358 - 359, transcription held by ihb; a. c. howard' s directory for the city of indianapolis (indianapolis: a. c. howard, 1857), 230 ;
annual foreign corporation report (indiana): hemingray class company ,
in incorporations, indiana state archives; acts of the general assembly of the commonwealth of kentucky (frankfurt, ky, 1870), 654 ;
1848 - the story of hemingray screw glass insulators - 1904 ,
telephony 7 (5), may 1904, accessed through google books ;
hemingray glass company sold ,
muncie evening press, may 3, 1933, 1 - 2 ;
hemingray glass company ,
accessed ohio history central, ohio historical society website .
according to the muncie evening press and the muncie morning star, the owens - illinois company announced on may 3, 1933 that it had purchased hemingray glass company. estimates in the newspaper list the purchase price at $ 1, 000, 000 and william levis, president of owens - illinois, stated at the time that the muncie plant [ would ] be continued in operation under its present management .
t. j. , i have doubts that the glass was made by hemingray. you might try contacting bob stahr, webmaster of hemingray. com, for his opinion. ~ david
founded as gray & hemingray in cincinnati, ohio in 1848. 1 incorporated 1870 in covington, kentucky; 2 company produced glass bottles, jars, oil lamps, light globes, tableware, and insulators. 3 after discovery of natural gas in east - central indiana, hemingray glass co. located factory here, 1888, 4 and contributed to significant industrial growth of muncie and state. 5
in 1933 the muncie factory officially became the “hemingray division”, a subsidiary of the owens illinois glass company (factory # 26), but insulators made after that year continued to carry the “hemingray” name. date codes were embossed on most insulators made after 1934, and the majority (but certainly not all) of post - 1934 production was made in clear (colorless) or off - clear glass .
by 1900, hemingray had become a world leader of glass insulator manufacturing. 6 insulators were integral for operation of telegraph, telephone, and electric lines in u. s. and abroad, including in world wars 1 and 2. 7 in 1933, owens - illinois glass co. purchased the company; 8 hemingray insulators remained a major product until 1967. 9 plant here closed in 1972. 10
glass insulators come in a wide array of colors, from clear and light aqua glass to deep orange and green glass. they come in a variety of colors because they were made by many different glass companies that used different glass materials for various things. clear and aqua glasses are the most common and natural colors, whereas chemicals added to glass materials resulted in more vibrant colors .
note: for a basic list of glass factories in the united states that are believed to have made glass insulators at some time in their history, go to my “glass insulator manufacturers” page here .
these glass syrup pitchers, called molasses cans in the 1880' s, were produced by hemingray in several colors and paint patterns .
pictured above are a globe fruit jar in orange amber (on the left) and a globe tobacco company jar in honey amber (on the right) .
hemingray glass company is well known for their wide array of insulators, but top notch insulators were not all they made. the non - insulator products are referred to in the insulator hobby as
go - withs
. there are a wide variety of these items that they made. a few types are oil lamps, fruit jars, water bottles, glass table ware and much more !
[ 8 ]
hemingray glass company sold ,
muncie evening press, may 3, 1933, 1 - 2 ;
muncie glass plant sale is announced ,
logansport pharos - tribune, may 4, 1933, 3 ;
owens - illinois company buys local industry ,
muncie morning star, may 4, 1933; no title, syracuse (new york) herald, may 4, 1933, 25 ;
75 employees get work ,
hammond (indiana) times, may 5, 1933, 13 ;
hemingray glass co. has been in same family for 85 years ,
american glass review 52 (34) (may 20, 1933), 12 ;
o - i closes old plant at muncie ,
alton evening telegraph, june 24, 1972, 14 .
glass building blocks, a major item made for many years, was discontinued in march of 1966 and production of insulators was discontinued in 1967…. . although the factory continued to produce television face - plates until closing permanently in 1972. (the very last glass insulators made were produced at the indiana glass company factory located in dunkirk, indiana, using molds that had been moved from muncie to that location) .
1848 - 1852 robert hemingray & ralph gray are partners in cincinnati, ohio .
1857 - 1860 firm name is known as gray, hemingray, & bros .
1861 - 1863 firm name is known as gray, hemingray, & bro .
[ 1 ] ohio lease book 2, hamilton county, george garretson to gray & hemingray, june 21, 1848, 581, transcription held by ihb; williams' cincinnati guide and general business directory for 1848 - 1849 (cincinnati, 1848), 98 accessed virtual library, public library of cincinnati and hamilton county, ohio website; williams' cincinnati directory and business advertiser for 1851 - 1852 (cincinnati, 1851), 104 ;
1848 - the story of hemingray screw glass insulators - 1904 ,
telephony 7 (5), may 1904, accessed through google books ;
hemingray ,
electrical review, january 11, 1908 ;
hemingray glass co. has been in same family for 85 years ,
american glass review, 52 (34), may 20, 1933, 12; h. g. hyve, the hemingray glass co. : a most colorful history (san diego, calif. , 1998), 4 ;
hemingray glass company ,
accessed ohio history central, ohio historical society website .
on june 19, 1972, s. f. schillaci, vice - president of owens - illinois glass company' s consumer and technical products division and general manager of television products, wrote to all employees of the muncie plant and stated
i deeply regret to inform you that the company must discontinue operations at the muncie plant .
according to schillaci, the company had
no alternative because the plant' s age and its layout make it impractical to adapt it to the production of the of color television parts that now are required by the industry .
newspaper articles confirm the plans to close the plant that year .
[ 4 ] contract between hemingray glass company and manufacturers guarantee fund association, december 10, 1887, photocopy held by ihb; cambridge city tribune, july 19, 1888, 2, accessed newspaperarchives. com; map of muncie, indiana (broadway, new york: sandborn map and publishing co. , 1889), 8 ;
muncie' s prosperity ,
the muncie daily news, january 5, 1888, 4, in the hemingray glass co. : a most colorful history, by h. g. hyve, 254 (san diego, calif. , 1998) ;
covington' s loss ,
muncie daily news, january 6, 1888, 3, the hemingray glass co. , by h. g. hyve, 257 (san diego, calif. , 1998) ;
an act to amend an act, entitled,' an act to incorporate the hemingray glass company,'
approved february 13, 1888, acts of the general assembly of the commonwealth of kentucky (frankfort, ky. , 1888), 203; s. s. gorby, ed. , indiana department of geology and natural history sixteenth annual report (indianapolis: wm. b. burford, 1889), 294; map of former hemingray glass company factory location, google maps the wiki - way, accessed urltoken
leaf dishes there is little known about the leaf dish. it has not been 100% proven to be of hemingray origin, but it most likely is. this piece shares attributes of both hemingray glass co. and atterbury glass co. if i had to guess, i would say ,
yes, these are hemingray ,
because they come in the same colors as the bird dishes .
as early as 1851, charles cist reported that the company manufactured
tumblers, decanters, packing - bottles, lamp glasses, apothecary shop furniture, and generally, most articles manufactured in [ the glass companies in ] pittsburgh .
by 1859, he wrote that products peculiar to its works included glass milk pans and atmospheric fruit jars, as well as perfumers' ware, telegraph glasses, and lightning rod insulators, among others. of all of its products, hemingray was most well - known for its insulators. see footnotes 6 and 7 for information on the development of the company' s glass insulators and their role in communication services. for images of the insulators see urltoken .
the depression glass green syrup is the
daisy and button panel
pattern .
the
provo
style cd 283 is patented and developed for high voltage power transmission and is used on a 40 kv transmission line of the telluride power transmission company in provo, utah .
( december 19) robert hemingray receives a patent for the molding of telegraph insulators .
cd 132 telegraph insulator, made by hemingray, marked “patent / dec 19 1871” .
this article serves as a brief overview of some of the items made by hemingray .
there are many more things that hemingray made and this is just a sampling. to find out more about hemingray go - withs and how to identify them, visit :
tobacco jars hemingray made all the globe tobacco jars. these come in several embossed and many shades of amber, from a straw - like amber to almost black glass and everywhere in between! hemingray also made some of the american eagle and hiawatha jars .
wanted list - hemingray insulators i' m looking for. paying well above book value !
price guide for glass insulators from outside north america for cd 376 to 699 foreign insulators .
please check out my webpage on glass insulators (in general), plus there are gobs of webpages online where insulators, both glass and porcelain, are discussed in more detail .
great power glass insulator cd 289 old fred m. locke victor, ny 1894 patent date
scarce one! straw glass (unembossed pssa) cd 107. 2 mexico old mexican insulator
we have a few hemingray and one mclauchin inulators. one # 42 hemingray clear has # 16 8: : it doesn’t seem to be as easy to determine date made as suggested .
the transition to off - clear glass began approximately 1930. by 1933 virtually all hemingray - 42s were being made in off - clear, very pale “ice blue”, or clear glass. date codes were began to be implemented around 1933 or shortly afterward, that being the year that
bottles hemingray also produced a wide range of bottles. the hemingray black glass beer was made in covington, kentucky. it has the same embossing ,
h. g. co .
on the base as seen on insulators. the c. b. owen soda bottle was also made in covington in the same time frame as the black glass h. g. co. beer .
here is a grouping of glassware made by the hemingray glass co. during the 1880' s. the bird dish in back was patented in 1876 and the anvil toothpick holder was patented in 1887 .
glass blocks hemingray glass blocks come in a variety of sizes and patterns. the blocks made at the hemingray muncie plant have an 86 embossed on them to the left of the owens illinois logo (). the older ones have a welded metal band along the side the newer style doesn' t have the metal band. they come in ice aqua, off clear, smoked colored and a painted glaze .
on december 19, 1871, the u. s. patent office awarded robert hemingray a patent for his design of a press for
molding
glass telegraph insulators. the insulator patent reference library includes four other patents awarded to him by 1900 to help fabricate insulators. according to the muncie sunday star ,
development of the manufacture of insulators gained such headway that in 1900 the company gave its entire time to this product and for many years held a position as one of the leading manufacturers in the country .
by 1904, the western electrician reported that
the hemingray insulators are used on some of the longest transmission lines and have stood most severe tests. the company' s product is in use by some of the largest consumers in the electrical and telephone lines .
[ 6 ]
improvement in molding telegraph insulators ,
patent no. 122, 015 to robert hemingray, december 19, 1871, accessed insulator patent reference library website;' glass press for the manufacture of insulators ,
patent no. 242, 825 to robert hemingray, june 14, 1881, accessed insulator patent reference library website; western electrician 35 (11), september 10, 1904, 209 ;
glass company has fine record ,
muncie sunday star, december 6, 1925 ;
owens - illinois company buys local industry ,
muncie morning star, may 4, 1933; hemingray telephone and telegraph insulators, 1946, brochure, photocopy held by ihb; lewis coe, the telegraph: a history of morse' s invention and its predecessors in the united states (jefferson, n. c. : mcfarland & company, inc. , 1993), 23 - 25 ;
insulator manufacturers in the united states (a partial list )
in the telephone and its several inventors: a history, by lewis coe 1995, 194; tom wheeler ,
how the telegraph helped lincoln win the civil war ,
george mason university' s history news network, november 19, 2006 .
1852 partners robert hemingray & ralph gray move their glassworks across the river from cincinnati in covington, ky .
hello, please allow me to point out that hemingray - made insulators (in fact, nearly all glass insulators, no matter the age or maker) are examples of pressed glass, not blown glass. the insulators were made by forcing molten glass into hollow iron molds by pressing, either by hand or machine methods. this is a different type of process from the blowing of glass, (by mouth or by machinery) as is done to produce hollow articles such as bottles and jars. yes, most insulators, say, before 1900, tend to be crudely made, but that characteristic in itself does not indicate they were blown. both blown and pressed glass, when referring to “industrial” or “utilitarian” glass objects, are typically made of glass that can be described as “crude” because less care was taken in their manufacture. on another note, “fancy” tableware for household use is somewhat of a different ball game, and the glass production for those types of articles was usually held to somewhat more stringent quality control standards. as far as your mention of large quantities of “slag glass” from iron furnace operations being used for making new glass, not sure where you got that info……. . please give sources. i’ve not heard of that as far as making insulators or bottles. thanks for the link… david
the information from this section was compiled from the glass insulator in america, 1988 report, glass insulators from outside north america, and the 2003 price guide for insulators: a history and guide to north american pintype insulators .
tuff one amber old s. a. f. n. v. glass power line insulator uruguay south america
andrew, i understand those “mason’s patent nov 30th 1858” types jars with the hgco monogram on the reverse are indeed products of the hemingray glass company. i can’t date them exactly but i assume they are from the 1870s - 1880s period. there are several slightly different monogram styles, and they are listed in the official fruit jar “redbook” as # 1851, # 1853, and # 1854. i can’t say how rare they are, but they are definitely not a common jar. david
[ 3 ] charles cist, sketches and statistics of cincinnati in 1851 (cincinnati, 1851), 209 - 210, accessed through google books; charles cist, sketches and statistics of cincinnati in 1859 (cincinnati, 1859), 296, accessed through google books; williams' cincinnati directory (cincinnati, june 1864), 185, 404, accessed virtual library, public library of cincinnati and hamilton county, ohio website; some interesting facts about hemingray glass insulators, circa 1913, indiana state library ;
hemingray glass co. : glass insulators for every purpose ,
emf electrical year book, 1927, 1197; hemingray telephone and telegraph insulators, 1946, photocopy held by ihb .
bird dishes the bird dish is a bird shaped dish with a detailed pattern of feathers on it. this dish has a design patent of feb 1 1876 (design patent # 8, 942) and comes in about 16 different colors! these include: amber, yellow amber, clear, light blue, peacock blue, peacock milk glass, clam broth, pink clam broth, dark pink milk glass, purplish pink milk glass, and white milk glass .
tuff one green! old s. a. f. n. v. glass power line insulator uruguay south america
glass insulators are now almost obsolete in the united states, although some of them are still in service here and there around the country. and some countries around the world use larger styles of glass insulators for high - voltage power lines even now .
hi! i have a 1 oz glass with a glassmark on the bottom of an h in a circle. i have heard that this is a hemingray mark from between the 1920 - 1940s, but i can’t find much info on anything except insulators. anywhere that would have such information? thank you for gathering such a vast amount of information for us glass history buffs !
embossings on hemingray - produced electrical insulators include “patent may 2 1893”, “pat dec 19 1871”, “h. g. co. ”, “hemingray”, “lowex”, “kimble”, and others. the earliest insulators made by hemingray have not been specifically identified but would almost certainly be circa 1850s threadless or possibly “wade” types. lightning rod insulators, and various sizes of spool insulators were also made .
the earliest hemingray - 42s have sharp drip points, which are believed to have been phased out approximately 1923 or 1924. the rdp (round drip point) version probably came into production sometime in 1924, although admittedly that is just an “educated guess”. tremendous numbers of hemingray - 42 insulators with rdp bases were made, for the most part in aqua or “hemingray blue” (a richer blue - aqua made by hemingray, as well as ball brothers, maker of the “ball” fruit jars) during the 1924 - 1930 period .
hi i have a hemingray 42 with the back made in the usa. on the dome is 1. do you know why. thanks
a talented glass designer and longtime hemingray employee, james c. gill, was an active unionist who in 1887 assigned letters of patent to his employer for the design of a glass match safe and match strike, a miniature of a blacksmith' s anvil (side - embossed with
k of l
initials) resting on a tree stump, one of the recognized symbols of the knights of labor .
the boys at hemingray s glass works struck this morning for higher wages. they want the same price paid as last spring. they threatened destruction of property, etc. until marshal bolan talked to them, when the greater number took heed to his advice and resumed work .
[ 5 ]
owens - illinois company buys local industry ,
muncie morning star, may 4, 1933; clifton j. phillips, indiana in transition: the emergence of an industrial commonwealth, 1880 - 1920 (indianapolis: indiana historical bureau & indiana historical society, 1968), 296 - 302, 365 - 366; glass, 313. according to glass ,
between 1886 and 1901, an eleven - county area in the east central portion of the state became one of the leading centers of heavy industrial production in the united states and the principal manufacturing region of indiana .
fruit jars hemingray made several fruit jars. the most famous one being the globe jar. they come in aqua, amber, clear, sca. the amber ones come in many shades, from a light honey amber to an almost black glass amber and every color in between .
the embossing
hemingray
appears on several new styles of insulators. the earliest of these probably are the n o 8 cd 112. 4 and the n o 9 cd 106. also
hemingray
replaces the
h. g. co .
embossing on most existing styles .
i’m doing a school project, and i need to know what a glass insulator does (or did). my group would appreciate answers !
tremendous numbers of insulators embossed with the lettering “patent / may 2 1893” were made from 1893 through at least 1910, (i. e. the period of 17 years during which the patent for hemingray’s “drip points” along the base of the insulator was in effect), and probably even for several years afterward on a few insulator styles. for more info on hemingray and hemingray products, check out these sites: urltoken; urltoken; urltoken .
i have a clear mason type jar with a hemingray 4 on the base…. it has a smooth lip and the glass is very wavy looking…. the jar is unmarked…. would you have any information about this jar…. . unable to find it in red book of fruit jars……. thank you
h. g. co. black glass beer bottle and c. b. owen soda bottle in cobalt blue both made in covington, kentucky .
the glass pieces are a very valuable item, so they should be cleaned periodically to keep them in good condition. however, they should be cleaned with care to maintain their quality. avoid the use of highly abrasive scouring pads because this may scratch the glass material. also avoid the dishwasher, because high heat and rapid changes in temperature may crack the glass. to clean stains from the insulator, use oxalic acid mixed in heated water, and soak the glass for a few hours. for more simple cleaning, use dish soap and a rag or sponge to wipe dust from the surface .
made in u. s. a
first appears on hemingray insulators per an international agreement to mark any items for export with the country of origin .
i found an aqua blue hemingray 16 insulator with drips on the bottom of the petticoat it is filled with many bubbles. can you identify the cd number ?
white house vinegar hemingray made some of the white house vinegar jugs and the
onion bottle
. the jugs have a nice graphic representation of the white house on them and are an ice aqua color. some of the jugs have a patent date of mar 6 1909. the clear ones are not hemingray made .
hi greg, ok, first of all, i want to make clear that no one is absolutely certain what the early date codes signify, but from information put out by n. r. woodward and other researchers, it seems the chances are very high that the “o” was engraved on many insulator molds, such as the hemingray - 42’s, around the time that owens - illinois glass company took over the hemingray factory (which occurred in 1933). some of these hemingray - 42s, usually in an off - clear glass, are marked with just a “o” immediately below the “hemingray - 42” marking. others have additional markings such as o - 4 or o - 8 (with or without dots). the “o” is believed to be an initial for “owens - illinois” and the “4” is believed to stand for “1934”. this would make sense since 1934 is the year after owens - illinois took over. if an insulator has an “8” it is believed to have been made in 1938. (of course, add any dots that might be present to the right of the 4, or the 8, to find the actual year an insulator was made). your insulator was made in 1943. (8 + 5 dots). this system of date codes started changing gradually (on some insulators) around 1938, such as on the cd 155s (hemingray - 45). basically, this would be the proposed interpretation for hemingray - 42s of this era (in clear or off - clear glass): o 1933 o - 4 1934 o - 4. 1935 o - 4: 1936 o - 4: . 1937 o - 8 1938 o - 8. 1939 o - 8: 1940 o - 8: . 1941 o - 8: : 1942
syrup pitcher hemingray syrup pitchers come in a couple of shapes, sizes and colors. the most common of these being the white milk pressed octagon. the pressed octagon has been found in white milk, blue milk, painted green milk and amber. the pressed octagon has a wide variety of painted patterns on it. the daisy and button pattern syrup has the same pattern as the hemingray made lamp does! it comes in amber, depression glass green, and peacock blue .
[ 7 ] mr. ferris, committee on commerce ,
electro - magnetic telegraphs ,
in american railroad journal and mechanics magazine, december 30, 1842, 367 ;
parade proves patriotism of muncie people ,
muncie morning star, september 3, 1918, 1; paul miller ,
muncie, ind. ,
american flint 9 (12), october 1918, 36 ;
hemingray glass company ,
american exporter, 85 (1) july 1919 ;
building and engineering ,
american exporter 85 (5), november 1919, 175 ;
muncie as a munition maker ,
in delaware county in the world war, 1917 - 1918, (indianapolis, 1919), 128 ;
hemingray power insulators ,
electric light and power, february 1948, 125 ;
land mine made of glass ,
muncie morning star, september 8, 1944; hemingray telephone and telegraph insulators, 1946, photocopy held by ihb; lewis coe, the telegraph: a history of morse' s invention and its predecessors in the united states (jefferson, n. c. : mcfarland & company, inc. , 1993), 24 ;
the civil war military - telegraph service ,
from photographic history of the civil war, volume iv, article by a. w. greely, major - general, united states army; tom wheeler ,
how the telegraph helped lincoln win the civil war ,
george mason university' s history news network, november 19, 2006 .
hi chuck, from your information, the hemingray style insulator you have sounds like the “cd 128” in the “cd number” classification system used by collectors. you can google that and see various examples of that style of insulator. besides the hemingray versions, the cd 128 was also made in large quantities by corning glass works, and their version is marked with the pyrex brand name. whitall tatum also made some of them, as well as kerr, marked with “c s c” .
the glass insulator in america, 1988 report for cd 100 to 375 (threaded) contains one quarter scale drawings and cross sections with dimensions of the insulators .
hemingray (owens - illinois) glass works were no less significant on the home front. according to a 1948 issue of electric light and power ,
owens - illinois power insulators play [ ed ] an important part in many rural electric systems by supplying highly efficient and dependable insulation on medium - voltage pole lines .
this bottle was made by hemingray in the 1870' s and 1880' s. note the heavily embossed h. g. co. marking on the bottom .
there are two design patents for the water bottle, 85, 082 (sept. 15, 1931) and 86, 659 (apr 5, 1932). the ones made by hemingray at the muncie, indiana plant will have one of the following embossings on the bottom
hemingray
, no embossing, just a number, or the owens illinois logo () with the number
26
. (note: only plant code 26 water bottles are hemingray all others are not! )
glass insulators from outside north america for cd 376 to 699 contains both black and white photographs and one quarter scale drawings and cross sections with dimensions of the insulators .
an early glass block (above) with welded metal side band and two newer styles including a block with a painted glaze and one that is smoke - colored .
to date these are known in depression glass green, yellow amber and peacock blue. they are all the colors that insulators were made in during that time frame !
( november 13) samuel oakman patents the double petticoat insulator. this design feature is incorporated in a number of styles of insulators, including some styles produced by hemingray .
hi jerry, no, the “9” is a model number (style number) assigned to that particular type of insulator made by hemingray glass company and does not indicate the year it was made. the number 9’s are “pony insulators”, smaller types used primarily (but not always) on local, short distance, low voltage telephone lines. on older insulators, the wording is typically “hemingray / no. 9”, on more recent examples (usually in clear glass) the phrasing is usually “hemingray - 9”. the numbers on the other side of the insulator (such as 31 - 52, as in your case) is a combination mold and date code. (please see the comments farther down on this page where i have discussed this in more detail in several posts). basically, the “31” is a mold number, identifying the exact mold the insulator was produced in, and the “52” is a date code indicating what year the mold itself was made (1952). if there are any dots to the right of the date code, add one year for each dot to arrive at the year the insulator was made. in your case since there are just 2 dots, that particular insulator was made in 1954. ~ david
( may 2) ralph hemingray receives a patent for drip points or
teats
. this feature is quickly added to nearly all styles of insulators that are in production .
glass is a good insulator because this material doesn' t conduct electricity or heat due to the tightly bound electrons. because of the composition of this material, electrons are not able to move freely and transfer current between one another. this property made glass a popular choice on telephone and electrical wires for safety reasons, preventing high currents from spreading .
peacock blue
tear drop
bowl with
tear drop
base. (left )
dogtooth and panel
footed finger lamp in green depression glass. (right )
hello i have several of these hemingray insulators. some have the name with a 9 and they are stamped 31 - 52 with a colon. does the 9 signify 1939? thanks
oil lamps hemingray made quite a lot of different patterns of oil lamps. they come in four major types: stand lamp, finger lamp (also called a
flat lamp
), footed finger, and bracket lamp. there are four standard colors and one not - so - standard one. they are peacock blue, amber, depression glass green and clear. the nonstandard color is an olive green (almost black glass). to date only one of these has been reported. you also see sca from time to time .
during the war years, several styles are designed to use less glass. this is the start of cd 163 and cd 165 production, and the
slim
cd 113 .
according to hemingray telephone and telegraph insulators and coe' s the telegraph, glass insulators were introduced in the 1840s and became widely popular in the last half of the nineteenth century due to the growth of the telegraph and the telephone industries. the network of overhead wires established for these industries required insulation and glass proved useful in protecting electrical lines against bad weather. the telegraph states that
with some pole lines requiring as many as 2, 000 insulators per mile, the extent of the demand [ for them ] can be imagined .
hemingray telephone and telegraph insulators reported that the invention of the screw - type insulator
so improved lines that dependable service could be given .
see footnote 7 for more information on their uses .
hello april, i assume your writing “t” instead of “y” in “hemingray” is a typo. “42” is the “model number” of that style insulator. the aqua and “hemingray blue” (stronger bluish aqua, some people call it “turquoise”) insulators marked “hemingray – 42” on one side and “made in u. s. a. ” on the other side are the most common variants of this style of insulator. they were made in very large quantities and those colors generally date from 1921 to around 1930. it is impossible to assign an exact year of manufacture to any of the aqua or hemingray blue specimens. (no one is absolutely positive when the last aqua 42s were made, but probably circa 1930 - 1931). in later years, when mostly clear or off - clear glass was used, mold numbers and / or date codes will be seen on most examples. i hope this helps answer your question. ~ david
the 42 continued in production until at least 1961, as that is the latest date code seen (so far). if you know of a 42 which was made later than 1961, please contact me with the exact date code information. as stated earlier, the hemingray - 42 is probably the most common u. s. - made glass electrical insulator in the world. the great majority are found in aqua, hemingray blue or clear glass. less common are examples in shades of true green (i. e. showing no blue influence in the color) or in two - tone (half aqua, half green). a few examples are known in carnival glass, white milkglass and opalescent (cloudy off - white). it is likely that at least one hemingray - 42 can be found in nearly every large antique mall in the country. even accounting for their commonness, nevertheless these are authentic relics of a bygone era in america, and will soon be true antiques. (officially, an antique is an object at least 100 years old……. . that status will be reached in 2021) .
the aqua hemingray
push top
jar (above) is a wax sealer. this one has the original lid which is very hard to find. it is the 1 / 2 gallon size .
blaze, i assume you meant that you have aqua (blue - green) hemingray - 42s that do not have any mold numbers or date codes on them. those are the earlier versions, made circa 1921 to around 1930, and they don’t have any embossed markings other than “hemingray – 42” on one side, and “made in u. s. a. ” on the other. later versions of this type of insulator (usually in clear or off - clear glass) are more likely to carry mold numbers and date codes. if you meant something else, please elaborate. best regards, ~ david
the earliest embossed insulators produced by hemingray are embossed
patent dec. 19. 1871
. over a dozen styles are produced, the most common being cd 132, 133, and 133. 4 .
during the 1870' s unionism among glassworkers throughout the upper and middle ohio valley took hold. hemingray was not spared problems with its workers. the march 9, 1878 issue of the covington journal reads as follows :
cincinnati, ohio (1848 - 1852) covington, kentucky (1852 - c. 1890) muncie, indiana (1888 - 1933) muncie, indiana (1933 - 1972) [ owens illinois glass co. ]
beautiful mint carnival cd - 320 glass insulator. embossing says corning pyrex t. m. reg. u. s. pat. off. made in u. s. a. 5 - 171. two beautiful mint carnival cd - 235 glass insulators. one is in mint condition. one has very small flea bite on edge of smooth bottom. embossing says front skirt corning pyrex t. m. reg. u. s .
my father - in - law passed away recently and he was a collector of glass and ceramic insulators. probably had close to 100 of them in excellent condition with many styles and colors including glass and porcelain insulators. i’d like to find a source of information that can help us understand the value of his collection. i really appreciate your site with all this information. any tips you can provide on determining their value would be greatly appreciated .
hi christopher, you have found an example of a mold - maker error…. the hemingray - 42 with the “backward 2” is much harder to find, and is worth a premium over the normal ones. the large insulator with the word “ohio” embossed on it is a cd 302. search google with more info on the “cd 302” power line style insulator made by hemingray. there are several slightly different variants of that type, one is marked “muncie type” or “muncie”, others are marked “ohio” along with the standard “pat may 2 1893” embossing which refers to the patent issued to hemingray for their “drip points”. i am guessing you are talking about a small clear “spool” insulator made by owens - illinois, it is classed as a “cd 1049” and was made in the 1950s or possibly into the early 1960s. i am guessing yours has a date code for 1958. if there are any dots after the “58” add them to get the actual year the insulator was made. i am not sure of how late they were made, but they are definitely one of the more recent, modern types of glass insulators made at the hemingray factory in muncie, indiana .
p. r. r. threadless glass insulator. there is a very nice tiny wisp of amber running through the wire groove. there is pretty minimal chipping on the base. if you know how to make repairs with resin .
basket the glass basket is quite an interesting piece. it has two patent dates on the bottom, july 21st 1874 and april 5th 1881 awarded to the designer. it comes in many of the same colors as the bird dishes .
water bottles hemingray' s most well know go - with is the refrigerator water bottle they made these water bottles in the early 1930' s. they come in 3 sizes (pint, quart and 2 - quart) and 4 colors (ice, 7 - up green, amber and carnival glass). ice and 7 - up are the two most common colors. amber is a bit scarce and, as of this writing, only one carnival is known .
hi desiree, hemingray - marked insulators with the phrase “made in u. s. a” are believed to date after 1919. i am assuming your insulator is a blueish - green (aqua) color, not a “true green” with no hint of blue in it. most aqua insulators made by hemingray date up to the circa 1930 - 1932 period, as they began switching over to clear glass during the early 1930s. so c. 1919 - 1931 would be the time span i would suggest for your insulator. the hemingray - 19 is a type of “signal” insulator, often used for relatively low - voltage electric lines, railroad signal lines and fire alarm circuits. they were sometimes used on ordinary telegraph and telephone lines. i try not to give advice on values, other than to suggest you search ebay over a period of time and see what actual examples of any particular insulator sell for (actual “completed auctions”, not minimum bids or “buy it now” prices which are often greatly over - priced !). most of the hemingray - 19s were made in aqua and they are very common. however, other, more unusual colors are also found, and they are much higher in value. best regards, david
here is the story of the wreck the captain, crew, and all the passengers were saved, as was also a considerable portion of the luggage and cargo. in the mid 1960' s, people began collecting these antique glass insulators .
( february 12) samuel oakman patents the cd 145
beehive
style insulator. this style becomes the western union standard double petticoat insulator. again, several insulator companies, including hemingray, begin producing this style in large quantities for telegraph use .
hi david, i have a hemingray insulator, it is a pale light green that reads hemingray 20 - 41. i totally understand from your instructions above that is mold number 20 made in 1941 and the insulator manufactured in 1942. on the opposite side it reads c, s. a. any thoughts as to what that stands for? also on the inside where the threads are it is lead what if any is the reasoning behind the lead. and thanks for such an informative site !
in march 1966, owens - illinois announced conversion to producing television bulbs would be complete by summer 1967. according to a letter from ritter, manager special products for owens - illinois, the last hemingray insulators were produced february - april, 1967 .
ca. 1890 hemingray closes covington, ky plant but continues to own property. after the disastrous fire at muncie in 1892, this plant may have been re - opened to complete orders. at various times until about 1902 this may have occurred.
the hemingray glass company was an american glass manufacturing company . the company was founded by robert hemingray and ralph gray in 1848 . in its early years the company went through numerous and frequent name changes , including gray & hemingray ; gray , hemingray & bros. ; gray , hemingray & brother ; hemingray bros. & company and r. hemingray & company before incorporating into the hemingray glass company , inc in 1870 . the hemingray company had factories in cincinnati , ohio and covington , kentucky with main production in muncie , indiana . though hemingray was best known for its telegraph insulators , the company produced many other glass items including bottles , fruit jars , pressed glass dishes , tumblers , battery jars , fishbowls , lantern globes , and oil lamps . in 1933 , the company was sold to the owens-illinois glass company but production remained in muncie under the hemingray name . the main plant in muncie shut down in 1966 and insulator production ceased . the complex is now the used by gerdau ameristeel , a steel production company headquartered in brazil . 
the hemingray glass company was an american glass manufacturing company. the company was founded by robert hemingray and ralph gray in 1848. in its early years the company went through numerous and frequent name changes, including gray & hemingray; gray, hemingray & bros.; gray, hemingray & brother; hemingray bros. & company and r. hemingray & company before incorporating into the hemingray glass company, inc in 1870. the hemingray company had factories in cincinnati, ohio and covington, kentucky with main production in muncie, indiana. though hemingray was best known for its telegraph insulators, the company produced many other glass items including bottles, fruit jars, pressed glass dishes, tumblers, battery jars, fishbowls, lantern globes, and oil lamps. in 1933, the company was sold to the owens-illinois glass company but production remained in muncie under the hemingray name. the main plant in muncie shut down in 1966 and insulator production ceased. the complex is now the used by gerdau ameristeel, a steel production company headquartered in brazil.
the hemingray glass company was an american glass manufacturing company. the company was founded by robert hemingray and ralph gray in 1848. in its early years the company went through numerous and frequent name changes, including gray & hemingray; gray, hemingray & bros.; gray, hemingray & brother; hemingray bros. & company and r. hemingray & company before incorporating into the hemingray glass company, inc in 1870. the hemingray company had factories in cincinnati, ohio and covington, kentucky with main production in muncie, indiana. though hemingray was best known for its telegraph insulators, the company produced many other glass items including bottles, fruit jars, pressed glass dishes, tumblers, battery jars, fishbowls, lantern globes, and oil lamps. in 1933, the company was sold to the owens-illinois glass company but production remained in muncie under the hemingray name. the main plant in muncie shut down in 1966 and insulator production ceased. the complex is now the used by gerdau ameristeel, a steel production company headquartered in brazil.