Insulators are made for the whole world by Hemingray

INSULATORS ARE MADE

FOR THE WHOLE WORLD

RIGHT HERE IN MUNCIE — PRO­CESS

OF THEIR MANUFACTURE

AT HEMINGRAY FACTORY IS

MOST INTERESTING.

When you were young a glass insulator on a telegraph or telephone pole was a source of mystery. There was something about that conical piece of glass which you could not understand. Why should a tall ungainly pole be decorated with that glass, which would make such a nice ornament for your play house? If you were a boy and possessed a "flipper” the insulator was of even more interest. It furnished the best kind of a target for your markmanship [sic] marksmanship, and although you were warned repeatedly that breaking one might cause you no end of trouble, the temptation was too strong, and you wilfully [sic] willfully and deliber­ately shot at the shining green mark. It was very seldom that the shoot­ing was satisfactory from your point of view, as in most cases you missed the mark by a wide margin.

These insulators are something more than a plaything, however, and withuot [sic] without them it is difficult to say how telegraph, telephone, or electric trac­tion wires could he strung without grounding the current, and wasting the "juice."

All uninsulated wires which are strung on poles must be fastened on insulators. Wood, of course, is a poor conductor of electricity, but when the pole is wet, after a rain or snow storm there is nothing which would ground the current quicker. This would form a short circuit and immediately stop the entire service.

There is a factory in Muncie where these insulators are manufactured, many thousands of them being turned out every day. The making of glass insulators is interesting, to see the molten glass start in the furnace and come out at the end of a great oven, a perfect insulator, ready for use.

The factory in Muncie which manu­factures insulators is the Hemingray Glass company’s factory located at the end of Macedonia avenue. This is one of the oldest glass factories in Muncei [sic] Muncie, having been established here sev­eral years ago. R. G. Hemingray is president of the company, and he is one of the pioneers of the Muncie glass industry.

At the present time only one of the four great furnaces is working, but almost 250 men are employed in the manufacture of glass insulators and fruit jars.

When you reach the moulding room of the factory Harry McDonald, the genial foreman, will explain in detail the workings of the machinery which is used in the manufacture of glass ware.

The glass is first melted in a great furnace, the heat of which is several thousand degrees. From here the glass is run through a narrow neck and deposited in another basin. From here it is lifted on iron rods and placed into the moulds on the pressing ma­chine. There are four moulds on this machine, and four dies which fit into the tops of the moulds. Five men are needed to run each machine, one to pour in the moulten [sic] molten glass, three to operate the machine and one to carry away the finished product.

When the dies on the machine are raised, four red hot insulators remain on the dies. These are lifted off and taken to an oven, which is known as the lehr. This it a large oven per­haps forty feet long. The front end of it is heated with gas fumes, but the passage is gradually cooled as the rear is reached. A little over half way back there is a system of dampers by which the heat may be regulated. In this way the insulators are not allowed to cool too quickly. About twelve hours is the time necessary for the glass to pass through the lehrs, and when the insulators are taken out they are cooled oft and may be sent to the packing room for shipment.

Several kinds of insulators are made Number 9 and number 12 insulators are used for telegraph and telephone wires, where there is little weight or pressure. About 4,000 of those may be on a single machine in a day. The V. G. D. T. insulator is made with deep grooves and is intended for heavier wire, the rate of making these is about 3,000 per day. Then there is the round insulator, which is used to attach wires to the side of a building. About 3,000 of these may be made in a day. The largest insulator made is for the high tension traction wires. These are made for heavy wires, and high voltage there are a great deal larger than the other insulators and more time is taken in their manufacture. About 1,500 of these is about all that can be made in one day.

It is expected that the other furnaces at the Hemingray factory will be started in the near future. This will give employment to a great many more men and will increase the production of the plant, which is now running day and night.

The Hemingray plant is one of the best industries in the city of Muncie, and gives steady employment to over two hundred men who are well paid. All of the work in the factory with the exception of the furnace men is piece work, and an employe's wages depends upon his own efforts.