Brent Mills announces his new book

Porcelain Insulators And How They Grew

Brent Mills retired president and chairman of Lapp Insulator Company of LeRoy, announces the publication of a book, Porcelain Insulators, and How They Grew. It is a history of the development of the insulator industry, which had its first feeble beginnings in Victor, 75 years ago, steadily increasing in size until now, twelve manufacturers in the United States and Canada.

The Victor operation of I-T-E Imperial Company is the site of these first efforts to make modern high voltage porcelain insulators in the United States. The Pinco Division of the Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Company at Lima was the second such operation, and the Lapp Insulator Company, which was started in 1916, is now the largest insulator plant in the country.

Porcelain insulators are absolutely essential to the transmission and distribution of electric energy, and our modern society depends to an amazing degree on electric service. Only when the switch does not turn on the light are we fully aware of how important it is to all of us.

Thus, insulator manufacture assumes a very important position in the scheme of things. And it has been equally important to the economic development of three communities of Western New York. This book tells the entire story, giving the history of the efforts of some 17 different companies to produce such insulators, together with dates, people involved, and generally their contributions to the industry. It consists of 227 pages, in hard covers, on good paper, with nearly 150 illustrations and drawings, published privately in a limited edition. It is available, from the author, 40 Wolcott St., LeRoy, 14482.

The only thing of its kind that has ever been published, it will certainly become a significant part of the historical record of Western New York.