[Trade Journal]
Publication: The Telegrapher
New York, NY, United States
vol. 5, no. 3, p. 17, col. 2-3
ELECTRICAL & TELEGRAPHIC MANUFACTURES IN PHILADELPHIA
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THE BROOKS PARAFFINE INSULATOR WORKS,
which are situated at No. 21 South 21st street. We found the "Insulator Man" up to his eyes in business, and the works running night and day, turning out insulators at the rate of fifteen thousand per week-the inevitable result of getting up a good thing and then advertising it in THE TELEGRAPHER. The greater part of those now making are supplied to leading railway companies, to whom an efficient Telegraph department, equally reliable in all sorts of weather, is invaluable. Many thousands of them have also been shipped to California, South America and Europe. At the time of our visit the works were just completing a large order for the Western Union Company. Four or five different varieties of insulators are now made here, one of the latest being composed of earthenware, saturated with paraffine, which has thus far given wonderful results under the most severe tests, its resistance greatly exceeding that of any known insulator.
Connected with the establishment Mr. BROOKS has a laboratory and testing room, supplied with the finest set of electrical measuring apparatus in this country. This consists of an a static galvanometer, with forty thousand convolutions of wire, made by the celebrated RUHMKORFF, of Paris, and a set of resistance coils, from one to ten thousand units, made by the Silvertown Company, of Essex, England. This is so arranged that it may be used as a WHEATSTONE'S Balance, and is capable of measuring accurately any electrical resistance, however great. Our space being limited, we must reserve till another time an account of several interesting experiments made with this apparatus during our stay. The battery used by Mr. BROOKS for his insulator tests consists of nearly 400 cells, which will shortly be increased to 1,000. The different varieties of insulators are placed upon a frame in the yard, in sets of twenty, each set being connected by a wire which is brought to the testing room. An excellent opportunity for comparing their merits is thus afforded during the prevalence of damp and rainy weather. Telegraphers of a scientific and investigating turn of mind cannot fail to derive pleasure and instruction from a visit to this well appointed establishment.
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