Fred Locke dies at Victor

Fred M. Locke, Inventor of

Insulator, Dies at Victor

Victor, April 15. - Fred M. Locke, inventor of the porcelain insulator and oven glass, died suddenly of heart failure at his home in East Main Street about 8:30 o'clock this morning. Grief over the death of his son and co-worker, Fred J. Locke, on March 7 undoubtedly shortened the life of the inventor, who was the originator of many devices and materials besides the two which are of paramount importance, the Locke insulator and heat-enduring glass.

Mr. Locke was born at West Mendon, April 24, 1861, a son of Mr. and Mrs. William Morton Locke. He became a telegraph operator and followed that occupation from 1880 to 1887. It was while acting as operator and station agent at the New York Central station in Victor that he began the experiments that produced the porcelain insulator. He began the manufacture of insulators in 1898, employing only a few men, but the demand for his product grew rapidly and the Victor plant grew also, becoming the largest insulator factory in the world.

Mr. Locke retired from active business in 1904, but continued work as an inventor conducting his experiments in a large laboratory at his home. The business which he founded was incorporated in 1902 as the Locke Insulator Manufacturing Company and now employs about 1,000 men in the plant here and in another large plant in Baltimore, Md.

Besides his wife, Mercy Peer Locke, to whom he was married in 1884, Mr. Locke is survived by four sons, Morton F. of Dobbs Ferry, Louis P. of Victor, Peer of Ravenna, Ohio, and James of Victor, and by several grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at the family home at 3 o'clock Thursday afternoon, the Rev. Nelson L. Lobdell and the Rev. Carlyle T. Boynton officiating. Burial will be in Boughton Hill Cemetery.