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Matt Weldon

Matt Weldon

Posted: 23 Jan 2014

Taken: 17 Jan 2014

5 favorites     7 comments    1 387 visits

1/10 • f/13.0 • 40.0 mm • ISO 100 •

PENTAX K-5

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Pentax Pentax

Keywords

glass •
k-5 •
pyrex •
old glass •
glass insulator •
insulator •
power lines •
power pole •
electricity •
electric •
pentax •
power •
CD 331 •

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CD 331, PYREX, Yellow Tint

CD 331, PYREX, Yellow Tint
A very large power insulator produced by the Corning Glass Works in Corning, New York for the Pyrex trademark line of insulators which produced insulators in the 1920's - 1940's.

The CD 331 Pyrex insulator with a width of 15" and height of 11" and weight of 38.25 lbs makes it the largest and heaviest glass pintype insulator produced in North America. This Pyrex insulator known as mold style No. 701 were produced in the 1930's and supported voltages of 70,000 volts.

Most CD 331s were used around Dalles & Pendleton, Oregon; Walla Walla & Dayton, Washington; Montana.

Here is a link showing them in service use. Photos by Bill Rohde.
www.insulators.info/service/pyrex.htm

AstroElectric, Lewis Perkins, SW Ohio Lines and 2 other people have particularly liked this photo

7 comments - The latest ones
 Power Lines
Power Lines
I wonder if any of these insulators remain in service to this day?
10 years ago.
David Dahle has replied to Power Lines
I believe there may still be a few. Might want to ask Steve as he likely knows someone (Jeff Kaminski) who has recovered a good number of big multis from rebuilt / retired 66kV lines in New England.
10 years ago.
Matt Weldon has replied to Power Lines
I don't know if any of the above areas still have some up in the air or not. If I ever made it back out to Seattle I was going to check out the Wala Walla area. I know some were used out in the eastern states also.
10 years ago.
 David Dahle
David Dahle
Nice piece. Would like to have one someday but any that make it to a show are usually sold before they're on the table. Tommy Bolack has a BUNCH - I counted over 20 in and around his house!
10 years ago.
 Matt Weldon
Matt Weldon
Thanks! I rarely see them at shows because I guess people don't want to drag these big hulk of glass around. Sounds like Tommy needs to sell some out if he's got that many. They only come in three colors.

This is the new piece of glass I purchased so I could photograph all my power pieces individually. It was very difficult laying this big heavy insulator down on the glass, and man I was very nervous about it setting there on the glass even though it was thick glass.
10 years ago.
 Power Lines
Power Lines
I'll admit--the lighting is truly excellent in this picture! It really brings out the color of the insulator.

I did a little photographing of a couple insulators for reference purposes a while ago on the cheap. My setup consisted of a cardboard box and a couple sheets of white paper. It did ok, but neither the setup nor the insulators held a candle to what you're doing now!
10 years ago.
Matt Weldon has replied to Power Lines
Thanks! Since I got new fluorescent lights a couple weeks ago I've been re-photographing my collection. The new bulbs are 5000k temperature which gives you the same lighting as mid afternoon sunlight. My other lights were way to warm and always gave me to much yellow and was a pain to get the proper white balance in my processing.

There are pros and cons to using backlighting to photograph your insulators. The pros are you don't get the hotspots or glare from the sun or flash. I always use my tripod and no flash. The cons are you get more of a flat look to the image or less of a three dimensional look compare if you were to photograph outside or use flash.

In the processing the shadow highlight tool in photoshop comes in very handy to bring back the details in the dark areas and to cut down on the glare on the sides of the insulators, especially on the darker insulators.

Some people like the reflection in the glass and some don't. I personally like the reflection because it gives the insulator and image more of a natural look compare to a floating insulator surrounded by white.

Hope this helps out some for anyone getting involved in photographing their insulators.

Here was my setup for photographing my power insulators.
www.flickr.com/photos/mtr736/11974444153
10 years ago.

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