The Hemingray Glass Company was an American

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

manufacturing company founded by Robert Hemingray and Ralph Gray in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

in 1848. In its early years, the company went through numerous and frequent name changes, including Gray & Hemingray; Gray, Hemingray & Bros.; Gray, Hemingray & Brother; Hemingray Bros. & Company; and R. Hemingray & Company before incorporating into the Hemingray Glass Company, Inc. in 1870. The Hemingray Glass Company had factories in

and

Covington, Kentucky Covington is a list of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, Kenton County, Kentucky, United States, located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Licking River (Kentucky), Licking Rivers. Cincinnati, Ohio, ...

with main production in

Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the county seat, seat of Delaware County, Indiana, Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs ...

. Although Hemingray was best known for its

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

insulators, the company produced many other glass items including

bottle A bottle is a narrow-necked container made of an impermeable material (such as glass, plastic or aluminium) in various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids. Its mouth, at the bottling line, can be sealed with an internal stopp ...

s, fruit jars, pressed glass dishes,

tumblers Tumbler may refer to: * Tumbler (glass), a type of glassware * Tumbler (pigeon), a pigeon breed * Tumbler (Project Xanadu), a unique identifier of a unit of text or an embedded link * Tumbler (surname), an extinct surname of British origin * ...

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

jars, fishbowls, lantern globes, and

oil lamp An oil lamp is a lamp used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, although their use is less common in modern times. Th ...

s. In 1933, the Owens-Illinois Glass Company purchased the company but retained the production facility in Muncie under the Hemingray name. The main plant in Muncie closed in 1972 and insulator production ceased. The complex is now used by

Gerdau Gerdau is the largest producer of long steel in the Americas, with steel mills in Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. Currently, Gerdau has an installed capacity of 26 mill ...

Ameristeel, a steel production company headquartered in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Insulators

Hemingray was best known for producing

and

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

pin insulator A pin insulator is a device that isolates a wire from a physical support such as a pin (a wooden or metal dowel of about 3 cm diameter with screw threads) on a telegraph or utility pole. It is a formed, single layer shape that is made out of a no ...

s used on

utility pole A utility pole is a column or post typically made out of wood used to support overhead power lines and various other public utilities, such as electrical cable, optical fiber, fiber optic cable, and related equipment such as Distribution transfor ...

s. To give an overview of the large variety of styles produced, the following table contains the twenty most common. The table provides two numbers: the Consolidated Design (CD) number and the style number. The CD number is from a classification system developed by collectors that refers to the shape of the insulator, and is independent of the Hemingray Glass Company. However, the style number (or name) was assigned by Hemingray to each insulator. Due to slight modifications in design over years of production, single styles can span multiple CD numbers.

References

External links

Hemingray.net online museum

Hemingray Glass Company

Hemingray.info: Pictures and descriptions of Hemingray insulators

Hemingray Glass Company - Summary
Glassmaking companies of the United States Dielectrics Defunct glassmaking companies Defunct manufacturing companies based in Indiana Manufacturing companies based in Ohio Muncie, Indiana Manufacturing companies established in 1848 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1966 1848 establishments in Ohio 1966 disestablishments in Indiana {{US-manufacturing-company-stub

Insulators

See also

References

External links