1912 Date Nail or 12 Volts?

[Old Pueblo]

Hello, I have this old General Porcelain Company (GEE PEE) knob insulator, which dates from 1911 to 1927, with what looks like a 1912 date nail in the center. Does anyone know more about these?

I think the "12" may just be referring to 12 volt electricity or something, but I dont know much about electricity and all of that and it would be nice to know for sure.

The other nail you see in my photo is another "12" nail from a broken knob insulator, which came from the same place as the whole one you see. The "12" nails are about 3 to 3.5 inches long, where as the actual date nails I find are never more than 2.5 inches long. But that can't rule out whether or not these "12" nails are date nails or not, since there were hundreds of different types of date nails being made around this time, mostly for the railroad but also for telephone poles and highway guard rails, from what I understand.

 

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[sandchip]

Never seen a numbered nail used with an insulator like that, but the 12v theory sounds reasonable. There's an old lean-to on the back of an old garage behind my shop that Daddy always called the Delco house. It had batteries in it that powered a few bulbs in Granny's house way back. I vaguely remember a couple of cut wires sticking out of the eaves that must've been strung across the yard to her house. I never thought about asking Daddy about the voltage used and such. Cool find.

 

[villagenut]

Looks more like part of a knob and tube wiring insulator. If so then the 12 would not stand for 12 volts but something else.

 

[dave wiseman]

Why is a nail size called a penny, and why the symbol ?d?? Packaging Incorporated

 

[sandchip]

Why is a nail size called a penny, and why the symbol ?d?? Packaging Incorporated

Thought about that too, but never in all my days of working on old houses did I ever see the size of a nail stamped on the head, although I'm from a different part of the country, so the size theory makes sense, too. The size of a nail was something you learned after a while just by looking at 'em.

 

[trdking]

Thought about that too, but never in all my days of working on old houses did I ever see the size of a nail stamped on the head, although I'm from a different part of the country, so the size theory makes sense, too. The size of a nail was something you learned after a while just by looking at 'em.

These Knobs came with the nail ready to hammer into a joist. I am fairly certain that the nail size on the head was there so the electrical inspector could see that the nail size met code with out have to pull an insulator to look.

 

[dave wiseman]

The older house(1928)where I currently live still has those porcelin insulators.

 

[Tpmetal]

The older house(1928)where I currently live still has those porcelin insulators.

you should really address that problem. Hate to read about you burning alive on here one day

 

[Old Pueblo]

Thanks guys. Thats what I needed to know. I think the 12 penny nail idea sounds right, considering these nails are about 3.5 inches long.

 

[trdking]

The older house(1928)where I currently live still has those porcelin insulators.

I agree above. Knob and tube can be a horrible fire hazard (and electrocution hazard) When the cloth insulation rots and comes off there is bare wire about the attic and crawl spaces in walls etc. All you need as a rat or other to kill themselves on it and you have a dead body short that cooks them till they burst into flames. Horrid I know but have seen it many times. My first experience as a licensed electrician was a knob and tube short. Almost cooked my self in the attic maneuvering through all the bare wire.