Homer Brooke and Hemingray Glass Company were involved in many patent disputes over the years, and it didn't help matters any that they manufactured very similar styles of insulators.Many early threaded Brookfield insulators carry the Jan. 25, 1870 patent date, which was assigned to Homer Brooke for his invention of a hand press for making insulators. Brookfield produced insulators by Brooke's process, under license; Hemingray chose to ignore Brooke's patent, insisting their process was covered under a different patent, issued Dec. 19, 1871. It is curious to note that the date embossed on this Homer Brooke insulator, Aug. 14, 1883, was assigned not to Brooke, but to Mathew Johnson, and was also issued for a hand press for making insulators. This example was found in Coahoma County, near the Mississippi River, around 1970. |
