Available is a historic M-3890 New Lexington from the Niagara, Lockport & Ontario Power Company's 60,000-volt transmission system. This particular insulator has quite a deep history.

The M-3890 was designed by famous electrical engineer Ralph D. Mershon. The design is predicated on great surface area from the conductor to the pin/support and uses the lily shell shape to both increase the surface area and deflect water to the underside of the insulator petticoats. This "washed" the insulator automatically and kept insects and debris away. Whether it did the job or not, I cannot say.

New Lexington made this insulator in 1906-1907 for an order by NL&O during their 60,000-volt system construction. Another insulator provider was R. Thomas & Sons Company. Power was generated by the gigantic Canadian Niagara station and transmitted over the gorge to the United States for transmission across the Niagara and Finger Lake regions of New York. The 60,000-volt lines were novel being of very high voltage and transmitting an extreme amount of current - up to 7,500-KW on a single circuit. After a short time in operation, the M-3890 insulators suffered from cement expansion, lightning strike flashover, and puncturing that greatly affected service. Electrical engineers found this during the initial construction of the system and in 1908-1909, a massive effort was taken to remove sections of line insulators for electrical testing and performance checks. This could be effectively done due to the construction of looped circuits on most of the system, allowing one of the circuits to be de-energized during the absence of insulators. Faulty M-3890 were thrown away and successful ones re-installed on the lines. This resulted in the lines being a large indiscriminate mixture of both Thomas and New Lexington styles across the system. Nicholson arc rings, a variety of overhead lightning rods, and lightning arrestors were installed on particular lines. Other styles of insulators were also tried as 60,000-volt construction methodology radically improved between 1906 and 1909.

Circa 1915, NL&O engineers worked with the Ohio Brass Company and designed a new unique style to replace the faulty M-3890 insulators. This was the M-4395 and special M-4700 insulators. Existing pin-type line construction and the ongoing development of the suspension insulator drove the creation of the pin-type M-4395, as suspension types were a more popular choice by this time. Within a few years, all M-3890 insulators were removed from the transmission lines and broken to retrieve the steel gas pipe pins.

The lower two skirts of the insulator were installed on an A-frame pole in the Montezuma Swamp between Rochester-Syracuse following the West Shore Railroad. They were dug by Paul Greaves and Michael Spadafora around 2010. The upper skirt was dug beneath a steel tower on the Gardenville-Lackawanna Steel Mill line near I-90 in 2016 by myself and Michael Spadafora. The insulator has been professionally repaired on the west coast. Very damaged places are Bondoed and painted. There is no cement on the upper joint.

Price is $1,000. Will deliver to Springfield in two padded boxes. Shipping is expensive and if requested, I will only ship it double boxed to prevent damage. More pictures on request.