2020 NIA Hall of Fame Inductee

 James Madison Brookfield

James Madison Brookfield: (1813-1892)

• After losing his glass factory in Honesdale, PA in 1861 to a flood, he started the Bushwick Glass works which grew to become the largest manufacturer of insulators in the late 1800s.
• He and son William were the first to see the value of, and purchase the patent rights for making threaded insulators. All companies were paying royalties to them who were making threaded glass.
• In 1851 he revolutionized the glass industry by designing a new blast furnace system to burn anthracite coal - heralded in the The Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal; London, England; November 8, 1851 as "one of the greatest discoveries that has been made in the manufacture of glass.” (vol.14, no. 208, pps. 583-584, col. 1, 1)
• Made the first single mechanism press: before his March, 1870 patent all insulators required two separate insulator pressing mechanisms to make them.

His invention of the “follower” for this press insured uniformity of overall height, perfectly formed bases and straight pinholes (think Hemingray patented 1871 pieces vs. CREB133s, 127s, 126s of same era).

James’ 11 patents are listed below. James’ patents were the first in the longest list of insulator press/machine patents held by a single company. His mindset was not only one of making glass for customers, but passed on to his progeny the mindset that engineering, designing, building, and refining their own technologies was just as important as producing product for the customers. They were on the cutting edge of the technology of the day which eventually led to the first (and possibly only) fully automated insulator presses being used until the Lynchburg company acquired the Brookfield automated presses in the early 1920s. Other companies seemed to use the word “automatic” when referring to continual moving machines that still needed men to gather glass, fill the molds, and remove the glass from the molds.

• 103,555 Improved Mode of Forming Insulators; James M. Brookfield - press for making threaded pinhole
• 113,393 Improvement In The Mode Of Making Telegraph Insulators; William Brookfield
• 162,984 Improvement in Machines for Pressing and Molding Glass; Aries P. Brooke assignor to James M. Brookfield
• 164,517 Improvement in Molds For Glass, &c;. Aries P. Brooke assignor to James M. Brookfield
• 170,339 Improvement In Processes Of Annealing Glass; James Brookfield
•     9,956 Design for Telegraph-Insulators; James M. Brookfield - profile similar to a CD127
•     9,956 Design for Telegraph-Insulators; James M. Brookfield - profile similar to a CD121 or CD122
• 200,973 Improvement in Glass-Furnaces; James M. Brookfield 10,981 Design for Telegraph-Insulators; James M. Brookfield - profile