Kerite
Description
[Kerite Co] Trademark for a proprietary rubber-like material developed in 1854 to insulate wires. Kerite was composed of tar vulcanized with Sulfur and compounded with oxidized Linseed oil. It was used for electric wire insulation as a substitute for [[rubber|rubber].
Historical Information: "The Kerite Insulated Wire and Cable Company dates to 1854 and the organization of the A.G. Day Company by Austin Goodyear Day, a native of West Springfield, Massachusetts and cousin of the renowned rubber manufacturer and New Haven, Connecticut native, Charles Goodyear. Day worked in the laboratory of Goodyear’s Woburn, Massachusetts rubber goods factory before moving to New Haven in an effort to establish his own manufactory during the early 1850s. In 1854, Day purchased a mill in Seymour, Connecticut formerly occupied by the firm of Bassett and Hodge. Here he began manufacturing telegraph cables and electrical wiring that featured Kerite, a proprietary rubber insulation product. The business represented a merger of two of the most prominent fields of industrial production in the Naugatuck River Valley, rubber and copper goods. Day’s factory was destroyed by fire in 1864, however, the plant was replaced the following year. The new mill was largely given over to the production of submarine telegraph wire, of which the A.G. Day Company rapidly became a global leader. A.G. Day also shared the new facility with the J. Day Company, a firm operated by Day’s brother Julius that manufactured small rubber goods such as pencil and pen holders. Julius Day lead this company until the 1880s, whereupon it was assumed by two of his brothers, Henry P. and Edmund Day. Austin G. Day died in 1889, after which control of the Kerite plant passed to William R. Brixey, a long-time employee of the company. Brixey greatly expanded both the plant’s size and output, primarily focusing on the manufacture of submarine, aerial, and underground electric cables. Among the firm’s customers were the Western Union Telegraph Company, Postal Telegraph Company, New York Telephone Company, and the United States Government. The business operated as the W.R. Brixey Kerite Telegraph Cable Works from 1892 until 1908 when the firm was reorganized and incorporated as the Kerite Insulated Wire and Cable Company. Substantial additions to the Kerite plant were completed during the mid-20th century, and a plant located a short distance to the southwest – formerly occupied by the S. Smith Paper Company and then the Rimmon Manufacturing Company – was acquired by Kerite around 1925. The firm operated as the Kerite Insulated Wire and Cable Company until around 1950, after which it was identified simply as The Kerite Company. It continues to maintain its Seymour plant, which was substantially enlarged circa 2000."[1]
Resources and Citations
- Thomas Gregory, The Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Reinhold Publishing, New York, 3rd ed., 1942
- G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 675; developed 1867
- Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996 Comment: used before 1920
- M.Cook, M.Ferro, "Electric Lighting and Wiring in Historic American Buildings" Technology & Conservation, 1/83, p. 28-48.