U-1933: United Kingdom

This is a dryspot insulator where the top unscrews to expose openings inside the skirt  and wire groove to allow a telephone drop wire to pass through the insulator to provide a "dry spot" from rain and decrease leakage loss. This particular style is known as a radio relay insulator.  These were a unique style used by a company called Rediffusion.  Rediffusion was the trading name of Broadcast Relay Service Ltd, formed in 1928. In 1929 the company introduced its first cable radio service in Hull to customers frustrated with the difficulties of tuning in weak radio broadcasts. With the arrival of the first experimental television broadcasts in the 1930s, Rediffusion began  supplying an early form of cable TV service to its customers pausing only during the Second World War.

U number assignment by Bob Berry April 2016

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