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Up: Insulators |
Sediver Insulators Home > Insulators > Sediver |
Ref: 11 of 15 |
The story of Sediver (say
\sed·ih·VARE\, it's French) starts in
1665 when the mirror and
flat glass works Saint-Gobain
was founded as part of the economic revival program of
XIV and
 Minister Colbert.
The company prospered and grew, dominating the market through the
18th century. Eventually, desiring a fully European reach, they acquired
glass plants in Germany (1857),
Italy (1889) and Spain
(1904).
In 1906, Charbonneux & Co.
(an early subsidiary in Reims) set up a new insulator factory called
Nord-Verre; their trademark: ISOREX.
 In 1928 a new insulator works was
established in Saint-Yorre
and a new company Societe L'Electro Verre created by joining
Saint-Gobain and La Compagnie General d'Electricitie.
These companies were the first to produce toughened glass insulators in
1947 (Pilkington was the other pioneer).
Finally, in 1959,
Sediver was formed
by the union of L'Electro Verre and Nord-Verre, with production kept
at Saint-Yorre; the L'Electro Verre trademark was abandoned, and Sediver's
insulators were marked EIV: Europeenne d'Isolateurs en Verre.
In 1970, Sediver merged with La
Compagnie Generale d'Electroceramique to form CERAVER
S.A., (ceramique = ceramic +
verre = glass).
A year later, they merged with Great Britain's
Pilkington Brothers forming SEDIVER Pilkington International.
The history continues with yet more merges you can discover for yourself
at Sediver's own
 htm company history page (archived). This
story doesn't have an end because Sediver remains alive and well today:
click here to visit the official company
site.
 When complete suspension units were produced, identification is easy: the
cap is embossed "EIV YY" or (starting in 1988) "SED YY" where
YY is the 2-digit year of manufacture. However, sometimes the bare
dielectrics are sold, to be assembled by the purchaser with local metal
parts, resulting in hybrid units. As the glass dielectric is typically
not marked except for a mold number, the best hope for identification are
the characteristic high quality glass and typical 'factory' colors: ice
green, green-aqua, and the rarely seen beautiful yellow-green (see
comparison pic of last two
colors; insulators not to scale).
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