The meters contained glass jar electrodes containing a chemical solution and zinc plates. As load current passed through the meter, it would electroplate zinc onto the electrodes. By periodically weighing the plates, power companies could calculate the current consumed.

This is fascinating. It's one of the earliest types of wattmeter, designed by Thomas Edison. Instead of using a motor like later wattmeters, these early "chemical" wattmeters functioned through electrolysis.

Working with more glass and ceramic insulators today. It's fantastic that even with insulators (which are well-represented in our larger collection), I'm still finding unique type samples.

I was reading one of Gerald Brown's guides on non-glass insulators, and he included a letter from Continental Rubber Works.

According to this letter, these rubber insulators were introduced in part because bored hunters in rural areas used to use glass insulators for target practice.

Weekend trip to Quebec City. Outside the Chateau Frontenac.

Discovered some hitherto unnoticed markings on a galvanometer. This is a D'Arsonval-type, first developed in 1882. They utilized a stack of stationary magnets, which made the device less susceptible to stray magnetic fields.

Something we unpacked at Ingenium while doing collections review.

This is a neon glow lamp with the image of a saint inside (possibly Saint Christopher). My guess is that this is one of those glow lamps that has two plates positioned too close together so that it flickers like a candle flame.