Fred Locke is considered to be the "Father of porcelain insulators". In 1894 he developed the first high voltage insulator. He had both glass and porcelain insulators manufactured to his designs by other companies and built his own porcelain factory in Victor, NY in 1898 and the Lima Insulator Co. in 1904. A multitude of new facts about Imperial Porcelain Works, R. Thomas & Sons Co., Electric Porcelain & Mfg. Co., and Lima Insulator Co. are presented to weave a complete historical account of this most interesting man and his family. Many noteworthy individuals were "trained" at Fred Locke's factory resulting in the fact that almost all other porcelain insulator manufacturers have ties back to Fred Locke and the Locke Insulator Manufacturing Co.

This Biography includes almost 100 original photographs of Fred Locke, his family and home, the Locke and Lima insulator factories, and glass insulators he had produced from 1909 to 1916 by both Brookfield and Corning Glass Works based on his glass patents. About 150 illustrations and advertisements from the trade magazines of the time guide the reader through the career of this incredible man. His 61 patents are discussed in detail. Scale drawings and photographs of each style of Fred Locke's glass and porcelain insulators are included.