This book is a guide to the whole field of high voltage insulators as used in electrical power networks, traction and production. It covers the historical development of the shapes - sometimes strange ones - of modern types, decribes the principal materials - both ceramic and polymeric - and their fabrication, explains the physical principles of contamination and flashover, and reviews the mass of data on research and testing.

Practical advice is given, with worked examples and many illustrations, on the choice of insulator, including the problems of the environment and nuisance. The remedies that are available to deal with pollution flashover are compared and precautions are indicated for the potentially dangerous practices of live-washing and live-working.

Useful guiding principles for the designer of power lines and substations are listed with the relevant international standards and tables containing properties of materials. For the student and researcher there are accounts of current basic R&D, and indications of probable future trends. The particularly current topics of optical fibre insulation, direct current and vandal-resistance are covered.

The author's first-hand experience of most of the matters which he describes enables him to write clearly and to avoid confusing mathematical and technical complexities. This is a book for the intelligent layman as well as for the specialist.