Just a note.  Refractory bricks were being manufactured in the U.S. long before the end of the 19th century.  Excavation of a yellow ware kiln site in Covington, Kentucky indicate (numerous stamped bricks recovered) that they were being made by manufacturers in St. Louis, West Virginia, and other portions of the Ohio Valley as early as the 1840s and 1850s.

Bob Genheimer
George Rieveschl Curator of Archaeology
Cincinnati Museum Center
1301 Western Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio 45203
513-455-7161


-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Ron
May
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2006 4:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Query about cementitious firebrick (?)


Karl Gurcke authored a book about bricks, in which he treats fire brick.  The 
yellow-tan brick does not melt in the fireplace fires and often resists  
industrial furnace temperatures. Just yesterday, I saw a group of really odd  
shapes lining a 1908 garden at the U.S. Navy Fuel Farm in San Diego. Those were  
specially-made for some sort of pipe structure. The earliest were made in other 
 countries, but by the end of the 19th century, American factories produced 
fire  brick. The Los Angeles Pressed Brick factory produced much of what is 
seen in  southern California fireplaces. But I expect local factories could be 
found  across America by the 1920s.
 
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.


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