Up until the mid-1800's, 99 percent of all enamel brick used in the U.S. was imported from England. The S & F Company constructed an enamel brick plant under the initial charge of an Englishman, Fred Macarthy. The plant turned out high quality enamel brick that, due to lower shipping costs and no import duty, soon was producing 99% of the enamel brick used in the U.S. (Karcher, 1953: 15).

(Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Library: Sayre & Fisher, 1895)

Fire Brick

The blue, white, and mottled red clays used for fire bricks were not the same as common brick clays. They were found in the northern and western slopes south of the Raritan River, between Sayreville and South Amboy. Pulverized quartz, sand, ground brick, and talc were some of the materials added to check the effect of the heat and allow some contraction and expansion. These bricks were used for blast furnaces, rolling mills, pottery and brick kilns, and gas furnaces (Weiss and Weiss, 1966: 72).

(Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Library: Sayre & Fisher, 1895)