Orton Ceramic Foundation serving the needs of the ceramic community

The Orton Ceramic Foundation was founded in 1896 by Edward Orton Jr. to produce pyrometric cones for the ceramic industry. These cones quickly became the standard by which furnaces were monitored and controlled. Edward Orton Jr. also established the first ceramic engineering program at The Ohio State University in 1894 and founded the American Ceramic Society in 1899. Because of his interest in and commitment to advancing the ceramic arts and industries, and his desire to always have high quality pyrometric cones available for the monitoring of firings, Orton left his company as a non-profit trust when he died in 1932. Income from the sale of products and services is used to develop and disseminate products and information to help solve firing and other processing problems. Today, technical assistance on customer-specific firing problems, as well as publications, technical notes and other related information, is provided through Orton's Center for Firing.