No other material has such a long tradition in electrical engineering as porcelain. As early as 1882, the world's first public power station in New York was fitted with rotary switches made of the hardest wearing class of ceramics. The reason for this was not the aesthetic but the functional advantages of the material: porcelain is dielectric and tracking resistant, resistant to ageing and extraordinarily hard. It is produced by sintering and smooth firing at temperatures of up to 1700 °C and is correspondingly heat and fire resistant.