Founded in New York by Scottish immigrants George Bruce and his brother David in 1813, later joined by David’s son.

In 1838 the foundry made a major advance in typefounding: David Bruce, Jr. patented the Pivotal Typecaster in 1845. It made 6,000 pieces of type per hour, a rate that so threatened the employment of many handcasters that a group of them plotted to destroy the machine. The device was used by other typefounders, notably Miller & Richard.

The foundry was acquired by ATF in 1901.