Concrete
History
Cement
has been around for at least 12 million years. When the earth
itself was undergoing intense geologic changes natural, cement
was being created. It was this natural cement that humans first
put to use. Eventually, they discovered how to make cement from
other materials.
12,000,000
BC
| Reactions
between limestone and
oil shale during spontaneous combustion occurred in Israel
to form a natural deposit of cement compounds.
The deposits were characterized by Israeli geologists in the
1960's and 70's.
|
3000
BC
Egyptians
| Used
mud mixed with straw to bind dried bricks. They also used
gypsum
mortars and mortars of lime in the pyramids.
|
Chinese
| Used
cementitious materials to hold bamboo together in their boats
and in the Great Wall.
|
800
BC
Greeks, Crete & Cyprus
| Used
lime mortars which were much harder than later Roman mortars.
|
300
BC
Babylonians & As Syrians
| Used
bitumen to bind stones and bricks.
|
300
BC - 476 AD
Romans
| Used
pozzolana cement from Pozzuoli, Italy near Mt. Vesuvius to
build the Appian Way, Roman baths, the Coliseum and Pantheon
in Rome, and the Pont du Gard aqueduct in south France. They
used lime as a cementitious material. Pliny reported a mortar
mixture of 1 part lime to 4 parts sand. Vitruvius reported
a 2 parts pozzolana to 1 part lime. Animal fat, milk, and
blood were used as admixtures (substances added to cement
to increase the properties.) These structures still exist
today!
|
1200
- 1500
The Middle Ages
| The
quality of cementing materials deteriorated. The use of burning
lime and pozzolan
(admixture) was lost, but reintroduced in the 1300's.
|
1678
| Joseph
Moxon wrote about a hidden fire in heated lime that appears
upon the addition of water.
|
1779
| Bry
Higgins was issued a patent for hydraulic cement (stucco)
for exterior plastering use.
|
1780
| Bry
Higgins published "Experiments and Observations Made With
the View of Improving the Art of Composing and Applying Calcereous
Cements and of Preparing Quicklime."
|
1793
| John
Smeaton found that the calcination of limestone containing
clay gave a lime which hardened under water (hydraulic lime).
He used hydraulic lime to rebuild Eddystone Lighthouse in
Cornwall, England which he had been commissioned to build
in 1756, but had to first invent a material that would not
be affected by water. He wrote a book about his work.
|
1796
| James
Parker from England patented a natural hydraulic cement by
calcining nodules of impure limestone containing clay, called
Parker's Cement or Roman Cement.
|
1802
| In
France, a similar Roman Cement process was used.
|
1810
| Edgar
Dobbs received a patent for hydraulic mortars, stucco, and
plaster, although they were of poor quality due to lack of
kiln precautions.
|
1812
-1813
| Louis
Vicat of France prepared artificial hydraulic lime by calcining
synthetic mixtures of limestone and clay.
|
1818
| Maurice
St. Leger was issued patents for hydraulic cement. Natural
Cement was produced in the USA. Natural cement is limestone
that naturally has the appropriate amounts of clay to make
the same type of concrete as John Smeaton discovered.
|
1820
- 1821
| John
Tickell and Abraham Chambers were issued more hydraulic cement
patents.
|
1822
| James
Frost of England prepared artificial hydraulic lime like Vicat's
and called it British Cement.
|
1824
| Joseph
Aspdin of England invented portland cement
by burning finely ground chalk with finely divided clay in
a lime kiln
until carbon dioxide was driven off. The sintered product
was then ground and he called it portland cement named after
the high quality building stones quarried at Portland, England.
|
1828
| I.
K. Brunel is credited with the first engineering application
of portland cement, which was used to fill a breach in the
Thames Tunnel.
|
1830
| The
first production of lime and hydraulic cement took place in
Canada.
|
1836
| The
first systematic tests of tensile and compressive strength
took place in Germany.
|
1843
| J.
M. Mauder, Son & Co. were licensed to produce patented
portland cement.
|
1845
| Isaac
Johnson claims to have burned the raw materials of portland
cement to clinkering
temperatures.
|
1849
| Pettenkofer
& Fuches performed the first accurate chemical analysis
of portland cement.
|
1860
| The
beginning of the era of portland cements of modern composition.
|
1862
| Blake
Stonebreaker of England introduced the jaw breakers to crush
clinkers.
|
1867
| Joseph
Monier of France reinforced William Wand's (USA) flower pots
with wire ushering in the idea of iron reinforcing bars (re-bar).
|
1871
| David
Saylor was issued the first American patent for portland cement.
He showed the importance of true clinkering.
|
1880
| J.
Grant of England show the importance of using the hardest
and densest portions of the clinker. Key ingredients were
being chemically analyzed.
|
1886
| The
first rotary kiln was introduced in England to replace the
vertical shaft kilns.
|
1887
| Henri
Le Chatelier of France established oxide ratios to prepare
the proper amount of lime to produce portland cement. He named
the components: Alite (tricalcium silicate), Belite (dicalcium
silicate), and Celite (tetracalcium aluminoferrite). He proposed
that hardening is caused by the formation of crystalline products
of the reaction between cement and water.
|
1889
| The
first concrete reinforced bridge is built.
|
1890
| The
addition of gypsum when grinding clinker to act as a retardant
to the setting
of concrete was introduced in the USA. Vertical shaft kilns
were replaced with rotary kilns and ball mills were used for
grinding cement.
|
1891
| George
Bartholomew placed the first concrete street in the USA in
Bellefontaine, OH. It still exists today!
|
1893
| William
Michaelis claimed that hydrated metasilicates form a gelatinous
mass (gel) that dehydrates over time to harden.
|
1900
| Basic
cement tests were standardized.
|
1903
| The
first concrete high rise was built in Cincinnati, OH.
|
1908
| Thomas
Edison built cheap, cozy concrete houses in Union, NJ. They
still exist today!
|
1909
| Thomas
Edison was issued a patent for rotary kilns.
|
1929
| Dr.
Linus Pauling of the USA formulated a set of principles for
the structures of complex silicates.
|
1930
| Air
entraining agents were introduced to improve concrete's resistance
to freeze/thaw damage.
|
1936
| The
first major concrete dams, Hoover Dam and Grand Coulee Dam,
were built. They still exist today!
|
1956
| U.S.
Congress annexed the Federal Interstate Highway Act.
|
1967
| First
concrete domed sport structure, the Assembly Hall, was constructed
at The University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign.
|
1970's
| Fiber
reinforcement in concrete was introduced.
|
1975
| CN
Tower in Toronto, Canada, the tallest slip-form building,
was constructed.
Water
Tower Place in Chicago, Illinois, the tallest building was
constructed.
|
1980's
| Superplasticizers
were introduced as admixtures.
|
1985
| Silica
fume was introduced as a pozzolanic additive.
The
"highest strength" concrete was used in building the Union
Plaza constructed in Seattle, Washington.
|
1992
| The
tallest reinforced concrete building in the world was constructed
at 311 S. Wacker Dr., Chicago, Illinois.
|
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