| 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. |
If you are interested in learning about the advantages of using
concrete for your next driveway, sub-division or project, please
contact our Marketing
Department
at (541) 683-6400. We would be happy to
answer your questions and recommend reliable concrete contractors
in the Lane County area.
To place your concrete order please call (541) 683-5750.
