The Wisconsin weekly blade. [volume] (Madison, Wis.) 1916-1925, 1922-08-26
Range Varies From Art Windows
to Swimming Pool for
HippopotamuS.
DASH OF ROMANCE IN STORY
Portland Cement Has Been In Use
Nearly Hundred Years--Develop-
ment of Uses in Recent
Years Remarkable.

Washlngton.--Ther Is dash Of
romance and n fairy story theme In
the commonplace chug and rattle Of
the concrete mixer. Every one Is con
versant with the ordinary uses of
Portland cement.
Perhaps some first impressions Of
this materlal date back to the de-
lights Of coasting on IA bicycle over
the CTlcn surface Of Il cement sidewalk
back In the days when cement side
walks were considered more or less
Of a luxury. Perhaps 1t was a cellar
floor. or q foundation, or the sight Of
workmen mixing cement mortar.
Years ago cement was an established
member Of the construction family.
but the development of It's uses dur
Ing the last few year" has been SO
varied and remarkable that it is
doubtful If the average citizen has
even rhe reIrotest idea Of 1t.
The historical incident which
brought about the need for Portland
Eddystone lighthouse in the English
channel in 1856 by an engineer named
John Smeat0n, who while looking for
mortar for this purpose discovered
that an impure limestone containing n
certain amount Of claycy matter con
tanned hydraulic properties when cal.
eined or roasted
Natural Cement Restricted.
The cement used NY Smeaton
marked the beginning of modern CO
matchmaking practice, but the early
dement's were different from the Port
land cement Of today, for natural CO
ments depend on nature to prepare
their material ana are consequently
restricted TO the rocks having the
proper proportions Of materials in
their makeup and any variation in The
composition cannot he regulated
Smeat0n's discovery apparently
stimulated interest IN the industry.
About 1896 James Parker Of North
fleet, England, patented a process for
manufacturing cement Icy turning i'm
pure limestone almost 10 vltritication
IN ordinary lime Eius and grinding
the resulting clInkcr To powder. He
gave this mAterial the name OF Roman
cement. In France there had been
experimentation along similar lines.
The first recorded manufacture OF
this product IN the United States was
In 1910 In Madison county, New York
for the Erie canal project Its use
was developed by BENJAMIN Wright
,,l ~ 81.
cements may be classed as natural
cement because they were prepared
by burning natural rock without
previous preparation and by grinding
the burned product 10 a fine powder
Almost a Century Old.
Almost 100 yeNrs ago. IN 1924. a
brick layer Of ENGLAND, Joseph Aspdin
took our n patent fur what he called
Portland cement He gave il this
name because when hardened il re-.
senhlcd the famous stone found On
the Isle Of Portland OF the coast of
England. ASpdin'S patent specified
that definite amounts of clay and lime
stone be used. and described the
process Of amnlgamating ana clarity.
ing these two materials in the manu-
fOcture OF the product This constt
tutcs the distinction between natural
B0d Portland cements
Few attempts were made 70 produce
Portland cement in the United States
until about 1870. During the 7O's. how.
ever plants were operated az several
points. including Wampum and Cop
lay. Pa; Kalamazoo Mich. South
Bend, Ind. and Rockport. Me.
Industry Grows Rapidly.
The remarkable growth Of the in.
dustry and the consequent develop
ment If new uses for the material is
hest shown by the annual output fig