Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-07-29

Washington. D. c. July 2s.-There
is a dash Of romance and a fairy
story theme in the commonplace
chug and rattle of the concrete mixer.
Everyone Is ~conversant with. the OK
binary uses OF Portland cement. Per-
material date back to the delights Of
coasting on q bicycle owe the even
surface of a cement sidewalk-baek
in the days when cement sidewalks
were considered more or. less tof a
luxury. Perhaps it was a cellar floor.
or a foundation, or the sight Of work.
men mixing cement mortar. Years
ago cement was an established mem-
Der of the construction family. but
the development of its uses dur:ne
the last few years has been SO varied
and remarkable that it is doubtful il
the average citizen las even the re-
hottest idea Of it. {
The historical incident which
brought about the need for Portland
cement was the construction Of the
Eddystone Lighthouse in the English
channel in 1856 by an engineer
named John Smeaton, who while
looking for a mortar for this purpose
discovered that an impure limestone
containing a certain amount of c1ayey
matter contained hydraulic properties
when calcined, or roasted. The ce-
ment used by Smeaton marked the
beginning of modern cement making
practice, but the early dement's were
dlherent from the Portland cement OF
today, for natural cements depend on
nature to prepare their material>and
are consequently restricted to the
rocks having the proper proportions
of materials in their makeup, ana
any variation in the composition can
not be regulated. y, IA
Smeaton's discovery apparently
stimulated interest in the industry.
feet. England. patented a process for
manufacturing cement by turning Inn
pure limestone almost to vitrifcation
In ordinary lime kilns, and grinding
the resulting cinker to powder. He
gave this material the name of Rom
an cement. IN France there had
been experimentation along similar
lines. x 800
The first recorded manufacture OF
This product in the United States was
in 1919 in Madison county. N. T., for
the Erie canal project and was de-
veloped by BENJAMIN Wright and
Canvass White. All 81 the ABOVE
cements may be classed> as natural
cementss because they were prepared
by burning a natural rock without
previous preparation, and by grind
ing the burned product to a fine pow
der.
Almost a Century Old.
Almost 100 years ago. in 1924, a
bricklayer of England. Joseph Asp
DIN, out q patent for what he
called Portland cement. He gave it
this pane because when hardened it
semebled the famous stone found on
the Isle Of Portland OF the coast Of
England.
Aspdin's patent speetfed that DEM
mite amounts OF clay and umeston
be used, n described the process OF
matchmaking and clarifying these
two materials in the manufacture OF
his product. This Constitutes the dis
tlnction between natural and Port
land cements. &
Few attempts were made to ~pro-
duce Portland cement in the United
States until aboutsIs70. During the
7e's. however, plants were operated
at several points, including Wampum
and Coplay. Pa, Kalamazoo. Mich,
south Bend. Ind. and Rockport. Ne.
HI remarkable growth OF the In
dustry, and the CONSEQUENT develop-
ment Of new uses for the material 10
best shown BY the annual output ng.
ures. In 1880 production Of Portland
cement in the United States was .onty
$1,000 barrels; In 1880 It was 335.B0o
barrels; in 1900, 9,43z.020 barrels; in
1910. 1888, ISL bafrels Ind in 1920,
100,502.000 barrels.
One HUNDRED mill.on barrels q e.
sufficient to build nihe t~ranseont:nl
entail highways. : inches thick and
Is feet wide, from New York to San
Francisco. Or It would build ]. 0O0,-
600 six-foon1 concrete houses with q
porch and Mdew41k thrown In. or
A. would build 15A great pyramids