page_title: Cement
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Cement / History / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of William Aspdin, page xviii of Volume 1 of Radford's cyclopedia of cement construction, 1910. The accompanying text reads: "WILLIAM ASPDIN. A pioneer in the manufacture of Portland cement, who first developed the industry to a substantial commercial footing in England. He was a son of Joseph Aspdin, of Leeds, original inventor and patentee of Portland cement, but died at Holstein in what is now a part of the German Empire, during the Schleswig-Holstein War, in 1864, aged about 57 years. Portrait reproduced from an old tintype. See Appendix, Volume IV." This is a relatively low-resolution image, from a scanned online edition of a public domain book at Hathi Trust: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3042668;view=1up;seq=20 If I can get access to an original copy, for scanning purposes, I will upload a better one. At this time, this is the best available.
context_page_description: A cement is a binder, a substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel together. Cement mixed with fine aggregate produces mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel, produces concrete. Concrete is the most widely used material in existence and is only behind water as the planet's most-consumed resource.
  Cements used in construction are usually inorganic, often lime or calcium silicate based, which can be characterized as non-hydraulic or hydraulic respectively, depending on the ability of the cement to set in the presence of water.
  Non-hydraulic cement does not set in wet conditions or under water. Rather, it sets as it dries and reacts with carbon dioxide in the air. It is resistant to attack by chemicals after setting.
  Hydraulic cements set and become adhesive due to a chemical reaction between the dry ingredients and water. The chemical reaction results in mineral hydrates that are not very water-soluble and so are quite durable in water and safe from chemical attack.
context_section_description: Apparently unaware of Smeaton's work, the same principle was identified by Frenchman Louis Vicat in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Vicat went on to devise a method of combining chalk and clay into an intimate mixture, and, burning this, produced an "artificial cement" in 1817 considered the "principal forerunner" of Portland cement and "...Edgar Dobbs of Southwark patented a cement of this kind in 1811."
  In Russia, Egor Cheliev created a new binder by mixing lime and clay. His results were published in 1822 in his book A Treatise on the Art to Prepare a Good Mortar published in St. Petersburg. A few years later in 1825, he published another book, which described various methods of making cement and concrete, and the benefits of cement in the construction of buildings and embankments.
  Portland cement, the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-speciality grout, was developed in England in the mid 19th century, and usually originates from limestone. James Frost produced what he called "British cement" in a similar manner around the same time, but did not obtain a patent until 1822. In 1824, Joseph Aspdin patented a similar material, which he called Portland cement, because the render made from it was in color similar to the prestigious Portland stone quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. However, Aspdins' cement was nothing like modern Portland cement but was a first step in its development, called a proto-Portland cement. Joseph Aspdins' son William Aspdin had left his father's company and in his cement manufacturing apparently accidentally produced calcium silicates in the 1840s, a middle step in the development of Portland cement. William Aspdin's innovation was counterintuitive for manufacturers of "artificial cements", because they required more lime in the mix (a problem for his father), a much higher kiln temperature (and therefore more fuel), and the resulting clinker was very hard and rapidly wore down the millstones, which were the only available grinding technology of the time. Manufacturing costs were therefore considerably higher, but the product set reasonably slowly and developed strength quickly, thus opening up a market for use in concrete. The use of concrete in construction grew rapidly from 1850 onward, and was soon the dominant use for cements. Thus Portland cement began its predominant role. Isaac Charles Johnson further refined the production of meso-Portland cement (middle stage of development) and claimed he was the real father of Portland cement.
  Setting time and "early strength" are important characteristics of cements. Hydraulic limes, "natural" cements, and "artificial" cements all rely on their belite (2 CaO · SiO₂, abbreviated as C₂S) content for strength development. Belite develops strength slowly. Because they were burned at temperatures below 1,250 °C (2,280 °F), they contained no alite (3 CaO · SiO₂, abbreviated as C₃S) , which is responsible for early strength in modern cements. The first cement to consistently contain alite was made by William Aspdin in the early 1840s: This was what we call today "modern" Portland cement. Because of the air of mystery with which William Aspdin surrounded his product, others (e.g., Vicat and Johnson) have claimed precedence in this invention, but recent analysis of both his concrete and raw cement have shown that William Aspdin's product made at Northfleet, Kent was a true alite-based cement. However, Aspdin's methods were "rule-of-thumb": Vicat is responsible for establishing the chemical basis of these cements, and Johnson established the importance of sintering the mix in the kiln.
  In the US the first large-scale use of cement was Rosendale cement, a natural cement mined from a massive deposit of a large dolomite deposit discovered in the early 19th century near Rosendale, New York. Rosendale cement was extremely popular for the foundation of buildings (e.g., Statue of Liberty, Capitol Building, Brooklyn Bridge) and lining water pipes.
  Sorel ceme
caption: William Aspdin is considered the inventor of "modern" Portland cement.[24]
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