What is cement and when and how was it invented?

Of course, ancient civilizations have been using a type of cementation before the modern concrete was invented.  The Romans, the ancient Greeks, Babylonians and Egyptians all had their types of binders.  The Romans and the Greeks utilized a pozzolan, sometimes artificial, for creating hydraulic cement.  Before that, the Babylonians used bitumen as a binder for bricks and Egyptians used mortar for their stones.

To understand cementation,it is first important to note that the Pozzolanic Reaction is a chemical reaction and the reason and process used to create cement.  Pozzolans are silicous and aluminous materials and when mixed with water and lime it chemically reacts.  This reaction between water and the combination of a silica and lime (calcium oxide) is known as hydraulic cement.

A method for producing hydraulic cement was finally patented by Joseph Aspdin in 1824.  Mr. Joseph Aspdin was a mason bricklayer in Leeds, England and named his Portland Cement because the color reminded him of the quarry near the Britain coast called the Isle of Portland.

One score and five years later Joseph Monier took the process a step further and invented reinforced concrete which was used on the first concrete bridge in 1889 as well as the first reinforced concrete dam in 1936; the Hoover Dam.

Please contact us at Bill Houston Concrete Construction, Inc. at 281-443-0874 or [email protected] for a consultation, we are always eager to share our knowledge.

What is cement and when and how was it invented?