Cement by the Barrel and Cask

Cement by the Barrel and Cask

James, D. P. and Chanson, H. (2000) Cement by the Barrel and Cask. Concrete in Australia, 26 3: 10-13.

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Author	James, D. P. Chanson, H.
Title	Cement by the Barrel and Cask
Journal name	Concrete in Australia
Publication date	2000-01-01
Volume number	26
Issue number	3
ISSN	1440-656X
Start page	10
End page	13
Total pages	4
Place of publication	Sydney, Australia
Publisher	The Institute
Collection year	2000
Language	eng
Subject	310105 History of the Built Environment 319900 Other Architecture, Urban Environment and Building 310201 Building Science and Techniques 310000 Architecture, Urban Environment and Building 291400 Materials Engineering 290899 Civil Engineering not elsewhere classified 290800 Civil Engineering 290801 Structural Engineering 290804 Construction Engineering 310100 Architecture and Urban Environment 290000 Engineering and Technology 291899 Interdisciplinary Engineering not elsewhere classified 291800 Interdisciplinary Engineering 291499 Materials Engineering not elsewhere classified 310200 Building 299900 Other Engineering and Technology 319999 Other Architecture, Urban Environment and Building 290802 Water and Sanitary Engineering 299999 Engineering and Technology not elsewhere classified C1 770402 Land and water management
Abstract	The history of the development of Portland cement has been well documented. An overview of the period 1824-1924 is provided by A. C. Davis (1924), while A. J. Francis (1977) gives an in depth review of the industry in Britain. Cement was introduced in two stages in Australia. Firstly as an import and secondly as a locally manufactured material (Geological Survey 1969, McKay 1977). Historical details are scant concerning the introduction of cement as an engineering material to the Australian market. These details are necessary to appreciate the development of Australian concrete construction during the period 1870 to 1920. This period saw the rapid development of technology in general and cement and concrete technology in particular. Concrete from imported and locally produced cement provided a material for the construction of essential engineering structures in remote locations essential for the development of Australia. Some structures, for example concrete dams for water supply, are still in service over 100 years later. The concrete problems with the Bare Island fortifications may have been a good lesson for the expanding construction industry. Fortunately the guns of Bare Island never fired in anger and the impact strength of the concrete fortifications remains untested. As trade developed the choice of imported Portland cements available in Australia increased from just British products to include other European, American and Asian products with a wide range of qualities, and each with its own trade mark and/or brand name. Quality variability was the result of product sourced from different manufacturers using different raw materials and produced to different specifications. Australian produced cements were comparable to imported cements with respect to quality. The development of the Australian cement industry has been similar to the British cement industry with many small local cement works being replaced by a few large manufacturers demonstrating the economy and product uniformity of large scale production. Delivery of imported and locally produced cement was a problem. Imported cement had the problem of long and expensive transport by sea. Both imported and locally produced cement had the further problem of delivery to remote locations in Australia. The time and cost associated with imported cement was an incentive to local production. Imported cements matured during the long sea voyage to Australia to eliminate the free lime problem. Local manufacturers claimed that some imported cements had been landed in Australia as ships' ballast equivalent to subsidised transport costs thus giving unfair price competition. Packaging developed to suit market conditions, from heavy wooden and steel drums to eventually paper lined jute bags, the precursor of the current multi-walled paper bag. The decrease in both the cost and mass of packing containers represented a reduction in the delivered price to the consumer. The use of semi-circular steel drums for delivery by camel was a unique Australian development to suit local conditions.
Keyword	concrete cement construction Australia engineering heritage history
Q-Index Code	C1
Additional Notes	Reproduced from JAMES, D.P., and CHANSON, H. (2000). "Cement by the Barrel and Cask." Concrete in Australia, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 10-13 (ISSN1440-656X) with permission from the Concrete Institute of Australia.

Document type:	Journal Article
Collection:	School of Chemical Engineering Publications

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Created:	Wed, 02 Nov 2005, 10:00:00 EST by Hubert Chanson on behalf of School of Engineering

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