1st Edition

Early Reinforced Concrete

Edited By Frank Newby Copyright 2001

    This volume traces the process by which reinforced concrete emerged during the 19th century as the successful building material of today. Early work on testing the strength of cements led into a period of experimental work by a number of engineers, notably in Britain, France and America, to devise successful systems of embedding iron in concrete in such a way that the two materials would act together to carry imposed loads. The papers take the story to the early years of the 20th century and provide a thorough review of the gradual evolution of ideas and the contributions of individuals to this technology.

    Contents: Introduction; Sir Robert Smirke: a pioneer of concrete construction, J. Mordaunt Crook; Concrete and the structural use of cements in England before 1890, B. L. Hurst; W. B. Wilkinson (1819-1902) and his place in the history of reinforced concrete, Joyce M. Brown; Portland cements, 1843-1887, A. W. Skempton; The emergence of reinforced concrete, 1750-1910, John W. de Courcy; The origins of reinforced concrete, Cyrille Simonnet; Hennebique and building in reinforced concrete around 1900, Gwenaël Delhumeau; Agents of change: Hennebique, Mouchel and ferro-concrete in Britain, 1897-1908, Patricia Cusack; The remarkable structures of Paul Cottancin, G. J. Edgell; The era of the proprietary reinforcing systems, M. N. Bussell; Architects and the reinforced concrete specialist in Britain, 1905-1908, Patricia Cusack; Genesis of reinforced concrete construction, W. K. Hatt; The Ward House: a pioneer structure of reinforced concrete, Ellen W. Kramer and Aly A. Raafat; The first reinforced-concrete skyscraper: the Ingalls Building in Cincinnati and its place in structural history, Carl W. Condit; The consulting engineer and early concrete bridges in California, John Snyder and Steve Mikesell; Early reinforced concrete structures in New South Wales (1895-1915) D. J. Fraser; Index.

    Biography

    Frank Newby

    ’...strongly recommended for both public and academic libraries....’ E-STREAMS ’The aim of Ashgate's twelve volume series is to bring together collections of important papers on particular topics from scholarly journals, conference proceedings and other hard-to-access sources. This is a wholly laudable objective. Some of the papers in the volume under review [The Civil Engineering of Canals and Railways before 1850] cannot be found even in abundantly-resourced academic libraries. The series opens up, directly or indirectly, debates over the nature of historical evidence which arise from the profoundly different approaches to the past of historians of technology, whose works are principally represented in these volumes, industrial archaeologists and social and economic historians.’ Industrial Archaeology Review 'Engineers will appreciate the stories collected here of the experiments, tests, and early uses of this now ubiquitous building material.' SciTech book News '... likely to remain a reference work for many years to come. The lengthy bibliographies attached to most of the papers included will be particularly valuable to readers who wish to delve more deeply into the subject.' Architectural Science Review Vol. 45 '... a remarkably complete history... This book belongs on the shelf of any practitioner interested in the technical history of reinforced concrete.' APT Bulletin 'The 12-volume series Studies in the History of Civil Engineering, of which Early Reinforced Concrete is the eleventh, are invaluable works on this subject and highly recommended reading for both students and practising engineers.' Concrete 'I can assure the reader that this book will be of enormous value.' Context