Concrete
Its Use in Building and the Construction of Concrete Walls, Floors, Etc.

This 1877 work, featuring several contemporary advertisements, sheds light on the Victorian use of a much-debated building material.

Thomas Potter (Author)

9781108070515, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 July 2014

220 pages, 23 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 1.3 cm, 0.29 kg

Clerk of works to an aristocratic landowner, Thomas Potter possessed considerable practical experience when he published this work in 1877. His intention was to provide a source of helpful information relating to a building material that was being increasingly used in Victorian construction, yet not without detractors, who objected on aesthetic as well as technical grounds. Clearly enthusiastic about concrete's potential applications, Potter seeks to give a balanced assessment of its usefulness and versatility. While the text does not discuss the chemical processes involved, it does cover aggregates, matrices, how to mix the two, the apparatus needed, the construction of walls, floors and roofs, and the costs and disadvantages of using concrete. The book also features several contemporary advertisements, including one for 'Potter's Concrete Building Apparatus and Appliances'. Of related interest, Charles William Pasley's Observations on Limes, Calcareous Cements, Mortars, Stuccos, and Concrete (1838) is also reissued in this series.

Preface
Index
Introduction
1. Different modes of employing concrete, and systems of construction
2. Aggregates
3. Matrices: Roman, Medina, and Portland cements
4. Matrices: selenitic and common limes
5. How to make concrete
6. Frames and appliances for defining concrete walls
7. Concrete-mixing machines
8. Floor construction
9. The disadvantages of concrete
10. Roofs
11. General remarks on monolithic wall building
12. The application off concrete to minor purposes
13. The cost of concrete, and the class of buildings for which it is most adapted
14. The external treatment of concrete buildings
15. The importance of proper specifications for concrete buildings.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]