William Aspdin
| William Aspdin | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
23 September 1815 Leeds, England |
| Died | 11 April 1864 (aged 48) Itzehoe, Holstein, Germany |
| Fields | British mason, bricklayer and inventor of modern Portland cement |
William Aspdin (23 September 1815 – 11 April 1864) was an English cement manufacturer, and a pioneer of the Portland cement industry. He is considered the inventor of "modern" Portland cement. He has also been termed "an incorrigible liar and swindler".
Aspdin was born in Leeds, the second son of Joseph Aspdin, an English cement manufacturer. Joseph Aspdin obtained a patent for "Portland cement" in 1824. His product was a fast-setting material usable only in mortars and stuccos.
He joined his father's cement manufacturing firm in 1829, at the age of fourteen. In July 1841, Aspdin left the firm after a major disagreement with his father. Joseph then went into partnership with his elder son, James, posting a notice that Aspdin had left, and that the company would not be responsible for his debts, stating "I think it right to give notice that my late agent, William Aspdin, is not now in my employment, and that he is not authorised to receive any money, nor contract any debts on my behalf or on behalf of the new firm."
A marriage record from Royston Saint John the Baptist church in Barnsley, South Yorkshire of 28 Dec 1841 reports the marriage of William Aspdin and Jane Leadman of Barnsley. None of his family was present at the wedding.
In 1843, Aspdin set up a manufacturing plant at Rotherhithe, near London, where he was soon making a cement that caused a sensation among users in London. William had discovered that a significantly different product, with much wider applications, could be made by modifying his father's cement formulation. By increasing the limestone content in the mixture, and burning it much harder, a slow-setting, high-strength product suitable for use in concrete could be obtained. This product was substantially more expensive to make, in terms of cost of extra limestone, cost of extra fuel, and difficult grinding of the hard clinker.
Although this product, referred to today as "modern" Portland cement, was entirely different mineralogically from that of his father, Aspdin did not take out a patent, or give it a new name. Instead he attempted to keep the details of his methods secret, sometimes claiming that the product was covered by his father's patent. Famously, he would emerge from his office when each newly loaded kiln was ready for firing, and scatter in handfuls of brightly coloured crystals over the raw mix, in order to give the impression that the special properties of his product were the result of an unidentified "magic ingredient". However, in 1845, his rival Isaac Charles Johnson succeeded in creating a similar product for J. B. White & Co.'s nearby Swanscombe plant.
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