James Parker (Entrepreneur)

James Parker (18th century; † 19th century) was a British pastor and cement manufacturer who invented Roman cement in the late eighteenth century . Roman cement was the preferred binding agent in Europe from 1800 to 1850, not cement as it is today.

biography

Parker was granted the Method of Burning bricks, Tiles, Chalk patent in 1791 and his second patent in 1796, A certain Cement or Terras to be used in Aquatic and other Buildings and Stucco Work (A certain cement or terras used in Aquatic and other buildings and stucco work can be). He built his manufacturing facility in Northfleet on Northfleet Creek in Kent . It appears that he sold his patent to Samuel Wyatt, who with his cousin Charles Wyatt made Parker & Wyatt cement. Parker emigrated to America in 1797.

There is evidence that Wyatt's novel cement was used in the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse . The cement was made from natural chalk and clay from the Isle of Sheppey . From 1807 there were a number of variants of this cement as hydraulic lime, which was not burned. James Frost developed this "British Cement" from 1811 to 1822 and Joseph Aspdin produced Portland cement from limestone from the island of Portland in 1824 . After Parker's patent had expired (around 1810/20), the novel cement was produced by numerous manufacturers. After 1821 this type of cement was improved.

In 1832 there were five roman cement producing plants around Harwich . The Parker and Wyatt company existed until 1846 and the Nordfleet factory was sold to the company of William Aspdin, who continued Portland cement production until 1901, most recently under the name Robins Werk . In 1844 Isaac Charles Johnson improved the process by sintering in kilns.

swell

• AP Thurston: Parker's "Roman" Cement , Transactions of the Newcomen Society 1939 P193-206 ( Newcomen Society )
• AJ Francis Major: The Cement Industry 1796-1914 A History , 1977, Davis & Charles (Publishers) Ltd, Devon UK, North Pomfret Vermont US, North Vancouver, Canada