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UK limestone suppliers?

Stone Conversations : Archive 1 : Message 00493

From: "learning stone linkmaster" <linkmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 12:31:10 +0100
Subject: UK limestone suppliers?

Hello ...

Quoted text begins.Can you tell me what "portland stone" is?
End of quote.


There is a brief introduction to Portland stone at

[URL now obsolete]

and a longer study at

[URL now obsolete]

Both are worth the click.

Quoted text begins.Is this limestone used to make portland cement?
End of quote.


Any kind of limestone can be used. The stone is crushed
and mixed with a small proportion of clay, then fired in
a high temperature kiln. The clinker is then ground to a
fine powder and mixed with gypsum. The result is cement.

The process was invented in 1824 by a English stonemason
named Joseph Aspdin. He called it Portland cement
because he wanted a classy brand name - he claimed that
concrete made from the new cement looked like the expensive
Portland stone. An early exercise in consumer deception -
nobody was fooled, but the name stuck.

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