Concrete Construction Online Magazine: From the Archives

From the Archives...

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 06:04:13 EST

For our 50th anniversary, Concrete Construction takes a look back to our own beginnings by pulling some of our favorite products of yesteryear from our archives.

Polypropylene Fibers

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:32 EST

Around 1960, the industry began investigating the use of synthetic fibers to improve the performance of concrete.

Form Release Agents

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:26 EST

Sharing the Golden Anniversary spotlight this year is the Nox-Crete Products Group, which changed concrete forming in 1956 by offering the first chemically active concrete form-release agent.

Cellular Concrete

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 06:03:58 EST

Lightweight insulating concrete “was produced with a proprietary preformed foam system which makes it possible to produce cellular concrete of the required weight and strength for each specific job.”

Transit Mixers

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:44 EST

Around 1960, the industry began investigating the use of synthetic fibers to improve the performance of concrete.

Early-Entry Saw

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:24 EST

Ideally, joints should be sawed in concrete slabs before drying or cooling causes random cracking.

Vinyl Water Barrier

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:46 EST

With the placement of a 72-foot-diameter plastic sheet between two concrete slabs, “something new has been achieved in the field of water-barrier construction,” heralded a March 1961 news item.

Polyurethane Sealant

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:33 EST

Around 1960, the industry began investigating the use of synthetic fibers to improve the performance of concrete.

Tilt-Down

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:42 EST

The March 1963 issue reported on tilt-down, a new construction technique from Plus-Crete International, said to provide cost savings of 10 percent compared with the tilt-up method.

Prefabricated Forms

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:36 EST

Developed a decade before Concrete Construction was established, Symons Steel-Ply forms appeared among the product listings in the first issue.

Slipform Paver

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 06:35:49 EST

Ride-On Trowel

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:37 EST

The February 1982 product listings offered a new device from Koehring Compaction, configured a little differently from subsequent models.

Laser Construction Tools

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:29 EST

The rotating laser appeared in the early 1970s, and in a September 1978 article Concrete Construction declared that lasers were “no longer a solution looking for a problem” but rather “the most significant advancement in construction measurement history."

Rubber Sheeting

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:38 EST

The September 1956 issue also presented a process, still in the developmental stage, of imparting a decorative pattern to the finished surface of concrete.

Concrete Pumps

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:23 EST

Pumping concrete became more commonplace with the development in the late 1950s of pumps with small diameter, flexible lines.

Powder-Lance Demolition

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:34 EST

Thanks to the powder lance, missile makers and others wishing to install temporary concrete structures no longer need fear a costly removal job later.

Epoxy Alloys

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:25 EST

They're “not quite miraculous,” but this family of materials “has almost breath-taking possibilities in the concrete construction field,” enthused a January 1958 article.

Tile Stamping

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:41 EST

Concrete Construction started covering decorative concrete techniques in the inaugural September 1956 issue with an item on this lightweight aluminum platform stamping tool.

Polyethylene Film

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:31 EST

Ten years before Dustin Hoffman's character in “The Graduate” was advised to pursue a career in plastics, Concrete Construction reported on “a new family of man-made materials called polyethylene films ... a member of that exceedingly confusing family of materials called plastics.”

Tractor-Shovel

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:43 EST

The model HH Pay-loader tractor shovel was the first piece of equipment of its type ever to receive an Industrial Design Institute Award, according to a product listing in the January 1957 issue.