Shotcrete (gunite) by Akeley
Hormigón proyectado (gunita) de Akeley
- Date
- 1907-1911 · confidence medium
- Place
- Chicago, Illinois, United States
- Credited to
- Carl Akeley
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Akeley devised a compressed-air gun that sprays dry mortar with water at the nozzle onto a support, to model Field Museum pieces. Sprayed concrete compacts through impact speed and is applied without formwork on slopes and in tunnels.
The cement gun was patented in 1911; the Cement-Gun Company marketed it under the name 'gunite'. The term 'shotcrete' was coined later.
What it led to
- support of tunnels and slopes with sprayed concrete
- thin shells and pools without formwork
- the New Austrian Tunnelling Method