French civil engineer born in Neuville-Saint-Vaast, Pas de Calais, considered the inventor of reinforced concrete in civil construction. He started his construction career as an apprentice bricklayer in Arras at the age of 25. At the Paris Exposition (1867) he saw the bathtubs and tanks constructed of reinforced concrete with mesh. wire, by Joseph Monier, and was encouraged to find a way to apply this new material in the construction of buildings. He started with floor slabs (1879) until he reached the construction of a complete building using structural concrete beams. reinforced with stirrups and longitudinal bars designed to resist the tensile forces against which the concrete was weak. In a few years he had perfected his technique, discovering concepts still in general use today, by reinforce columns, beams, and foundations on which he demonstrated in the construction of an apartment building in Paris.
He then patented his technique in Brussels (1892) on the system resulting from more than a decade of experiences in building concrete structures. In addition, he established new models for his work, licensed builders he trusted to use his system, and started to act as coordinator/consultant. Building a technical team and appointing agents in different parts of the world, he developed a commercial organization that allowed a rapid expansion even under strict control, in order to guarantee the quality of the structures carried out with its system. Specialist in structures, invented new construction techniques with reinforced concrete, such as employment of stirrups, longitudinal bars and bent bars, in an arrangement very similar to the one used at the moment.
Starting (1892) with a single office, five years later it had 17 offices and 55 licensees. With its organization (1909) it reached 62 offices, 43 of them in Europe, 12 in the United States and the remaining in Africa and Asia, executed approximately 3000 projects, and an average of 100 bridges per year during the time course. He died in Paris and it can be said that his job was more to select and compile good techniques already employed than to innovate, as a large part of his success it was due more to notable administration and marketing techniques used, such as the publication of a magazine containing technical bulletins and new achievements and contracts of the company.
Picture copied from the TRADITIONS website... FROM LA FRANCE:
http://home.nordnet.fr/
Source: http://www.dec.ufcg.edu.br/biografias/
Order F - Biography - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biografia/francois-benjamin-joseph.htm
