The History of Shotcrete Machine

Shotcrete machine, then known as gunite machine, was invented in 1907 by American taxidermist Carl Akeley to repair the crumbling facade of the Field Columbian Museum in Chicago (the old Palace of Fine Arts from the World’s Columbian Exposition). He used the method of blowing dry material out of a hose with compressed air, injecting water at the nozzle as it was released. In 1911, he was granted a patent for his inventions, the “cement gun”, the equipment used, and “gunite”, the material that was produced. There is no evidence that Akeley ever used sprayable concrete in his taxidermy work, as is sometimes suggested. F. Trubee Davison covered this and other Akeley inventions in a special issue of Natural History magazine.
Until the 1950s when the wet-mix process was devised, only the dry-mix process was used. In the 1960s, the alternative method for gunning by the dry method was devised with the development of the rotary gun, with an open hopper that could be fed continuously. Shotcrete machine is also a viable means and method for placing structural concrete.
The nozzleman is the person controlling the nozzle that delivers the concrete to the surface. The nozzle is controlled by hand on small jobs, for example the construction of small swimming pools. On larger work the nozzle can sometimes be held by mechanical arms where the nozzleman controls the operation by a hand-held remote control.