Joseph-Louis Lambot is the inventor of ferro-cement

Ferrocement

The term ferrocement is most commonly applied to a mixture of Portland cement and sand reinforced with layers of woven or expanded steel mesh and closely spaced small-diameter steel rods rebar. It can be used to form relatively thin, compound curved sheets to make hulls for boats, shell roofs,...

, which led to the development of what is now known as reinforced concrete

Reinforced concrete

Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...

. He studied in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, where his uncle Baron Lambot was aide-de-camp to the Duke of Bourbon

Duke of Bourbon

Duke of Bourbon is a title in the peerage of France. It was created in the first half of the 14th century for the eldest son of Robert of France, Count of Clermont and Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress of the lordship of Bourbon...

.

In 1841 he moved to his family's estate of Miraval in the Department of the Var

Var (département)

The Var is a French department in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in Provence, in southeast France. It takes its name from the river Var, which used to flow along its eastern boundary, but the boundary was moved in 1860...

 (Southern France), where he applied himself to agriculture. It is at that time that he started constructing tanks using cement and iron reinforcement. In 1848 he constructed his first boat using the same system, which he tested on ponds on the estate. This boat was patented on January 30, 1855 and presented at the 1855 World's Fair

World's Fair

World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...

 in Paris (Exposition Universelle - 1855

Exposition Universelle (1855)

The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Elysées in Paris from May 15 to November 15, 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855.The exposition was a major...

). The original prototype is preserved at the Museum of Brignoles.