Ludwig Hatschek

Ludwig Hatschek (9 October 1855 - 15 July 1914) was an Austrian industrialist who invented the manufacturing process for asbestos cement sheets. His product, Eternit, became one of the most widely used roofing and cladding materials of the 20th century.

Background

In 1893 Hatschek bought a former paper mill at Schöndorf near Vöcklabruck, Austria. Paper-making machinery would prove central to his invention: he adapted a cardboard machine to build up thin layers of a cement slurry into sheets.

The invention

Hatschek mixed roughly 90% cement with about 10% asbestos fibre and water. The fibres held the cement together in thin layers that could be pressed into sheets much lighter and thinner than conventional concrete. In 1900 he patented the production process under the title "Production of artificial stone slabs with hydraulic binders". The method, now called the Hatschek process, remains the basis of fibre cement manufacture, using cellulose and synthetic fibres instead of asbestos.

Eternit

In 1903 Hatschek gave the product the trade name Eternit, from the Latin aeternus, meaning eternal. Rather than build most factories himself, he earned income from royalties and production licences sold around the world. By 1910 Eternit factories operated in many countries. In many markets the Eternit trademark is now held by the Belgian group Etex, although unrelated companies use the name in some countries, such as Eternit S.A. in Brazil.

Legacy

Hatschek's sheets offered a light, fire-resistant and cheap roof covering, used for corrugated sheeting, flat sheets and imitation slates. Their success spread asbestos into buildings on every continent. From the 1970s, recognition of the link between asbestos and diseases such as mesothelioma led to progressive restrictions, and many countries now ban asbestos products. Hatschek died in 1914, decades before these health effects were widely understood, but his name is attached to both a major roofing innovation and one of the largest occupational health problems of the modern era.

Workers' housing built in Vöcklabruck for the Eternit works is part of his local legacy.