Surprisingly, reinforcement of concrete with a metal mesh is not connected with construction, but with floriculture. Perhaps this is due to the high price of metal in the 19th century, and it simply did not occur to the builders to reinforce concrete with iron.

The first who applied the reinforcement of concrete with a metal mesh was Joseph Monier the florist from France.

The French have long loved to decorate windows and houses with flowers in pots. But the wooden pots were not durable, and the clay pots were relatively expensive. It is not surprising that in France concrete first of all found wide application in the manufacture of flower pots! The high flowability of the concrete made it easy to shape the pot. But, the roots of flowers as they grow, destroyed such pots. Just the concrete was not strong enough.

Then Joseph Monier, decided to make pots of concrete with a metal mesh inside. This technique significantly increased the strength of the pots and the state of Monje. This invention was so successful that Monjeu threw pots and began to develop new ways of using reinforced concrete. Over the next twenty years he patented about 15 reinforced concrete products, including railway sleepers, floors, beams, bridge structures, gas and water pipes and even portable and stationary residential buildings!