The product belongs to the category of "artificial cements" that were developed to compete with Parker's Roman cement, and was similar to that developed much earlier by James Frost. The process described is a "double burning" process in which the limestone is burned on its own first, then slaked, mixed with clay, and burned again. This was a common practice for manufacturers of both Artificial and Portland cements when only hard limestones were available. The grinding technology of the time consisted only of flat millstones, and it was more economic to comminute the limestone by burning and slaking than by grinding.