ALBURTO BEMENT, after a practical education in mechanics, covering the the period 1880 to 1889, entered upon engineering newspaper work in various capacities, including those of writer and editor, which continued until 1897. He then practiced as a consulting engineer at Chicago until at least 1913.

Apart from the activities of his business life he was widely known in engineering circles at Chicago. He was prominently identified with the Western Society of Engineers, being second vice president thereof, and first vice president in 1913. On three occasions he received the Chanute Medal of that Society for meritorious papers on engineering subjects that he delivered before it. He was also connected with the work of the University of Illinois as a member of the Advisory Committee on Fuel Testing at the Engineering Experiment Station conducted at the University, and was an occasional lecturer there. He also was a member of the committee on the fuel testing of the American Society for Testing Materials; one of the organizers of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; chairman of a Committee on Investigation relative to Harbor Development at Chicago; at one time chairman of the Engineering Sub-Division of the Chicago Association of Commerce, and while a member of that Association was one of a Committee appointed to report upon the feasibility of the Electrification of Chicago Railway Terminals. In 1913 he was appointed by the Western Society of Engineers as chairman of a Committee to report upon certain phases of the Chicago Railway Terminal Problem. He was also a consulting engineer to the Chicago Smoke Abatement Commission; chairman of a committee formed to urge the establishment of a College of Mines at the University of Illinois; chairman of a Coroner's Jury, in 1909, to probe the cause of death of fifty-nine men by fire on a crib structure located 1 1/2 miles out on Lake Michigan in connection with a water tunnel construction; which accident was due to the imperfect handling of dynamite, and resulted in the establishment by the Chicago City Councils of a Commission to which he was appointed Chairman, to formulate methods for the proper handling of dynamite, and legislation for its enforcement.

Many scholarly papers were prepared and delivered by him before Engineering and Scientific Societies, among which the more prominent perhaps are: The Suppression of Smoke; The Efficiency of Furnaces and Steam Boilers; Chemical and Physical Characteristics of Coal, and in 1909, the first complete report on the Illinois Coal fields. This last is probably his most important work, and was adopted by the Illinois State Geological Survey. He gave special attention to the Coal Fields of the United States, and had done much investigation for clients, along the line of the production and utilization of coal.

He was an active member of the Wisconsin Society of Chicago, a director of the Chicago Engineers' Club, and held membership in the following societies: American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Gas Institute, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, National Electric Light Association, North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Western Society of Engineers, Society of Chemical Industry, Verein Deutscher Ingenieure, Verein Deutscher Chemeker, American Society for Testing Materials, and the Western Railway Club.

He was also listed in Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, The Book of Chicagoans: Who's Who in Science, American Men of Science and in Mining and Metallurgy. (Source: Chronicles of the Bement Family in America; 1928, pp. 387-389)