Boat lift

Strépy-Thieu boat lift (Belgium, Wallonia)
The Falkirk Wheel (Scotland)
Peterborough Lift Lock (Canada)

Machine for transporting boats between water at two different elevations, and is an alternative to the canal lock.

- Boat lift

77 related topics

Relevance

Lock (water navigation)

Device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways.

Canal lock and lock-keeper's cottage on the Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal at Marsworth in Hertfordshire, England
Lock on the River Neckar at Heidelberg in Germany
Three Gorges Dam lock near Yichang on Yangtze river, China
A gate in the Hatton flight in England
Iroquois Lock on the Saint Lawrence Seaway
A pound lock on the Keitele–Päijänne Canal at Äänekoski in Central Finland
A plan and side view of a generic, empty canal lock. A lock chamber separated from the rest of the canal by an upper pair and a lower pair of mitre gates. The gates in each pair close against each other at an 18° angle to approximate an arch against the water pressure on the "upstream" side of the gates when the water level on the "downstream" side is lower.
Operation of a canal lock 1–3. Boat enters 'empty' lock 4. Bottom gates are closed, bottom paddles closed, top paddles opened, lock starts to fill 5. Lock is filling with water, lifting boat to the higher level
Collection of lock windlasses. Note: rakes are for clearing trash out of the lock.
Snubbing a boat to keep it from hitting the downstream gates. Note the rope wrapped around the snubbing post.
Doubled locks. Left lock has boat in it, right lock (center of drawing) is empty. This is on the Erie Canal at Lockport.
Agde Round Lock
Dalmuir drop lock
Berendrecht Lock (right) and Zandvliet Lock (left), located at the entrance to the Port of Antwerp (top) from the Scheldt (foreground)
Barges at a lock on the Mississippi River
Model of early river pound lock, constructed in Lankheet water park, Netherlands
The turf-sided Monkey Marsh Lock on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Thatcham
Operation of caisson lock
Entrance to Minden shaft lock
Three Gorges Dam model view. A pair of five locking steps is at center with a ship lift to the left
The cill exposed in the deep Pont de Flandre lock on the Canal Saint-Denis, Paris
Top gate of a lock, showing the balance beams and paddle winding gear
200-year-old paddle gear on the Wiener Neustädter Kanal, Austria
Water conservation gear on the Birmingham Canal Navigations
Lock gate controls on a canal

The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is the chamber itself (usually then called a caisson) that rises and falls.

Falkirk Wheel

The Falkirk Wheel
OS-Map of the lock flight at Falkirk
View of the aqueduct and top of the wheel
The construction of the basin
Members of the Royal Family at the opening ceremony
The ring gears
A reconstruction of the mechanism using Lego. Lead architect Tony Kettle used a different Lego model to demonstrate the mechanism to clients and funders.
The Falkirk Wheel in action. The wedge-shaped building on the right is the visitors' centre. Note the Docking Pit at the bottom canal.
Another view with the Docking Pit at the bottom
Upper aqueduct door with u-shape seal and pumping system
Locking mechanisms include securing pin at the top and hydraulic clamp at the bottom
Securing pin and clamp receptors on a caisson (1 and 2), and a wheel securing pin receptor (3)
Left to right: caisson door (behind the rail) aligned with basin door but with a gap, u-shape seal extended, water filled, and doors lowered

The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift in Tamfourhill, Falkirk, in central Scotland, connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal.

Anderton Boat Lift

Anderton Boat Lift
Aerial view of Anderton Boat Lift and basin on the north bank of the River Weaver
Anderton Boat Lift – diagram of original hydraulic configuration (not to scale).
Anderton Boat Lift – diagram after conversion to electrical operation (not to scale). Note that caissons can be operated independently.
View of the restored boat lift from canal level.
Canal boat entering the River Weaver from the base of the boat lift.
Modern Anderton Boat Lift visitor centre and exhibition building.

The Anderton Boat Lift is a two caisson lift lock near the village of Anderton, Cheshire, in North West England.

Erasmus Darwin

English physician.

Erasmus Darwin c. 1792–1793, oil painting by Joseph Wright of Derby, Derby Museum and Art Gallery
Stone-cast bust of Erasmus Darwin, by W. J. Coffee, c. 1795
Darwin's House in Lichfield, now a museum dedicated to his life and work.
Joseph Wright of Derby, Erasmus Darwin (1770; Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery).
Erasmus Darwin's coat of arms. Escutcheon: Argent, on a bend Gules cottised Vert, three escallop shells, Or. Crest: A demi-griffin segreant, Vert, holding in his claws an escallop, Or. Motto: E conchis omnia (All things out of conches/molluscs).
Erasmus Darwin in stipple engraving by Holl, 1803, after J. Rawlinson
580px

A canal lift for barges.

Three Gorges Dam

Hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges.

In his poem "Swimming" (1956), engraved on the 1954 Flood Memorial in Wuhan, Mao Zedong envisions "walls of stone" to be erected upstream.
Map of the location of the Three Gorges Dam and the most important cities along the Yangtze River
300px
300px
Three Gorges Dam Francis turbine
Three Gorges Dam annual power output
Yangtze River flow rate comparing to the dam intake capacity
Satellite map showing areas flooded by the Three Gorges reservoir. Compare November 7, 2006 (above) with April 17, 1987 (below)
Flood mark on Yangtze river
Zigui County seat source water protection area in Maoping Town, a few kilometers upstream of the dam
Collecting garbage at the Dam's southeast corner
Water level and inflow during the 2020 China floods
Ship locks for river traffic to bypass the Three Gorges Dam, May 2004
The other end of Three Gorges Dam lock; note the bridge in the background
The shiplift, a kind of elevator, can lift vessels of up to 3,000 tonnes, at a fraction of the time to transit the staircase locks.
Longitudinal profile of upstream Yangtze River

In addition to the canal locks, there is a ship lift, a kind of elevator for vessels.

Grand Western Canal

The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton in Devon in the United Kingdom.

The current end of navigation on the Grand Western Canal at Lowdwells Lock
Grand Western Canal at Halberton, Seen from Manley Bridge, looking towards Tiverton.
The canal at Sampford Peverell where it cuts right through the village. The house in front of the church is the old vicarage which the company had to replace
A bank of limekilns at Waytown, Holcombe Rogus.
This ashlar arch carried the canal over the drive to Nynehead Court.
Diagram showing the arrangement of the boat lifts
Diagram showing the arrangement of the Wellisford inclined plane
The terminus at Tiverton. A series of old limekilns built into the superstructure survive underneath the elevated canal terminus
The remains of the old canal by Trefusis Farm, Bradford on Tone. One of the canal's seven lifts was located near here.
Cycling beside the canal at the "Swan's Neck" north west of Halberton
Remains of the aqueduct over the River Tone. The cast iron trough on the right carried the canal and the tow path was to the left

It included an inclined plane and seven boat lifts, the earliest lifts to see commercial service in the UK.

James Anderson of Hermiston

Scottish agriculturist, journalist and economist.

James Anderson circa 1792
James Anderson, engraving published in the Gentleman's Magazine of May 1809

The engineer James Green, responsible for the building of some of the first canalboat lifts, credited their invention to Dr James Anderson.

James Fussell IV

Iron magnate operating the Old Iron Works, Mells in Vallis Vale between Mells and Great Elm in Somerset.

Diagram showing the arrangement of Fussell's balance lock

The balance lock was a type of boat lift designed by James Fussell IV to transport boats up and down a hillside on a canal.

Peterborough Lift Lock

Front view of the Peterborough Lift Lock
Peterborough Lift Lock HDR
Peterborough Lift Lock (side view)
Exhibition of historical lift models at the Peterborough Lift Lock

The Peterborough Lift Lock is a boat lift located on the Trent Canal in the city of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, and is Lock 21 on the Trent-Severn Waterway.

Tub boat lift

Kahnhebehaus Halsbrücke
Kahnhebehaus Halsbrücke
Kahnhebehaus Großvoigtsberg

A tub boat lift is a type of boat lift designed to lift tub boats between different elevations of a canal.