From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An inclined plane is a system used on some canals for raising boats between
different water levels.
An inclined plane is quicker, and wastes less water, than a
flight of canal locks, but is more costly to install
and operate. It can be considered a specialised type of funicular railway. A
development of the idea is the water slope. Another alternative to
consecutive locks is a boat
lift.
Operation
Typically, such a feature consists of a slope, with one or two
sets of rail tracks
on it. Boats are raised between different levels by sailing into
water-filled tanks, or caissons, with wheels on the
bottom and watertight doors at each end, and are perpendicular to
the slope. These are drawn up or down hill on the rails, usually by
means of cables pulled by a stationary engine. In most designs
two caissons are used, one going up and one down, acting as
counterweights for greater efficiency. When the caisson has reached
the top or bottom of the slope, the doors open and the boat
leaves.
History
Inclined planes have evolved over the centuries. Some of the
first were used by the Egyptians to bypass waterfalls on the
Nile.[1]
These consisted of wooden slides covered with silt which reduced
friction.[1]
Timeline
- 600BC – The Diolkos an early Greek inclined plane was in
use.[2]
- 385AD – Inclined planes were in use on the Grand Canal in China.[2]
- 1167 – Nieuwedamme overtoom (a simple type of
incline) was built at Ypres.[3]
- 1568 – Wagon of Zafosina in use near Venice.[3]
- 1773 – John Edyvean proposes the use of inclined
planes on the St. Columb Canal in Cornwall, UK.
- 1777 – 3 inclined planes or 'dry wherries'
begin operation on the Tyrone Canal, County Tyrone, Northern
Ireland[4]
- 1788 – An inclined plane is used for the first
time in England to raise canal boats, on England's Ketley Canal. [1]
- 1792 – William Reynolds of Ketley Ironworks constructed several inclined
planes on the Shropshire Canal. [2]
- 1793 – American born inventor Robert Fulton wrote
a letter to Lord Stanhope
suggesting inclined planes instead of locks for Bude Canal in Cornwall. Lord Stanhope
replied saying his idea for working the plane had already been
thought of by Edmund
Leach.
- 1794 – Robert Fulton took out a British patent
(# 1988), for improvements to inclined planes including a double
inclined plane system to be used to raise canal boats without
locks.
- 1795 – South Hadley Canal begins
operations, on the Connecticut River in Massachusetts, United
States. The first North American inclined plane canal.
- 1797 – Worsley Navigable Levels
underground incline started in 1795 was completed.[3]
- 1800 – Francis Henry
Egerton, eighth Earl of Bridgewater (1756-1829) wrote 'The
Description of the Inclined Plane at Walkden Moor. (Lancashire)' [3]
- 1801 – Inclined plane built on the Somersetshire Coal Canal [4]
- 1801 – to 1806. Two inclined planes built on
the Stollen Canal at Gliwice, Upper Silesia.[3]
- 1806 – Three inclined planes built on the
Canal du Creusot near Torcy, France.
- 1825 – to 1831. 23 inclines built on the Morris Canal,
USA.
- 1827 – The Rolle Canal includes an inclined plane
The track of the Foxton Inclined Plane, which is no longer in
use
- 1832 – Mrs. Frances Trollope*[5], publishes in
"Domestic Manners of the
Americans" her account of a visit the previous year to see one
of the inclined planes of the Morris Canal. This waterway,
100 miles (160 km) long, connected the Hudson and Delaware Rivers,
rising more than 1,400 feet (430 m) by means of a series
of inclined planes.
- 1860 – The first four inclined planes of the
Elbląg Canal
in Poland (then East Prussia) were
opened.
- 1885 – Keage Incline on Lake Biwa Canal
in Kyoto, Japan was built.
- 1900 – Foxton Inclined
Plane was built.
- 1911 – Foxton Inclined Plane mothballed.
- 1917 – Big Chute Marine Railway in Ontario, Canada was built.
- 1919 – Swift Rapids Marine Railway in Ontario, Canada was built.
- 1921 – Trench plane closes and brings to an
end boat carrying inclined planes in Britain [4]
- 1965 – Swift Rapids Marine Railway in Ontario, Canada was replaced by a conventional lock.
- 1969 – Saint-Louis-Arzviller
inclined plane the only one of its kind still working in Europe
was built on the Marne-Rhine Canal
in France.
- 1973 – Montech water slope the first of
its kind was built on the Canal latéral à la Garonne in
France.
- 1978 – Big Chute Marine Railway in Ontario, Canada was replaced by the new bigger Big
Chute Marine Railway.
- 1983 – Fonserannes water slope was the second
water slope. It was built on the Canal du Midi in France.
- 2001 – Fonserannes water slope was abandoned
on 11 April 2001.
- 2003 – Big Chute Marine Railway in Ontario, Canada, the old small railway was in use for the
last time.
Other
examples
With
caissons
Without
caissons
Inclined plane on the
Elbląg Canal, showing a vessel entering
the cradle.
Cradle starting its climb on an inclined plane of the
Elbląg
Canal.
There are also inclined planes without a tank or caisson,
instead carrying vessels up out of the water cradled in slings or
resting on their keels. In a few cases the boats were permanently
fitted with wheels.
See also
Further
reading
- Tew, David (1984). Canal
Inclines and Lifts. Sutton Books. ISBN
0-8629-9031-9.
- Uhlemann, Hans-Joachim (2002).
Canal lifts and inclines of the world (English Translation
ed.). Internat. ISBN
0-9543-1811-0.
References
External
links
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