Canal inclined plane
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An inclined plane is a system used on some canals for raising boats between different water levels.
Typically, such a feature consists of a slope, up which there are two sets of rail tracks, and boats are raised between different levels by sailing into giant water-filled tanks, or caissons, which have wheels on the bottom and watertight doors at each end, and which are perpendicular to the slope. These are then drawn up or down hill on the rails, usually by means of cables being pulled by a stationary engine. In almost all designs two caissons are used, one going up and one down, to act as counterweights to make the system more efficient. When the caisson has reached the top or bottom of the slope, the doors are opened and the boat leaves.
An inclined plane is quicker, and wastes less water, than a flight of canal locks, but is more costly to install and run. It can be considered a specialist type of funicular railway.
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Timeline
- 1773 John Edyvean proposes a canal using inclined planes on the St. Columb Canal in Cornwall, UK.
- 1788 An inclined plane is used for the first time 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.
- 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]
- 1850s 23 planes were built on a canal that linked the Delaware River to Newark (Morris Canal) in the USA.
- 1900 Foxton Inclined Plane was built.
Other examples
With caissons
- The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Washington, D.C. later had an inclined plane built to move boats into the Potomac River so that they could bypass Georgetown which was becoming congested with traffic. The inclined plane was two miles upriver from Georgetown.
- Hay Inclined Plane
- Foxton Inclined Plane
- St. Columb Canal built by John Edyvean.
- Shrewsbury Canal
Without caissons
There are also inclined planes without a tank or caisson, where the ship is pulled out of the water by a kind of railway waggon such as used on the Big Chute Marine Railway on the Trent-and-Severn-Waterway, Bude Canal in Cornwall, and on the canal between Elblag and Ostroda in Poland.
External links
- Article on the C & O incline plane
- Photo of St Louis-Arzviller Inclined Plane, Canal de La Marne au Rhin, Alsace-Lorraine, France
- Second photo of St Louis-Arzviller Inclined Plane
- Ronquières Inclined Plane
- Photos of Ronquières Inclined Plane
Further reading
- Canal lifts and inclines of the world by Hans-Joachim Uhlemann, translated & edited by Mike Clarke. Published by Internat, 2002. ISBN 0954318110
- Canal Inclines and Lifts by David Tew, Published by Sutton Books, 1984. ISBN 0862990319