(never built)) the 35 m high ‘Falkirk wheel’ originally proposed as a Ferris
type wheel has some unique features. The lift consists of two 30 m long
gondolas, which sit within two propeller shaped arms, each capable of
transporting four average sized canal boats. The arms rotating 180 degrees
as a wheel around a central axle are driven by hydraulic motors, which
also, by a set of gears, turn the two gondolas so that they remain horizon-
tal. The whole structure was assembled on site and parts bolted (rather
than welded) to deal with fatigue stresses.
Examples of exceptionally high and large vertical boat lifts are the
lift at Strepy-Thieu on the Canal de Centre in Belgium and the proposed lift
at the Three Gorges Project in China. The former, replacing four older
lifts of about 17 m height each and capacity 1350 tons overcomes a rise of
about 73 m and has two (balanced) troughs each 112 m long, 12 m wide and
8 m high weighing 2200 tons. The 113 m high ship lift at the Three Gorges
Project is designed with a container 120 m long, 18 m wide, with water
depth 3.5 m, capable of carrying 3000 ton passenger or cargo boats. An
example of a large high inclined lift is the Krasnojarsk (Russia) 101 m high
lift, capacity 1500 tons with a 90 m long and 18 m wide container.
LIFTS AND INCLINED PLANES 489
Fig. 11.16 Vertical boat lifts with (a) floats or (b) counterweights (Cˇábelka
and Gabriel, 1985)