|
Canal inclined plane - Definition and Overview |
| Related Words: Amenable, Animated, Apt, Ardent, Bearing, Bending, Bent, Bias, Biased, Canting, Content |
|
|
|
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 counter-weights to make the system more efficent.
When the caisson has reached the top or bottom of the slope, the doors are opened and the boat leaves.
An inclined plane is a quicker and more efficient (in terms of water loss), alternative to a flight of canal locks, but is more costly to install and run. An inclined plane can be considered a specialist type of funicular railway.
See also
|
|
Example Usage of inclined |
 |
lpilkington: @veronicakmorgan Getting told that stock levels are getting even tighter - people less inclined to move - interest rates can help though! |
 |
LemDunnigan: with every christmas song that plays, the more i'm inclined to just come home for christmas. |
 |
LUVMEKINA: Clearly just thought my black ass was rocky runnin on the tread inclined legs burnin like hell |
|
