How the boat lift worked

摘要

A chamber was divided into two by a thick wall along the middle. Each half contained a tank, large enough to float a boat in, with gates at each end to match up with gates closing off the canal above and below the lift. The tanks were supported by two chains, one near each end of the chamber. Each chain ran downwards from an anchorage at the top of the chamber wall, under a wheel underneatn one of the tanks, over a chain sprocket wheel on top of the centre wall, under a wheel underneath the other tank, and up to an anchorage at the top of the other chamber wall. By this means, the two tanks counterbalanced each other so one rose as the other fell.