Pound lock
Esclusa de cámara
- Date
- 984 · confidence high
- Place
- Grand Canal, Huai'an, Song China; Vreeswijk (Netherlands, 1373)
- Credited to
- Qiao Weiyue (984); Dutch engineers (1373)
- People
- 👤 Qiao Weiyue
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A chamber with two gates that allows boats to overcome changes in level by filling and emptying the water, instead of hauling them over ramps. It made canals with a gradient navigable.
A Chinese invention of 984 documented in the History of Song; Europe developed it independently in 1373 (Vreeswijk) and in Italy around 1440.
What it led to
- the Grand Canal as a fiscal and commercial artery of China
- the canal network of the Netherlands and Italy (Milan, Leonardo's lock gates)
- the canals of the Industrial Revolution
Built on
- Grand Canal of China609
- Dike and polderc. 1100
- guillotine gates (flash locks)
- dykes
Made possible
- Industrial canal (Bridgewater Canal)1761
- Anderton hydraulic boat lift1875
- Kiel Canal (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal)1887-1895
- mitre gate (Leonardo)
- Briare Canal