Methods
Canal Lock Engineering
Also Known As Pound Lock Engineering
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The pound lock, a walled chamber with gates at both ends that can be sealed and then flooded or drained, raises or lowers a boat between two stretches of water at different levels, and is the method that made canal transport practical over varied terrain. Pound locks appear in China by the tenth century and were independently developed or reintroduced in Europe by the late fourteenth century, becoming the standard method of canal engineering worldwide, used at its largest scale in the Panama Canal, whose locks lift oceangoing ships over the continental divide between the Atlantic and Pacific.
Facts
Disputed
Origin YearThe earliest attested pound lock was built on the Grand Canal in China around 984 CE; European pound locks developed independently, with the Netherlands Vreeswijk lock dated to 1373. Core PrincipleRaising or lowering a vessel between two water levels using a walled chamber sealed by gates at each end. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Both move water through constructed canals but for different purposes: irrigation delivers water to fields, while lock engineering raises and lowers boats between different water levels for navigation. The two are commonly confused because they share the word canal.
In Field
Sources
1. Pound Lock (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationAncient China sectionQuote, Ancient China section
This type of lock, called a pound lock, was first used in medieval China during the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE).
2. A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954
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