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. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
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 Canal Lock Engineering
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FAQs
Why was the pound lock first built in Song dynasty China?
Grain barges were being wrecked on the West River, and in 984 a tax administrator named Qiao Weiyue answered with a pair of gates that formed the first recorded pound lock.
The pound lock was first used in medieval China during the Song dynasty, which ran from 960 to 1279. The Songshi, the history of the Song dynasty, records that Qiao Weiyue, a high-ranking tax administrator, was frustrated at the frequent losses incurred when his grain barges were wrecked on the West River near Huai'an in Jiangsu. In 984 he installed a pair of sluice-gates two hundred and fifty feet apart, roofed over like a building, which made a short stretch of canal that could be filled from the canal above and emptied into the canal below.
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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.
Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
In Field
Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
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, 1954View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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