OCR Text |
Show SHIPS WILL-CLIMB WILL-CLIMB WATER STAIRWAYS Great Locks' Between Dtf-, ' ferent Lerels In Pana-- Pana-- v- ma Canal - ONEVESSELUPAS V -ANOTHER COMES DOWN y Electric' Towing Locomotives Locomo-tives Will Guide Boats Through. BT-TMDBBJO HASDM. GATUN, Canal Zona. Aa tha integrity integ-rity of tha great iatbmian .waterway vaill depend npon tha dame, lo will ita ' successful operation depend upon the lock. Tha canal ii fifty miles long from deep water in tha Atlantic to deep water in the Pacific. The middle see-tion see-tion of thirty-two milea in length eighty-five feet higher than the two end. Thie aection of tha canal would be utterly nacleaa if it were not for the loaka that will enable ships to climb np and dowa from level to level. These lock are, in fact, gigantic marine" stsir wava, arranged like a double tracked railway, ao aa to permit one ahip to go up while another cornea down at tne i -aame time. It Climbing up abip will be impris-oned impris-oned in a nuge concrete basin in which additional water will be admitted until un-til the level ia raised sufficiently for the vessel to float out on the aurfaea of the next higher step. . Coming down a ahip will go into such a'baain and the water willbe let out until the vessel is at the level of tha chamber below. v Three such steps will take the ship from the lake level to the sea Isvel. The two eide by side locks, including both outside wafts, are approximately 380, feet wide. The outside wells' re fifty feet thick at the base up to a v height of twentv-fonr feet, when they begin to taper in six-feet steps until . .they are only eight feet thick at the ' top, whiVh ia eighty one feet from the bottom. I Seady for Big Ships.. The middle wall, dividing tha two loc-kay is sixty feet thick afl the way ii II At Gatun there will be a flight ef three of these dbuble locks, forming thre hug steps, each of which will take Ike ahip up or dowa, aa tha ease ma. be, twsntyight feet -and four inines. h. The Gatuu locks are at tho Atlantic -rnt of fire canal. At the Paeifle aad the locks are not arranged ia a continuous con-tinuous flight, two ateps being taken at Ifirallures, where the Pacific sea levrl nd. and another a little more than a aiiie further inland at Pedro MigSel. To be big enuagh for a ahip larger than any that ever haa floated the lock chambers are 110 fevt wide, inside, and long enough to areommodata a ship 10O0 feet long. Thus the total length of the three locks in the flight at Ostun ia more than 3000 feet.. ' Ruaning the entire length of the three walls of the locks, imme.listely above the floor level, are three big tua-, tua-, nets', almoet large enough to earrv double dou-ble tracked, standard gauged railroads. They hsve each a diameter ef eighteea feet, snd through them will be carried down from the lake above the water te operate the locks. Connecting with these three huge tunnels are a aeries of smsller culverts, cul-verts, eight feet in diameter, which run across the locks, under the floor. From tfiese come up through the floor a large number of holes, each about two feet ia diameter. Electric Towing Locomotive. . The water is flrSt admitted Into the big tunnels, from fbem into the ones beneath the floor, and through the aiev. like floor Into the lock chamber itself When a ship seeks to psaa dowa out of Gatun lake fo the aea level difch the opper gates are opened and electric towiag locomotives pull it into the first lock. Then the gates are closed behind be-hind and huge valves are opened in the big tunnels leading to the lock below, and soon enough water has flowed out of the upper lock to make if level with the water in the lock next below, the f ates and valves at its lower end hav-ng hav-ng been closed The machinery for operating tke giant valves ia the culverts and for awingiag the huge gates open and ehut will be stationed in chambers in the - middle wall aad will be drivea by electric elec-tric current generated at a large hydroelectric hydro-electric plant at Gatun spillwsy. It will be ao arranged that if anything goes wrong with the current it still can he operated by hand. . Protecting tha Locks. . . , Tha ayttecn of protecting the locks from injury la operatioa is elaborate beyond aartfiing ever before planned. At the entrance to each lock are placed huge chains across the opening, each end fastened to a giant bvdraulie jack. Whsa a verse! comes up to the entrsnee its bow bumps into this chain if it is not under absolute eoatrol. The I hydraulic hy-draulic jacks give the chain a Yielding quality which prevents any eudden jar and enables it effectively to stop any vessel, up to 10.000 tons' in sice, moving mov-ing at as much three knots aa hoar. No vessel will bo permitted to enter the locks under its owe power. Ships will approach huge central guide walls, which carry, very heavy spring buffers Hsre they will be met bv four electric towing locomotives running on narrow gusge tracks. Two of these will hitch to cables at tho bow and will pull the ffcira into tha locks. The other two will hitch to cables at the Steve and hold, the vessel bsck, keep ii from moving too : fast and stop it when the gstes are cleared. As nearlv every accident ia lock operation ia the pan haa- arisea from vessels passing through aader their own power, tke eleetrir towing l -o-nntivee-practically inaura absoluts s'ety. - i Haa Double Gates. Bqt. with that characteristic deter minsfion to climinsto every possible (Coatinued oa page 4.1 ' , . f ' - SHIPS WILL CLIMB (Continued from page 1.) chance of accident. Chief Engine! Goethals haa gone even further. Than will bo two acta of gatea at every vital point in' the lock system, ao that if by any remote chance, a vessel abould run down one aet there atill would be another to protect tha lock. These double gatea at vital poinla move ia unison, so that there era alwaya two effective safeguards. Should a veeael break away from tha towing apparatus or otherwise become uncontrolled, it might, one time in many thousands, succeed ia nattering dotfn one gate. Should it do so there ia still not a chance ia a million that it would ram down tha aecoad one. Bnt suppose it did tha canal locks will be prepared for it. A large cantilever canti-lever bridge will ha mounted on a pivot baae on tha middle wall at the upper and of the uppermost lock. Ia esse everything went wrong nnd the water should begin rushing through the locks at a destructive apeed of about twenty-eight twenty-eight feet a aeeond, this bridge would ba turned aeroes the lock and a set of wicket girders, made of tha hardest nickel steel, would he let down, one and fast to tha bridge) and the other end engaging an offset ia the lock floor. Each of these girders would make a sort of perpendicular railway, ea which huge eheeta of steal, mean ted on ball bearing rollers, would ba let down to check tha current. -.- Bug Oetas Used. When-all tha wicket girders and all tha ahaeta of steel are in position they will make a ateel dam which will affectively af-fectively restrain the flood. There is such an emergency dam at the Sault 8te. Marie canal, and althongh it had grown rustv hy fllsuae,-1t waa mint feetive when an accident occurred there soma time since. Tha gatea by which the water level In tha locks will ba regulated ara ponderous pon-derous affairs, their weight varying from 800 to 600 tone. F.ach gate s composed of two leaves, hinged to the side walla of the locks like an ordinary pair of one-way double doors, except that they do not shut straight across the channel, but come together like a flattened V, with the apex pointing upstream. up-stream. Forty-aix gatea of two leaves each will be required in the lock ava-tem. ava-tem. They will be opened "and closed bv a huge arm weighing 1S0.0O0 pounds, and having a diameter of aixtaan inches. Th work of building the six locks required re-quired for the canal is proceeding with unexampled dispatch. It require over 2,000,000 barrels of cement and as manv cubic yards of stone and of sand to build th lock! at Oatnn. Practically Practi-cally th aama amount will be required for th Pacific locks. Two-ThlrtU Completed. The work at Oatnn wei twenty moatha old May 1, and th locks are approximately two third completed. Thosa on tha Paeifie aide are also going go-ing forward at a surprising speed. The and for the eoncrete i taken from islands in the Atlantic and th Pacific bv dredging, and the rock from Porto Bello and Ancon. Tha Porto Bello plant tan crush fJOOO two-home loada of rock a day. The concreting materials for Oatun are brought to that point through the canal on bs tares under tow. Tha concrete handling plant at Oatun is tha largest of ita kind ia the world. Huge clam ahall bucket carried on big eablewnya, and operated entirely bv machinery, unload tha aand and rock from tha bargee without the lift lag of a aingla ahovalful bv hand. Jt is loaded ea automatic electric cars, ia exact ex-act proportions, and is carried to the big concrete mixers which handle more than two two horse loads at a time. Working- With Concrete. The cars oov tha electric railway, which ia a doobla-trarked, ' circular railwav, need Bo motorman. By means of a governor or rhetoetat. the current is ao regulated that their speed if kept constant at about three miles an hour. When the concrete mixara 'finish their task th concrete i dumped into big buckets mounted on flat ears drawn bv small electric locomotives. . These haul two buckets to a point under a big eahlewav. where they ara lifted off by machinery and carried to tha point where they ara needed in the lock con traction. When tha loaded bncketa are taken from tha cars, empty ones are substituted and tha little train hustle hark for another load. On tha Pacific aide cablewav are not used, being supplanted sup-planted bv big crane. Tha sand and rock ara unloaded on big treaties bv dump care. Clam abell dipper gather these materials from the mountainous dumpa. carry them in proper propor-tiona propor-tiona to steam propelled trains which, in turn, take them to the mixers. These empty the concrete into buckets ' oa other little trains, and away thev go to- the big crane bv which the buckets are lifted to the construction work. |