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Balance Lock
The balance lock was a type of boat lift designed by James Fussell (1748-1832) to transport boats up and down a hillside on a canal. An experimental balance lock was built as part of the Dorset and Somerset Canal and work was started for four more, but the project failed for financial reasons and they were not completed. History When the Dorset and Somerset Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1796, the builders were faced with the need for many locks, as the branch to Frome needed to accommodate a change in level of . James Fussell was a knowledgeable ironworker, and proposed the building of boat lifts to raise and lower the boats, rather than conventional locks. There had been some precursors, for John Duncombe had invented a counterbalanced lift in 1790, while working as the engineer on the Ellesmere Canal, and Robert Wheldon was proposing to use lifts on the nearby Somerset Coal Canal. From the documents which accompanied the bill when it was submitted to ...
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Somerset Coal Canal
The Somerset Coal Canal (originally known as the Somersetshire Coal Canal) was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800. Its route began in basins at Paulton and Timsbury, ran to nearby Camerton, over two aqueducts at Dunkerton, through a tunnel at Combe Hay, then via Midford and Monkton Combe to Limpley Stoke where it joined the Kennet and Avon Canal. This link gave the Somerset coalfield (which at its peak contained 80 collieries) access east toward London. The longest arm was long with 23 canal lock, locks. From Midford an arm also ran via Writhlington to Radstock, with a tunnel at Wellow, Somerset, Wellow. A feature of the canal was Combe Hay Locks, the variety of methods used at Combe Hay to overcome height differences between the upper and lower reaches: initially by the use of caisson locks; when this method failed an inclined plane trackway; and finally a flight of 22 conventional canal lock, locks. The Radstock arm was never commercially success ...
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History Of The British Canal System
The canal network of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution. The UK was the first country to develop a nationwide canal network which, at its peak, expanded to nearly in length. The canals allowed raw materials to be transported to a place of manufacture, and finished goods to be transported to consumers, more quickly and cheaply than by a land based route. The canal network was extensive and included feats of civil engineering such as the Anderton Boat Lift, the Manchester Ship Canal, the Worsley Navigable Levels and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. In the post-medieval period, some rivers were canalised for boat traffic. The Exeter Ship Canal was completed in 1567. The Sankey Canal was the first British canal of the Industrial Revolution, opening in 1757. The Bridgewater Canal followed in 1761 and proved to be highly profitable. The majority of the network was built in the "Golden Age" of canals, between the ...
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Canals Of The United Kingdom
The canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a History of the British canal system, varied history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role of recreational boating. Despite a period of abandonment, today the canal system in the United Kingdom is again increasing in use, with abandoned and derelict canals being reopened, and the construction of some new routes. Canals in England and Wales are maintained by List of navigation authorities in the United Kingdom, navigation authorities. The biggest navigation authorities are the Canal & River Trust and the Environment Agency, but other canals are managed by companies, local authorities or charitable trusts. The majority of List of canals of the United Kingdom, canals in the United Kingdom can accommodate boats with a length of between and are now used primarily for leisure. There are a number ...
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Balance Lock On The Somerset And Dorset Canal - Geograph
Balance may refer to: Common meanings * Balance (ability) in biomechanics * Balance (accounting) * Balance or weighing scale * Balance, as in equality (mathematics) or equilibrium Arts and entertainment Film * ''Balance'' (1983 film), a Bulgarian film * ''Balance'' (1989 film), a short animated film * ''La Balance'', a 1982 French film Television * '' Balance: Television for Living Well'', a Canadian television talk show * "The Balance" (Roswell), an episode of the television series ''Roswell'' * "The Balance", an episode of the animated series ''Justice League Unlimited'' Music Performers * Balance (band), a 1980s pop-rock group Albums * ''Balance'' (Akrobatik album), 2003 * ''Balance'' (Kim-Lian album), 2004 * ''Balance'' (Leo Kottke album), 1978 * ''Balance'' (Masta Killa album), 2025 * ''Balance'' (Joe Morris album), 2014 * ''Balance'' (Swollen Members album), 1999 * ''Balance'' (Ty Tabor album), 2008 * ''Balance'' (Melly Goeslaw album), 2013 * ''Balance'' (Van ...
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Grand Western Canal
The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton, Devon, Tiverton in Devon in the United Kingdom. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the Bristol Channel and the English Channel by a canal, bypassing Lands End. An additional purpose of the canal was the supply of limestone and coal to lime kilns along with the removal of the resulting quicklime, which was used as a fertiliser and for building houses. This intended canal-link was never completed as planned, as the coming of the railways removed the need for it. Construction was in two phases. A level section, from Tiverton to Lowdwells on the Devon/Somerset border, opened in 1814, and was capable of carrying broad-beam barges, carrying up to 40 tons. The Somerset section, suitable for tub boats (which were about long and capable of carrying eight tons) opened in 1839. It included an Canal inclined plane, inclined plane and seven boat lifts, the earliest lifts to see co ...
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James Green (engineer)
James Green (1781–1849) was a civil engineer and canal engineer, who was particularly active in the South West of England, where he pioneered the building of tub boat canals, and inventive solutions for coping with hilly terrain, which included tub boat lifts and inclined planes. Although dismissed from two schemes within days of each other, as a result of construction problems, his contribution as a civil engineer was great. Early career James Green was born in Birmingham, the son of an engineering family. He learned much from his father, by whom he was employed until the age of 20. He then worked with John Rennie on a number of projects around the country, until 1808, when he moved to Devon, and established a base at Exeter. He submitted plans for the rebuilding of Fenny Bridges, in East Devon, which had collapsed only 18 months after their previous reconstruction. The plans were accepted, and Green became the Bridge Surveyor for the County of Devon. By 1818 he had bee ...
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Bill (proposed Law)
A bill is a proposal for a new law, or a proposal to substantially alter an existing law. A bill does not become law until it has been passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the Executive (government), executive. Bills are introduced in the legislature and are there discussed, debated on, and voted upon. Once a bill has been enacted into law by the legislature, it is called an ''Act of Parliament, act of the legislature'', or a ''statute''. Usage The word ''bill'' is mainly used in English-speaking nations formerly part of the British Empire whose legal systems originated in the common law of the United Kingdom, including the United States. The parts of a bill are known as ''clauses'', until it has become an act of parliament, from which time the parts of the law are known as ''sections''. In nations that have civil law (legal system), civil law systems (including France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and Portugal), a proposed law is known as a "law projec ...
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Ellesmere Canal
The Ellesmere Canal was a waterway in England and Wales that was planned to carry boat traffic between the rivers Mersey and Severn. The proposal would create a link between the Port of Liverpool and the mineral industries in north east Wales and the manufacturing centres in the West Midlands. However, the canal was never completed as intended because of its rising costs and failure to generate the expected commercial traffic. The Ellesmere Canal, which was first proposed in 1791, would have created a waterway between Netherpool, Cheshire, and Shrewsbury. However, only certain sections were completed; these were eventually incorporated into the Chester Canal, Montgomery Canal and Shropshire Union Canal. Although several major civil engineering feats were accomplished, major building work ceased following the completion of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1805. The northern end of the navigation's mainline ended from Chester at Trevor Basin near Ruabon and its southern end was at ...
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Boat Lift
A boat lift, ship lift, or lift lock is a machine for transporting boats between water at two different elevations, and is an alternative to the canal lock. It may be vertically moving, like the Anderton boat lift in England, rotational, like the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland, or operate on an inclined plane, like the Ronquières inclined plane in Belgium. History A precursor to the canal boat lift, able to move full-sized canal boats, was the tub boat lift used in mining, able to raise and lower the 2.5 ton tub boats then in use. An experimental system was in use on the Churprinz mining canal in Halsbrücke near Dresden. It lifted boats using a moveable hoist rather than caissons. The lift operated between 1789 and 1868,Charles Hadfield ''World Canals: Inland Navigation Past and Present'', p. 71, and for a period of time after its opening engineer James Green reporting that five had been built between 1796 and 1830. He credited the invention to Dr James Anderson of ...
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Lock (water Transport)
A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a chamber in a permanently fixed position in which the water level can be varied. (In a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is the chamber itself (usually then called a caisson (engineering), caisson) that rises and falls.) Locks are used to make a river more easily navigable, or to allow a canal to cross land that is not level. Over time, more and larger locks have been used in canals to allow a more direct route to be taken. History Ancient Egypt In Ancient Egypt, the river-locks was probably part of the Canal of the Pharaohs: Ptolemy II is credited by some for being the first to solve the problem of keeping the Nile free of salt water when his engineers invented the lock around 274/273 BC. Ancient China During 960–1279 CE, the natural extension o ...
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Frome
Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills and on the River Frome, south of Bath. The population of the parish was 28,559 in 2021. Frome was one of the largest towns in Somerset until the Industrial Revolution. The town first grew due to the wool and cloth industry; it later diversified into metal-working and printing, although these have declined. The town was enlarged during the 20th century but retains a large number of listed buildings, and most of the centre falls within a conservation area. The town has road and rail transport links and acts as an economic centre for the surrounding area. It provides a centre for cultural and sporting activities, including the annual Frome Festival and Frome Museum. In 2014, Frome was named by ''The Times'' as the "sixth coolest town" in Britain. It was shortlisted as one of three towns in the country for the 2016 Urbanism Awards in the 'Great Town Award' c ...
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