Post by naughtyfox on Aug 27, 2020 19:10:00 GMT
By 1849, with a continuing increase in the volume of traffic using the canal, water supply was found to be insufficient even with a new reservoir and finally there was acceptance of the design for an inclined plane which had been prepared ten years earlier by the Glasgow engineer, James Leslie. The incline, to serve a rise of 96 feet, was 1040 feet in length. The gradient was 1 in 10. Boats were taken up afloat in water-tight caissons on two lines of rails with a guage of 7 feet. On each rail was a carriage for a caisson.One caisson would descend empty and on the parallel rail there would be a caisson ascending with a boat on it. A loan of water ensured that the two counterbalanced each other. Two high pressure engines of 25 horse power enabled motion to take place. They drove two vertical drums of 16 foot diameter which were fixed on to separate shafts to allow them to move in opposite directions. There was a 2 inch wire rope coiled on them. The drums moved at approximately two miles per hour. As one caisson reached the water in the lower reach, it was necessary to open the lower sluice and float a boat in, the sluice then being shut again. A hydraulic apparatus caused the caisson which had been then taken to the top to be pressed hard against the gates of the upper reach. A heavy weight raised by the engine during the ascent of the caisson was the moving force behind the hydraulic apparatus. This feature enabled a water-tight joint to be formed between the gate of the upper reach and the lips of the caisson and, working on the portcullis principle, the canal gate and that of the upper end of the caisson could be opened and the boat floated out into the upper reach. A small measure of water, amounting to about 50 cubic feet, which was to be found between the gates, was conveyed into a trough and thus taken to the upper basin (NS66NW 273.06) of the locks. The caissons, which were constructed from wrought iron plates, were 270 feet long (including the rudder), 13 feet 4 inches in width and had a depth of 2 feet 9 inches.the quantity of water in the caisson was minimised by moulding the caisson as closely as possible to the shape of the boat, allowing a hollow space for the keel. The front of the carriage was set closer to the rails than the back end in order to maintain the caisson at one level. A total weight of carriage, empty boat and water would amount to between 70 and 80 tons.
The passage of a boat from the lower (NS66NW 273.09) to the upper reach (NS66NW 273.01) was no more than ten minutes, two minutes each end and five or six for the ascension.However, due to the fact that a boat would enter a caisson while another was being transferred to the upper reach, every eight minutes saw the passage of a boat. It was indeed possible to convey sixteen in two hours.
A brake on the flywheel, which the piston-rod of a small steam cylinder activated, allowed the engines to brake and pawls on the ascending carriage and ratchets alongside each rail provided safety devices to prevent the carriage from running down in the event of an accident.
The incline was only in operation during the six or seven months in the year when there was likely to be a shortage of water. During the summer period of 1851 5,452 boats used it, 60,000,000 cubic feet of water being saved, and over the ensuing five years the number of boats passing over the incline averaged 7,500 per annum. Time was also saved.
The incline's useful life lasted about 37 years, but the traffic on the canal was steadily declining to a level which the reservoirs could cater for and it was eventually scrapped after being idle for some years.
G Thomson 1945.
The inclined plane was finished by August 1850 to cope with the empty boats returning from Glasgow, having unloaded their heavy cargoes of coal and iron. The plane cost about 13,500 pounds sterling.
Whereas the plane could pass boats in about six minutes, it took approximately 45 minutes for boats to negotiate the locks. The incline, which was used increasingly over its first fifteen years, was finally closed in 1887. It was known for some time afterwards by Glaswegians as 'the gazoon.'
J Lindsay 1968.
James Leslie, a Glasgow engineer, built the inclined plane in 1850, constructing it for use with empty boats reurning to the Monklands. This enabled him to reduce the load on the axles of the caissons. In order to cut down the amount of water in the caissons they were only 2 feet 9 inches deep, and they were in possession of wash boards in order to prevent spillage. The boats were carried partially aground with the caissons moulded to cradle them.
As there was a huge volume of traffic during the months of water shortage when the plane was used, the boilers of the engine house (NS66NW 273.16) had to be kept in steam to prevent energy loss when awaiting the next boat.
The incline, the only one built in Scotland, gradually fell into disuse with a decline in canal traffic, but its engineering principles were employed in planes in other parts of the world. It finally ceased operation in 1887. Its local name of 'Gazoon' is thought to be a Glaswegian version of 'cassion.'
G Hutton 1993.
This plane was planned in the late 1840s due to heavy pressure of canal traffic on the nearby locks. It was constructed as a method of speeding up the movement of boats and for saving water. On the two 7 foot gauge railway tracks were twenty-wheeled caissons of sufficient size to accommodate a boat 70 feet long and 13 foot 4 inches beam. Wire ropes attached the caissons to a steam engine at the top of the incline which supplied the power required to move them, although by planning for the caissons to act as counterbalances to each other, the necessary power was minimised.
P J G Ransom 1999.
The inclined plane is clearly shown on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire 1865, sheet vi) and on the 2nd edition of the OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire 1896, sheet viNE).
In the North Lanarkshire Archives, Cumbernauld (Drumpellier Estate Papers U8 10/04) there is a document dated 30 September 1850 outlining the actual costs of works on the Blackhill Incline. The actual cost to the previous September was 8, 947.0.1 sterling and the estimated cost for completing the work was 1,552.19.11 sterling.
Information from RCAHMS (MD) 7 February 2002.
The passage of a boat from the lower (NS66NW 273.09) to the upper reach (NS66NW 273.01) was no more than ten minutes, two minutes each end and five or six for the ascension.However, due to the fact that a boat would enter a caisson while another was being transferred to the upper reach, every eight minutes saw the passage of a boat. It was indeed possible to convey sixteen in two hours.
A brake on the flywheel, which the piston-rod of a small steam cylinder activated, allowed the engines to brake and pawls on the ascending carriage and ratchets alongside each rail provided safety devices to prevent the carriage from running down in the event of an accident.
The incline was only in operation during the six or seven months in the year when there was likely to be a shortage of water. During the summer period of 1851 5,452 boats used it, 60,000,000 cubic feet of water being saved, and over the ensuing five years the number of boats passing over the incline averaged 7,500 per annum. Time was also saved.
The incline's useful life lasted about 37 years, but the traffic on the canal was steadily declining to a level which the reservoirs could cater for and it was eventually scrapped after being idle for some years.
G Thomson 1945.
The inclined plane was finished by August 1850 to cope with the empty boats returning from Glasgow, having unloaded their heavy cargoes of coal and iron. The plane cost about 13,500 pounds sterling.
Whereas the plane could pass boats in about six minutes, it took approximately 45 minutes for boats to negotiate the locks. The incline, which was used increasingly over its first fifteen years, was finally closed in 1887. It was known for some time afterwards by Glaswegians as 'the gazoon.'
J Lindsay 1968.
James Leslie, a Glasgow engineer, built the inclined plane in 1850, constructing it for use with empty boats reurning to the Monklands. This enabled him to reduce the load on the axles of the caissons. In order to cut down the amount of water in the caissons they were only 2 feet 9 inches deep, and they were in possession of wash boards in order to prevent spillage. The boats were carried partially aground with the caissons moulded to cradle them.
As there was a huge volume of traffic during the months of water shortage when the plane was used, the boilers of the engine house (NS66NW 273.16) had to be kept in steam to prevent energy loss when awaiting the next boat.
The incline, the only one built in Scotland, gradually fell into disuse with a decline in canal traffic, but its engineering principles were employed in planes in other parts of the world. It finally ceased operation in 1887. Its local name of 'Gazoon' is thought to be a Glaswegian version of 'cassion.'
G Hutton 1993.
This plane was planned in the late 1840s due to heavy pressure of canal traffic on the nearby locks. It was constructed as a method of speeding up the movement of boats and for saving water. On the two 7 foot gauge railway tracks were twenty-wheeled caissons of sufficient size to accommodate a boat 70 feet long and 13 foot 4 inches beam. Wire ropes attached the caissons to a steam engine at the top of the incline which supplied the power required to move them, although by planning for the caissons to act as counterbalances to each other, the necessary power was minimised.
P J G Ransom 1999.
The inclined plane is clearly shown on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire 1865, sheet vi) and on the 2nd edition of the OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire 1896, sheet viNE).
In the North Lanarkshire Archives, Cumbernauld (Drumpellier Estate Papers U8 10/04) there is a document dated 30 September 1850 outlining the actual costs of works on the Blackhill Incline. The actual cost to the previous September was 8, 947.0.1 sterling and the estimated cost for completing the work was 1,552.19.11 sterling.
Information from RCAHMS (MD) 7 February 2002.