The Falkirk Wheel - World's Only ROTATING Boat-Lift

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If there was a list of 'Technological Wonders of the World' - the Falkirk Wheel would definitely be NUMERO UNO...


Opened in 2002 by Queen Elizabeth II to commemorate her Golden Jubilee Celebration. The Falkirk Wheel is an exceptional feat of modern engineering and is already being recognised as an inspirational sculpture for the 21st Century.

A technological marvel it sure is - taking only the power required to boil 8 kettles of water to rotate once!

The Falkirk Wheel can carry eight or more boats at a time with a single trip taking about 60 minutes and providing an unforgettable experience and great 'day out' for all the family.

WHY ?

The Falkirk Wheel, named after the nearby town of Falkirk in central Scotland, is a rotating boat lift connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal.

The difference in the levels of the two canals at the wheel is 24 metres (79 ft), roughly equivalent to the height of an eight storey building.


Sited in a natural open amphitheatre at Rough Castle near Falkirk, this remarkable and elegant mechanical marvel is the only rotating boatlift in the world and truly one of a kind.

This new 'solution' is able to replace a highly complex age-old system of 11 gates that lifted (or dropped) pleasure crafts over several hours of a day. All that gets you done with your trip in flat 15 minutes.

PATHBREAKING DESIGN

Aesthetically styled as a Celtic-chaped, double-headed axe the Falkirk Wheel is pleasing to the eye at the same time a completely functional design.

After a lot of mulling, the job was assigned to the world's finest in terms of architecture, engineering and construction.


Being a Millennium Commission project, the site includes a visitors' centre containing a shop, café and exhibition centre.

The wheel, which has an overall diameter of 35 metres, consists of two opposing arms which extend 15 metres beyond the central axle. Two sets of these axe-shaped arms are attached about 25 metres apart to a 3.5 metres diameter axle. Two diametrically opposed water-filled caissons, each with a capacity of 360,000 litres, are fitted between the ends of the arms.

WORKING

These caissons always weigh the same whether or not they are carrying their combined capacity of 600 tonnes of floating canal barges as, according to Archimedes' principle, floating objects displace their own weight in water, so when the boat enters, the amount of water leaving the caisson weighs exactly the same as the boat.



This keeps the wheel balanced and so, despite its enormous mass, it rotates through 180° in five and a half minutes while using very little power. It takes just 30.2 HP to power the electric motors, which consume just 1.5 kilowatt-hours of energy in four minutes, roughly the same as boiling eight kettles of water.

FUTURE BOAT-LIFTS

A similar design of boat lift has been suggested for a proposed new canal that would run along Marston Vale in Bedfordshire. It would be part of a large-scale project creating an area of leisure and tourism facilities linked to the future expansion of Bedford and Milton Keynes.


The Falkirk Wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world, and is regarded as an engineering landmark for Scotland.