Falkirk Wheel – engineering marvel

If you do not know what the Falkirk Wheel, it’s safe to say that nothing like you have ever seen.

Falkirk Wheel (Falkirk Wheel) is one of the main attractions of Scotland. The world’s first rotating ship’s hoist, the connecting channels Fort Clyde and Grand Union, the difference of height between which is 24 meters. Previously, these two channels were connected far in the Falkirk through 11 gateways with a total length of 1.5 km.

The wheel design has been the company Butterley Engineering. The designers drew inspiration from Celtic history – that’s why the Falkirk Wheel is similar in appearance to double-headed axe. You can see the Central axis and two symmetrically arranged mechanical arms holding two gondolas with a length of 100 meters.

The counterweight, regardless of the presence of boats, each gondola must carry approximately 500,000 gallons of water – the equivalent of the pool for the Olympic reserve. For rotation of this “attraction” takes only about five and a half minutes and 1.5 kWh of energy. Electric motor power Falkirk Wheel is 30 HP (22.5 kW).

The Falkirk Wheel was opened on 24 may in 2002. The guest of honour at the opening ceremony were Queen Elizabeth II, which was celebrating its Golden jubilee.