Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

166 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. HIGH-LEVEL FOOTBRIDGE AT WARBURTON. (Photo, K. R. Burgess.) The Barton Canal Aqueduct called forth a bold device on the part of the engineers. Brindley’s Aqueduct, to which reference has been made, was built of stone and brick. There were three , arches, and the canal carried Canal Aqueduct. was feet wide and 4 feet 6 inches deep. The difference in level between the Bridgewater Canal and the Ship Canal at Barton being 26 feet, a movable aqueduct was essential. Basing his calculations upon the success that had attended the operation of a lift on the Weaver Navigation—where he had himself utilized hydraulic power to Ihe lift boats 51 feet vertically to Movable , Spans another navigation, while they remained floating in an iron trough—Sir E. Leader Williams planned a new aqueduct, spanning two openings each with a width of 90 feet on the Ship Canal, and a waterway for the Bridge water Canal 19 feet wide and 6 feet deep. This aqueduct rests and turns upon a cen- tral pier 400 feet long and 30 Water- feet w-j which carries also tight Iron Gates ^be adjacent road swing bridge. Water-tight iron gates are sup- plied at each fixed shore-end, and also at each end of the trough. When the four gates are open, barges move along the Canal without interruption. But if a ship has to pass under the aqueduct all the gates are closed—the shore gates keeping back the water in the Bridge water Canal at either side, the others confining the water in the trough when it is turned through an angle of 90 for the passage of a vessel along the Ship Canal. The trough can be swung when the barges are inside, the gross weight to be moved always remaining the same. Power is obtained from the adjoining hydraulic station, which is also employed for the Su ii I road swing bridge, both being , . operated from a high brick tower. Sir E. Leader Williams devoted par- ticular attention to the whole of this arrange- ment, and the members of the Institution of Civil Engineers were delighted when he in- formed them that the aqueduct “ has never given any trouble, working quickly and with smoothness—a result for which much credit is due to the contractors, Messrs. Handyside and Company.” Wharves have already been constructed at Runcorn, Warrington, and other places ; and as the Canal really consists of Wharves. a series of long, narrow docks, this accommodation may at any time be extended almost indefinitely. At Ellesmere Port, the terminus of the IRLAM HIGH-LEVEL RAILWAY BRIDGE. (Photo, K. R. Burgess.)