Category: wikipedia

Putting ordinary canal locks everywhere to shame, the Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift in Falkirk, Scotland, & is a rather facinating example of Archimedes’ principle. More large-scale public works projects should be constructed with as much artistic vision as the Falkirk Wheel.

“…Despite its enormous mass, it rotates through 180° in less than four minutes while using very little power. It takes just 22.5 kilowatts (kW) to power the electric motors, which consume just 1.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy in four minutes, roughly the same as boiling eight kettles of water. The wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world, and is regarded as an engineering landmark for Scotland.”

The Falkirk Wheel is constructed in the shape of a Celtic-inspired double-headed axe, & uses a planetary gear system to keep the 80,000 gallon caissons level.

Wikipedia: Falkirk Wheel »

Strépy-Thieu boat lift » .. another neat boat lift in Belgium, the tallest in the world.

I assumed NASA’s Crawler-Transporter was the largest tracked vehicle in the world.. but no! Years ago, German engineers developed something much, MUCH larger, in every sense of the word. The Bagger 288 is a bucket-wheel excavator mobile strip mining machine. It is the largest tracked vehicle in the world at 13,500 tons — in comparison, the Crawler-Transporter weighs a measily 2,700 tons.

There is something I find facinating about large machines. It’s unfortunate this particular machine’s primary purpose is strip mining. Incidentally, the bucket-wheel excavator & its devastating effect on landscape can be easily seen in Google Maps satellite photos. The power supply required for operation is the same as for a small city. The Bagger 288 was the inspiration behind my blog category, Machines Of Unusual Size — yes, M.O.U.S.’s. Watch out for them. Fire swamps have large coal deposits, no doubt.

Wikipedia: Bagger 288 »

more Bagger 288 photos »