Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1877 — New Engineering Device. [ARTICLE]

New Engineering Device.

A peculiar work has been completed by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company to make a new outlet from the canitt to the Potomac. The elevation to be. overcome is forty feet, which under the old system would requirq eight locks and nearly an hour’s time for the passage. The new arrangement is the employment of a large caisson, or tank, filled with water, into which the boat is floated, when the caisson, with its load of water and boat, is run down the incline on rails in less than six minutes. The weight of the loaded caisson is about 350 tons. The first expense of constructing locks, and the constant expense of operating them and keeping them in repair, are saved, as well as the time.— llailway Review.