Gatun Locks

Panama Canal... more

by Hanny Heim

Title

Gatun Locks

Artist

Hanny Heim

Medium

Photograph - Art Photography

Description

Panama Canal

The Gatun Locks, just 10km south of Colon city, raise southbound ships 29.5m from Caribbean waters to the level of Lago Gatun. From there, the ships travel 37km to the Pedro Miguel Locks, which lower southbound ships 9.3m to Lago Miraflores, a small body of water that separates the two sets of Pacific locks. The ships are then lowered to sea level at the Miraflores Locks.

Not only are the Gatun Locks the largest of the three current sets, but their size is simply mind-boggling. In The Path Between the Seas, David McCullough notes that if stood on its end, a single lock would have been the tallest structure on earth at the time it was built, taller by several meters than even the Eiffel Tower. Each chamber could have accommodated the Titanic with room to spare.


The total length of the lock structures, including the approach walls, is over 1.9 miles (3 km). The locks were one of the greatest engineering works ever to be undertaken when they opened in 1914. No other concrete construction of comparable size was undertaken until the Hoover Dam, in the 1930s.
There are two independent transit lanes, since each lock is built double. The size of the locks limits the maximum size of ships that can transit the canal; this size is known as Panamax.
Construction on the Panama Canal expansion project began in September 2007. This will double the canal's capacity, allowing more and larger ships to use the canal. The project is expected to be completed in April 2015.

the little sidecars called "Mules" From the outset, it was considered an important safety feature that ships be guided through the lock chambers by electric locomotives, known as mulas (mules, named after the animals traditionally used to cross the isthmus of Panama), running on the lock walls. These mules are used for side-to-side and braking control in the locks, which are narrow relative to modern-day ships. Forward motion into and through the locks is actually provided by the ship's engines and not the mules. A ship approaching the locks first pulls up to the guide wall, which is an extension of the centre wall of the locks, where it is taken under control by the mules on the wall before proceeding into the lock. As it moves forward, additional lines are taken to mules on the other wall. With large ships, there are two mules on each side at the bow, and two each side at the stern-eight in total, allowing for precise control of the ship.
The mules themselves run on rack tracks with broad gauge, 5 ft, to which they are geared. Traction is by electric power, supplied through a third rail laid below surface level on the land side. Each mule has a powerful winch, operated by the driver; these are used to take two cables in or pay them out in order to keep the ship centred in the lock while moving it from chamber to chamber. With as little as 2 ft (60 cm) of clearance on each side of a ship, considerable skill is required on the part of the operators.

Uploaded

February 5th, 2015