Slide 1
The water is the lift
In the original Panama Canal locks, a vessel changes elevation while remaining afloat.
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A ship entering the original Panama Canal locks must move between water at different elevations. The chamber does not lift it on a platform. Instead, the vessel remains afloat while the level of the surrounding water changes.
Slide 2
Close, fill, rise
To raise a ship, an enclosed lock chamber receives water from a higher level through its passages.
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With the chamber closed, water enters from a higher level through the lock's water passages. As the chamber fills, its surface rises and the floating ship rises with it. The gates hold apart bodies of water at different levels during this stage.
Slide 3
Equalize before opening
Lock gates open for passage once water levels on both sides have equalized.
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When water levels on the two sides match, the appropriate gates can open and the ship can move onward. Descending reverses the water-level change: the chamber drains toward a lower level while the ship remains supported by buoyancy.
Slide 4
The passages do the filling
Culverts and associated passages fill and drain the original Panama Canal lock chambers using gravity.
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Culverts and associated passages carry water into and out of the original lock chambers. Gravity provides this water movement. The explanation concerns the original system; it does not describe every feature of the locks added in the 2016 expansion.
Slide 5
Each change depends on water
Changing a lock chamber's water level changes a floating ship's elevation without mechanically lifting its hull.
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Changing the chamber's water level changes the ship's elevation without lifting the hull mechanically. The simplicity of that principle does not make the freshwater supply unlimited. A working canal joins chamber operation to the availability and management of its water.
Sources
- Design Of The Locks
Panama Canal Authority