Cableway in America

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In the middle of the 19th century, rope towing , a form of roping , was to be introduced on some canals in America based on the model of French chain shipping to replace towing . According to the plans, the rope ships were to be pulled forward on a steel rope lying on the canal floor. The rope ran over a flap drum on the ship, which could pick up and hold the steel rope. The drum was driven by a steam engine . Despite overall successful demonstrations of the system, the concessions granted by the canal administrations for cable navigation in New York State and Pennsylvania were not confirmed by the Chamber of Deputies .

Erie Canal in elevation from Buffalo to Albany
1839, lock in the Erie Canal
Towing ships in the Erie Canal around 1900
Rope ship for towing 6 to 10 ships with a total load of around 1000 tons at a speed of 5 km / h against the current
Different types of pulleys, middle right: flap drum
Delaware and Hudson Canal from 1828
The Morris Canal connects the Delaware with the Hudson

background

In 1866, after the end of the Civil War (1861-1865), in which the northern states emerged victorious from the civil war , slavery was legally abolished, and the slaves were formally given full civil rights , the engineer Max Eyth traveled to North America. He was commissioned by his boss, John Fowler , to introduce steam plows, particularly in the southern states, and to provide technical support to Barons Oskar de Mesnil and Henry van Havre, attaches of the Belgian legation in Washington, with the introduction of cable tug shipping on the American canals. Max Eyth constructed the boilers and steam engines required for this , improved the cable apparatus for the steam tugs and worked out several plans for cable navigation on some canals in America's coalfield. The idea was derived from chain shipping in France, here a steam tug pulled itself forward on a chain laid in the river, with a large number of barges behind it.

The technical equipment of the system of the planned cableway shipping in America consisted of a steel cable lying on the canal floor, a ship with a steam engine to drive a valve drum over which the cable ran, on which the ship with the barges was pulled forward. The flap drum was a device that could hold the steel ropes in place during one rotation in order to generate the necessary pulling force. It was originally developed for the steam plow by chief engineer Robert Burton of the English company John Fowler & Co., Leeds and was redesigned by Max Eyth for use in rope navigation.

1866 First unsuccessful attempts in the Erie Canal

First hasty attempts in the Erie Canal before interested farmers, shipowners, canal and government commissioners from the states of New York and Pennsylvania failed in December 1866 because of the onset of winter. The frost made the oil in the steam engine freeze and a blizzard buried the ship in the snow.

1867 Successful attempts in the Erie Canal and Hudson-Delaware Canal

Preliminary tests in May 1867 were carried out with the patched wire rope in the ice-covered Erie Canal and resulted in a further improvement on the valve drum. The mechanical work required for the production of additional press rollers was carried out in Buffalo . In May the new towing machine made in Leeds based on Eyts drawings arrived. A model of it was shown at the World Exhibition in Paris from April 1, 1867 to November 3, 1867.

De Mesnil, van Havre and Eyth needed the approvals for their system from the respective sewer commissions of the sewer companies and the sewer board . The canal board consisted of 10 citizens, elected by the people, who held a meeting every month and who supervised the relevant canal commission. The Canal Commission consisted of 3 men each, who administered this office for the construction and maintenance of the state canals. Only with the approval of the boards could they obtain permits from the respective canal commissions to lay the wire ropes in the canals and conclude the contracts to operate the rope tugs. However, considerable resistance came from the local farmers and hauliers, who feared for their livelihood, and who until now had taken over the towing of the many ships with their horses .

In Albany on the Erie Canal, the necessary preparations for the tests were made in June and the tests were carried out successfully. However, the sewer commissioners were only able to arrive late because the main sewer was broken in 5 places. Nevertheless, the hoped-for concessions should be issued at the next meeting. In July they received the concession "which gives us the right to lay the necessary wire ropes on all the canals of the State of New York and to implement our towing system either ourselves or through companies". However, this decision still required the approval of the House of Representatives of New York State. The next demonstrations were carried out near Honesdale on the Hudson-Delaware Canal , and here too they were able to successfully demonstrate the principle of rope navigation with an improved valve drum.

Towing

With this, de Mesnil, van Havre and Eyth were able to convince the responsible canal administration ( Delaware and Hudson Canal Company ) of the advantages of the steam-driven rope tugs. Up to now, ships have been trundled upstream on the rivers and propelled downstream by the current or the wind. On the canals, as a rule there was no current, there was sailing in both directions and seldom sailed. Mainly horses, more rarely oxen or people, were harnessed to the towpaths in front of the ships. At this time (around 1850) 60 to 70 ships loaded with around 100 tons of coal and pulled by horses drove from Honesdale across the Canal to the Hudson every day. With the usual mode of transport at the time, towing , 2–3 million tons of coal were transported here every year , and 3,000–4,000 horses and their owners or their employees were constantly in action over the year.

The Chamber of Deputies refused to approve

After this successful demonstration of rope navigation, further discussions were held with the boards and administrations of the Raritan and Delaware Canal , the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and the Morris Canal and preliminary contracts were also concluded. The necessary approval of the Chamber of Representatives for the concession of cable navigation in the state of New York and in Pennsylvania was not given by the political authorities and thus the system could not be implemented.

Sources and references

literature

Other sources

proof

  1. ↑ Max Eyth: In the stream of our time from letters from an engineer. Volume 3: Master Years . Carl Winters Universitätsbuchhandlung, Heidelberg 1903, p. 315 (letter from New York, July 21, 1967; digitized in the Internet Archive )