Henrichenburg boat lift, Technical heritage site in Waltrop, Germany.
Henrichenburg boat lift is a technical installation on the Dortmund-Ems Canal in Waltrop that once moved vessels between different water elevations. The site includes both the historic lifting apparatus with its steel framework and the exhibition rooms in the museum building.
The installation opened in 1899 as part of the newly built Dortmund-Ems Canal and functioned with a gondola balanced by five cylindrical floats. After more than seventy years of operation it was replaced by a newer lifting system and converted into a museum.
The red brick buildings and steel framework preserve the appearance of a late 19th-century industrial complex along the waterway. Visitors walk through the machine hall and see the original drive wheels and control mechanisms left in their working positions.
The site opens from Tuesday through Sunday and the tour route covers several levels of the construction. Sturdy footwear helps when walking on the metal steps and grates along the visitor path.
The gondola could operate with minimal energy because the five floats in the shaft below balanced exactly its weight. This design makes the difference between hydraulic and purely mechanical lifting methods visible at first glance.
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