Look what Romans could do:

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fna...ontduGard1.jpg

This is nice. Americans impressed by European accomplishments. I was lead to believe that everything American was bigger and better than anything us primitive Europeans could ever hope to build. ;)

What Americans can do
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1180006065.jpg

Americans can do things with water too...



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1180006979.jpg

yeah, that was impressive too

Yep, America built the Panama canal after the french gave up (sound familiar?) and they did it about 100 years ago.

BTW, Americans didn't do that to New Orleans, God did. Too much sinnin' goin on down there.

Another amazing piece of engineering. But where was the first purpose built aircraft carrier built?

I'll give you a clue. It was the HMS Ark Royal built in 1914.

And your point is? I didnt say the US invented the thing - we just made it the best!

sure, economic of scale, few other countries are big & funded enough to do a modern carrier, China (working on it), Russia and that's about it

if all European countries, would stick their heads and funds together, there's no guarantee, but definitely a reasonable chance that we'de be able to produce a carrier, that matches or even exceeds a US carrier when it comes to technical ingenuity...

we have all the technology , and then some
we just don't have it bundled in a carrier

for one thing we don't really need one

Credit where it's due. The Brits also developed the angled deck, the arresting gear, the aircraft elevator, the jump-deck, and the catapult; pretty much everything that makes up a modern carrier other than nuclear propulsion. They also had metal decks when we were still using wood. The primary reason ours have become what they are is because the cost also evolved into something nobody else would accept.

Hey, isnt this the finsih line for a race in NFS4?

Meanwhile, back at the "why lift the water" question...

Where's LubeMaster when you want to torture him???

A Clue: Archimedes.

My point, if I have one, is simply that I am expressing some nostalgic pride in British engineering achievements and at the same time lamenting the fact that Britain, at one time an engineering superpower, has been allowed to decline by short sighted industrial management and government.

Also, while I agree that nobody can match something like the American super carrier or the German aquaduct for sheer magnitude, both are really just developments of a previous idea. What suprises me is that with all the advances in materials technology, even in the last 50 years, what a relatively small change has taken place from the original idea to today except the scale of the undetaking. Maybe this is less extreme with the carrier, but think about it - apart from the size what in the execution of the design is significantly different now to what was created way back?

I think I know what you're getting at.
The Falkirk wheel and the original Anderton boat lift demonstrate this nicely as they use two containers filled with water (caissons) that counter balance each other. I would guess that the Belgian boat lift uses counterweights which will achieve the same thing as you can calculate the weight of the water filled container and make the counter weight weigh the same. The trick to this is that regardless of whether the container is just filled with water, or it has a small boat floating in it, or a huge ship floating in it, the lifting weight will remain the same. This means that, with the counterweight or the opposing water filled container moving in the opposite direction, the device will only use enough power to overcome inertia and the friction in the bearings to move the lift up and down.
The reason behind this is that a floating ship will displace exactly its own weight in water from the container.

We have a winner!!

Disney built an aquaduct between two lakes circa 1970.....

at WDW.... from a sat photo...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1180032115.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1180032067.jpg

i still think i get half the credit
lifting boats without the water brings in a whole other problem in the picture, can't be easy to drain, support, lift then flood the thing again...

Yeah, but that's Mickey Mouse engineering.

Granted, partial credit is in order as your points are valid; however the primary reason for lifting the water is that it eliminates variability in the lift weight and allows for counterbalancing. Smaller lift motors, less energy expended, etc.

Roman aqueducts, if I recall correctly were never used for navigation partly because they made all their turns at right-angles. Does anyone have info on a Roman aqueduct with radius turns??