27 October 2011

Clever, Those Chinese, Very Clever
























When the engineering solution to a problem is simple we tend to overlook the elegance of its simplicity. Chamber locks, with gates at both ends, were in use in China by the tenth century. They were likely introduced to Britain from the Netherlands, where the first recorded example in Europe was at Vreeswijk, from 1373. This example, on the Montgomery Canal, is one of a sequential pair.

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