If you asks me what is the greatest innovation so far. I would have no hesitation to say “A human brain”. That’s because a human brain comes up with such incredible ideas every now and then that makes me wonder when it’s going to stop (Well, never actually)…..What’s the Utopian life / life style of a mankind going to be? Any Ideas?
Another observation is that most of the innovations occur when there is a genuine need. Necessity becomes the motherhood of innovations. Water level Elevators would come as an innovation in this category. Historically, there must have been a genuine need to connect two and/or more water bodies together and they invented elevators to take boats, ships to pass from one water level to the other and there came “Water Level Elevators”. I experienced the boat ride through such elevators for the first time in Maastricht-Netherlands. It was an exciting experience and upon exploring more I was informed that such systems are existent all around Europe. The concept is pretty simple. There is a common area between the two water bodies with the doors at both ends. Within this common area the water level is adjusted (increased or decreased) to the water level of a particular water body where the ships and boats can seamlessly pass. For example, when boats have to travel from lower water level to the upper water level whey will pass in the common water area at the lower water body level. The door at the upper water body level is already closed while the door at the lower water body level is closed when the boats to be passed come in the common area. Upon closing the door at the lower water body level the water in the common area is increased as if filling a water tank. Once the water level becomes in level with the upper water body level the boats swim to the upper body level. Exact reverse process happens when boats have to go from upper level to lower level. Some of the pictures elaborating this process:
(a) Boat in the common area...ready to go upstream. Tank being Filled with water
(b) Tank Filled in and now the Gate Opens....
(c) Boats swim upstream
The process described above works well when the height difference between the water body levels is not large and the common area or tank can be filled in a reasonable time. But this becomes impossible in case of water bodies which face huge difference in the water levels. In this case, an artificial moving tank elevating the boats up and down is mandatory. The UN World heritage near La Louviere in Belgium during 6th NBH hike is one such example. There have also been differences between the ways in which the boats are elevated in a tank. The modern electrical elevator is certainly more distinct when compared to the traditional Hydraulic ones in the pictures below:
(d) Modern Elevator
(f) Artificial Tank carrying boats
(f) Traditional Elevator
During the process of knowing more about these Water Level Elevators, I came across Space Elevator that could launch you out into space:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
No wonder human brain is an unparalled innovation...
Another observation is that most of the innovations occur when there is a genuine need. Necessity becomes the motherhood of innovations. Water level Elevators would come as an innovation in this category. Historically, there must have been a genuine need to connect two and/or more water bodies together and they invented elevators to take boats, ships to pass from one water level to the other and there came “Water Level Elevators”. I experienced the boat ride through such elevators for the first time in Maastricht-Netherlands. It was an exciting experience and upon exploring more I was informed that such systems are existent all around Europe. The concept is pretty simple. There is a common area between the two water bodies with the doors at both ends. Within this common area the water level is adjusted (increased or decreased) to the water level of a particular water body where the ships and boats can seamlessly pass. For example, when boats have to travel from lower water level to the upper water level whey will pass in the common water area at the lower water body level. The door at the upper water body level is already closed while the door at the lower water body level is closed when the boats to be passed come in the common area. Upon closing the door at the lower water body level the water in the common area is increased as if filling a water tank. Once the water level becomes in level with the upper water body level the boats swim to the upper body level. Exact reverse process happens when boats have to go from upper level to lower level. Some of the pictures elaborating this process:
(a) Boat in the common area...ready to go upstream. Tank being Filled with water
(b) Tank Filled in and now the Gate Opens....
(c) Boats swim upstreamThe process described above works well when the height difference between the water body levels is not large and the common area or tank can be filled in a reasonable time. But this becomes impossible in case of water bodies which face huge difference in the water levels. In this case, an artificial moving tank elevating the boats up and down is mandatory. The UN World heritage near La Louviere in Belgium during 6th NBH hike is one such example. There have also been differences between the ways in which the boats are elevated in a tank. The modern electrical elevator is certainly more distinct when compared to the traditional Hydraulic ones in the pictures below:
(d) Modern Elevator
(f) Artificial Tank carrying boats
(f) Traditional ElevatorDuring the process of knowing more about these Water Level Elevators, I came across Space Elevator that could launch you out into space:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
No wonder human brain is an unparalled innovation...
