第1段

The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland is the world’s first and only rotating boat lift. Opened in 2002, it is central to the ambitious ￡84.5m Millennium Link project to restore navigability across Scotland by reconnecting the historic waterways of the Forth & Clyde and Union Canals.

第1段

苏格兰的福尔柯克轮是世界上第一个也是唯一一个旋转式船闸。它于2002年开放，是雄心勃勃的8450万英镑千年链接项目的核心，该项目通过重新连接福尔斯与克莱德河和联合运河的历史水路，恢复苏格兰的航行能力。

第2段

The major challenge of the project lay in the fact that the Forth & Clyde Canal is situated 35 metres below the level of the Union Canal. Historically, the two canals had been joined near the town of Falkirk by a sequence of 11 locks – enclosed sections of canal in which the water level could be raised or lowered – that stepped down across a distance of 1.5 km. This had been dismantled in 1933, thereby breaking the link. When the project was launched in 1994, the British Waterways authority were keen to create a dramatic twenty-first- century landmark which would not only be a fitting commemoration of the Millennium, but also a lasting symbol of the economic regeneration of the region.

第2段

该项目的主要挑战在于福尔斯与克莱德运河位于联合运河的35米以下。历史上，这两个运河在福尔柯克镇附近通过一系列11个船闸连接在一起，船闸是封闭的运河段，可以提升或降低水位，沿1.5公里的距离逐级下降。这些船闸在1933年被拆除，从而打破了连接。当该项目于1994年启动时，英国水路管理局渴望创建一个令人惊叹的21世纪地标，不仅是千禧年的适当纪念，也是该地区经济复兴的永久象征。

第3段

Numerous ideas were submitted for the project, including concepts ranging from rolling eggs to tilting tanks, from giant see-saws to overhead monorails. The eventual winner was a plan for the huge rotating steel boat lift which was to become The Falkirk Wheel. The unique shape of the structure is claimed to have been inspired by various sources, both manmade and natural, most notably a Celtic double-headed axe, but also the vast turning propeller of a ship, the ribcage of a whale or the spine of a fish.

第3段

该项目提交了许多想法，包括从滚动的鸡蛋到倾斜的坦克，从巨大的跷跷板到高架单轨列车的概念。最终的获胜者是一个巨大的旋转钢质船闸的计划，即福尔柯克轮。这个结构的独特形状据称是受到各种人造和自然的启发，尤其是凯尔特的双头斧，还有船只的巨大螺旋桨、鲸鱼的胸骨或鱼的脊椎。

第4段

The various parts of The Falkirk Wheel were all constructed and assembled, like one giant toy building set, at Butterley Engineering’s Steelworks in Derbyshire, some 400 km from Falkirk. A team there carefully assembled the 1,200 tonnes of steel, painstakingly fitting the pieces together to an accuracy of just 10 mm to ensure a perfect final fit. In the summer of 2001, the structure was then dismantled and transported on 35 lorries to Falkirk, before all being bolted back together again on the ground, and finally lifted into position in five large sections by crane. The Wheel would need to withstand immense and constantly changing stresses as it rotated, so to make the structure more robust, the steel sections were bolted rather than welded together. Over 45,000 bolt holes were matched with their bolts, and each bolt was hand-tightened.

第4段

福尔柯克轮的各个部分都是在德比郡的巴特利工程钢铁厂组装而成的，就像一个巨大的玩具建筑套装，距离福尔柯克约400公里。一个团队在那里仔细组装了1200吨的钢材，费尽心思地将零件精确地拼合在一起，以确保完美的最终安装。2001年夏天，该结构被拆卸并运送到福尔柯克的35辆卡车上，然后在地面上重新组装，并最终由起重机分为五个大部分吊装到位。轮子需要承受巨大且不断变化的应力，因此为了使结构更加牢固，钢部分是螺栓而不是焊接在一起的。超过45,000个螺栓孔与其螺栓相匹配，并且每个螺栓都是手工拧紧的。

第5段

The Wheel consists of two sets of opposing axe-shaped arms, attached about 25 metres apart to a fixed central spine. Two diametrically opposed water-filled ‘gondolas’, each with a capacity of 360,000 litres, are fitted between the ends of the arms. These gondolas always weigh the same, whether or not they are carrying boats. This is because, according to Archimedes’ principle of displacement, floating objects displace their own weight in water. So when a boat enters a gondola, the amount of water leaving the gondola weighs exactly the same as the boat. This keeps the Wheel balanced and so, despite its enormous mass, it rotates through 180° in five and a half minutes while using very little power. It takes just 1.5 kilowatt-hours (5.4 M J) of energy to rotate the Wheel – roughly the same as boiling eight small domestic kettles of water.

第5段

福尔柯克轮由两组对立的斧形臂组成，距离固定的中央脊椎约25米。两个直径相对的充满水的“船舱”，每个容量为360,000升，安装在臂的末端之间。这些船舱无论是否载船，总是具有相同的重量。这是因为根据阿基米德的浮力原理，浮动物体在水中排出的水的重量与船的重量相同。这使得轮子保持平衡，因此，尽管其巨大的质量，它可以在五分半钟内旋转180°，而使用的功率很小。旋转轮子只需要1.5千瓦时（5.4兆焦耳）的能量，大致相当于煮沸八个小型家用水壶的水所需的能量。

第6段

Boats needing to be lifted up enter the canal basin at the level of the Forth & Clyde Canal and then enter the lower gondola of the Wheel. Two hydraulic steel gates are raised, so as to seal the gondola off from the water in the canal basin. The water between the gates is then pumped out. A hydraulic clamp, which prevents the arms of the Wheel moving while the gondola is docked, is removed, allowing the Wheel to turn. In the central machine room an array of ten hydraulic motors then begins to rotate the central axle. The axle connects to the outer arms of the Wheel, which begin to rotate at a speed of 1/8 of a revolution per minute. As the wheel rotates, the gondolas are kept in the upright position by a simple gearing system. Two eight-metre-wide cogs orbit a fixed inner cog of the same width, connected by two smaller cogs travelling in the opposite direction to the outer cogs – so ensuring that the gondolas always remain level. When the gondola reaches the top, the boat passes straight onto the aqueduct situated 24 metres above the canal basin.

第6段

需要抬升的船只进入福尔斯与克莱德运河的运河港口，然后进入轮子的下部船舱。两个液压钢闸门被抬起，以将船舱与运河港口的水隔离开。然后将闸门之间的水抽出。拆卸轮子臂时，用于防止轮子臂在停靠时移动的液压夹具被移除，从而允许轮子旋转。在中央机房中，一组十个液压马达开始旋转中央轴。轴连接到轮子的外部臂，开始以每分钟1/8个转速旋转。随着轮子的旋转，船舱通过一个简单的齿轮系统保持直立。两个宽8米的齿轮绕着一个相同宽度的固定内齿轮运动，由两个与外齿轮方向相反的较小齿轮连接 - 以确保船舱始终保持水平。当船舱到达顶部时，船只直接通过位于运河港口上方24米处的引水渠。

第7段

The remaining 11 metres of lift needed to reach the Union Canal is achieved by means of a pair of locks. The Wheel could not be constructed to elevate boats over the full 35-metre difference between the two canals, owing to the presence of the historically important Antonine Wall, which was built by the Romans in the second century AD. Boats travel under this wall via a tunnel, then through the locks, and finally on to the Union Canal.

第7段

需要达到联合运河的剩余11米高度是通过一对船闸实现的。由于历史上重要的安东宁长城的存在，轮子无法建造成能够将船只抬升到两个运河之间完整的35米高度差。安东宁长城是罗马人于公元二世纪修建的。船只通过一个隧道穿越这堵墙，然后通过船闸，最后进入联合运河。