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When ships moved from the Atlantic to the Pacific through Cape Horn, at the far end of South America, they had to make a 7,700-mile hook. Therefore, people dug the Panama Canal through the isthmus of Daria, spending a lot of money. Works on its construction went from 1881 to 1914. The canal crossed the American continent at its narrowest point approximately in the middle between its southern and northern parts and enabled ships to pass from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
The channel uses a Panama Canal lock system, or sluice chambers, which are alternately filled with water and drained to allow vessels to climb and overcome the mountainous isthmus. For this, electric locomotives are also involved, which, with the help of bow and stern lines, drag vessels through each shutter.
The principle of operation: Panama canal lock
The chambers have 50-foot-thick concrete walls and massive V-shaped double-leaf gates with locks in Panama canal. Through new Panama Canal lock gates, water enters the chamber and is pumped out of it through a system of pipes and valves. When the water level in one shutter is equal to the water level in the other, a steel gate opens and the ship moves from the camera to the camera.
Distance saving
The saving is a reduction of 7,800 miles. The 51-mile canal starts from the Caribbean Sea and crosses Panama in a Southeast direction.
Gateway chambers of Lake Gatun
If the ship goes to the Pacific Ocean, then from the Caribbean Sea through the three lockboxes of the Panama Canal, it must go up to Lake Gatun. Before this, the pumps consistently fill with water each of three chambers of 1,000 feet long and 110 feet wide. Before entering the gates of Pedro Miguel and Miraflores, the whole process will be repeated, but in the reverse order. Then the ship will again be at the sea level. By the way, in the network, you can find documental canal lock video. It clearly shows how the gates and canal lock are constructed, which closes the entrance to this gate.
In the summer, the anniversary of the launch was celebrated. The average number of passes through the extended Panama Canal is 5.9 per day, exceeding the initial forecasts for the first year of operation by two or three vessels.