This enormous weight, striking part of the lock, even at three or four miles per hour, could cause serious damage. Shaped as triangles or trapezoids, their sloping sides also guide boats into the lock. This is a generic plan for a pier. This pier is designed to protrude into the canal from the stonework that separates the two chambers of a double lock. The main drawing, center right, shows the pier in perspective.
Wood is portrayed in yellow and brown, stone in blue.
When constructed, this pier was framed in wood, its internal chambers filled with stone to absorb impact. The beams of this structure were joined by mortise and tenon, as shown at the bottom left. This pier would rest on solid ground at the level of the bottom of the canal channel. The stone to which it was attached would go below the level of the bottom of the canal. All rights reserved.