The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-11-28
LOOK GATES BEAT PANAMA.
Becomes Property OF United States
When Completed Entirely at the
Cost of Water-POwer Com
Dany' Building Dam.
Special to The Leon Reporters:

/ Special to The Leon Reporter:
| keokuk, Iowa, Nov 1S---A lock
superior in some essential respects
to any lock at Panama is SO nearly
completed in the very center of the
Mississippi valley that the gates are
being erected which must withstand
one-third more pressure and effect a
lift one-third higher than occurs in
any Of the more celebrated Gatun
! locks on the isthmus. The Keokuk
lock has the same width of 119 feet
as the Panama locks and a lift of
forty feet, as compared with a lift Of
twenty-eight feet four inches in
most of the Panama locks.
! The gigantic gates now being
erected at the lower end of the Keo-
, kuk lock in the Mississippi river
! weigh million pounds; the pull
caused by the tendency Of gate to
sag is a total of three-quarters of
million pounds exerted upon the an
chors imbedded in the massive con-
crete walls; the parts of the two
leaves are being put together with
over 10000 rivets; the water pres
sure against them at the bottom Of
the lock is $500 pounds to the
square foot.
A job Worthy OF Vulcan.
These gates must withstand a
pressure of six and half million
pounds of water against their
smooth surface, and yet open and
Shut as easily and as quickly as the
front door of the house in which the
reader is sitting.
These lower gates Of the Keokul
lock which are now being built are
made OF two leaves which open in
the middle exactly like a double iron
gate where a driveway enters the
grounds Of a home in the hills. Each
leaf, or single gate is a network of
great steel ribs accurately fitted and
capable Of withstanding stresses and
strains of uncomfortable strength.
The two gates form q graceful curve
and while the lock chamber is 10
feet wide, the gates are Is feet
long; they are nearly eleven feet
thick, and a foot walk will be made
on top of them. For these unpara-
lelled gates with the unprecedented
head of water against them for their
maximum span, several new and in
teresting devices had to be invented
one of them is placing buoyancy
chambers in them, air tight rooms in
each gate a dozen feet high and with
total length of about thirty-twO
feet which relieves the strain Of the
million pounds Of weight Of the steel
structures.
The Herclllean Hinges.
The hinges Of these Herculean
gates have the simplicity of engin-
eering genius The heel Of each
gate is a hollow hemisphere of
nickel steel resting over a solid
. hemisphere of bronze upon which it
turns, the top OF the gate being
held against the top Of the wall and
the tendency to sag being prevented
by immense anchors with steel rods
running TO the top Of each gate leaf.
+ A large cog wheel placed horizon
tally on the wall, by revolving half
revolution, moves back and forth an
immense bar which is attached to
! the gate leaf, and thus viii open and
e.. close the gates. The power is pri-
marially water wheel actuating a
pump which congresses air; for
ty-hOrse power compressed air en-
CINE will operate the gates.
I Uncle Sam Gains Much.
The keOkuk gates and lock are
the handiwOrk of Hugh l.. Cooper,
chief engineer of the water-power
company which is building here a
water-power several Zines as large
as any ever developed before on
earth The lock is to allow boats
to pass the greatest dam in the
world crossing the mississippi here
and making siXty-five miles Of deep
water navigation above keokuk be-
sides rendering unnecessary the GOV
eminent canal and three Locks now
worn out. The great lock and dry
dock adjoining, only a trile smaller
than the noted one at the Brooklyn
navy yard, becomes the property Of
the United States on their compile
ton entirely at the cost of the
water-power company. Uncle Sam
gains many millions Of dollars as
toll assessed upon the power COM
pany for the privilege Of dammins
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