176 Navigation of Rapids. 



rivers, with an account of some experiments instituted to 

 establish its practicability," in a pamphlet of 11 pages, 8vo. 

 He has taken out a patent for his method, and has put it in 

 successful operation at the rapids of Columbia, on the Sus- 

 quehannah. His principle is the following : — If a water- 

 wheel be attached to a boat at anchor in a rapid, or to any 

 Other fixture, and a rope be made to revolve around its 

 windlass, the current of the rapid will turn the wheel, and 

 will cause a boat attached to the rope to ascend the rapid. 

 This is certain ; but it has this inconvenience, that it is ap- 

 plicable only to a rapid in one direct line ; and in such rap- 

 ids as make one or more curves in their course, two or more 

 such wheels, or a system of pulleys would be necessary. — 

 Mr. C. obviates these inconveniences by the plan he has 

 here explained. The wheel is attached to a boat moving 

 against the current ; the rope is fastened at the upper end 

 of the rapid to a fixture, (a pier, anchor, &;c.) and is made 

 to coil around the windlass ; in this way, by inverting the 

 process of the former method, the attachment of the rope 

 being fixed, and the rope continually shortening by the rev- 

 olution of the windlass, the boat moves, and is carried up 

 against the current to the head of the rapid. Where the 

 rapid is crooked, a fixture may be placed at the head of 

 every reach, and all that will be necessary will be to detach 

 the first rope, and pass the second around the windlass, and 

 so on to the head of the rapid. The machinery is very 

 simple. It consists of an oblong frame laid across the mid- 

 dle of the boat, with a shaft supporting two paddle-wheels, 

 as in steam-boats, and a windlass within the body of the 

 boat, and moving in pivot boxes on either side of the frame, 

 and on two rests raised above the gunwales by the frame, 

 so as to form intermediate pivot boxes. The wheels are 

 seven feet ten inches in diameter, each with twelve paddles 

 three and a half feet long and one foot broad. The rope is 

 made to pass round the windlass, and then over the stern of 

 the boat, so that it may be attached to a second boat if re- 

 quired. To prevent the folding of the rope on itself in its 

 passage over the windlass, a drum may be put both before 

 and behind the windlass. The size of the machinery will 

 depend on that of the boat. It is only necessary that the 

 paddles expose a greater surface to the action of the cur- 

 sent than the transverse section of the boat. The force 



