Canal Pound-Lock

The canal pound-lock is a mechanism that allows boats to move up and down sections of rivers that were previously too steep to travel.  The wall separating two sections of such a river would lower and allow the water between the sections to become level.  Then, the boat that was previously stuck on one side of the wall could pass to the other side.  After it crossed over, the wall would be raised again.  This process could be repeated as many times as was necessary to go upstream or downstream.  It is an important discovery because it allowed some of the previously unnavigable parts of China's rivers to be used for internal transportation, such as the Yellow River, a major river in northern China that was, and still is to some extent, famous for its flooding and innavigability.

Date of Invention:
984 AD

Inventor: 
Ch'aio Wei-Yo (Assistant Commissioner of Transport for Huainan as of 983 AD)

Importance to Chinese civilization:
Allowed boats to travel up the full length of some rivers that previously had unnavigable sections, increasing internal transportation and trade.

Importance to other civilizations:
Allowed rivers to be navigated more easily

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