Trollhattan Locks

I thought y'all might be interested in some pictures I took a while back of the locks at Trollh&#28ttan, Sweden, home of Saab Automotive. The original locks are quite old.

I believe the first locks were constructed prior to 1800. As you can see, it's basically a tunnel bored through the rock and was unsuccessful; they couldn't build a gate strong enough to hold the water pressure.

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I didn't take any pictures of the modern locks built in the twentieth century, but here are some pictures of some locks built around 1810-1820:

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Here's a picture of the hydro plant:

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wow thats some pretty country there!!! must of been quite a job way back when cutting thru them rocks!!

Maybe that was why they had to invent dynamite, make millions and give away peace prizes.

Oh, wait. That was Norway.

Seriously, wonderful pictures.

Dean

I think dynamite came from China........

Dynamite was invented by Nobel. Yes the same Nobel piece prize guy

Beautiful!

Yes this is truely beautiful!

I just Googled Alfred Nobel and found his blasting cap and soon to be invented dynamite to be in the late 1860's. At that time IIRC, Norway and Sweden were one country. But it did say that the dynamite factory was located near Stockholm (east side of Sweden, whereas Norway is west of Sweden). But he created factories and held patents in many countries including the US.

Nitroglycerine (blasting oil) preceeded dynamite by about 20 years, but it was horribly unstable to transport and use. I have no idea about how it was actually used to blow rock. But stick dynamite could be inserted into drilled holes and thus could give some direction to the blasting. A lot of farmland was created by the use of dynamite to blow out the huge stumps of trees for clearing land.

Paul in MN

I believe he started the Peace price so that he could be remembered for honoring that, instead of the horrible destruction that his invention allowed. He was largely successful in that goal.

I assume they blasted the locks and canals out with black powder. It would be difficult to do today, and it's unimaginable how hard it must have been in the 19th century. Prior to the invention of the pneumatic rock drill, blasting required holes to be drilled by hand, an inch at a time.