CAMEL, in mechanics, the name of a machine which has been chiefly used by the Dutch, for raising or lifting ships by the buoyant power of water.
In the Zuyder Sea, opposite to the mouth of the river Y, there are two sand banks, between which is a pas sage called the Pampus, that permitted only small ves sels to pass through : Vessels of a larger size took in the greater part of their cargo after they had passed this strait; but the sand accumulated to such a degree, that it became necessary to employ some mechanical method of carrying the Dutch vessels over this obstruction. In 1672, large chests, filled with water, were fastened to the bottom of the vessels, and when the water was pumped out of the chests, the ships were buoyed up, and enabled to pass the shallow. This simple and ingenious contri vance was obviously the origin of the camel, which wag invented by Meuves iMeindertszoon Bakker, a bur gomaster of Amsterdam, in the years 1688 or 1690. A similar invention had been made several years be fore by Cornelius Meyer, a Dutch engineer, who went to Rome to clear the Tyber, and render it navigable ; but it is not so complete a machine as that of Bakker, who is well entitled to be regarded as the original inveri tor.• The camel, which we have represented in Plate CIX. Fig. I, '2, and 3, consists of two similar hollow vessels, 13, C, Fig. 1. constructed in such a manner that they call be applied on each side of the hull of a ship, as is repre sented in Fig. 3. Each of the hollow vessels 11, C, are so formed as to resist the admission of water ; and Oil tile deck of each are erected a nuniber of horizontal wind lasses, d, d, d, &c. front s' licit ruins d e f proceed through the tithe d r, and being carried under the keel of the vessel, pass through similar tubes el' •', front which they are conveyed to the windlasses d' d', on the deck of the other half of the camel. When this machine is to
be employed fir the purpose of elevating a ship, the water is permitted to run into each half of the camel, till both the cavities are filled ; the ropes a c f, &c. are then cast loose, and the ship is conducted between the two vessels 11, C, and large planks are placed horizon tally, so as to extend from the portholes of the ship, and rest upon the upper surface of the camel. The ropes d e f, Exc. arc then made fast by means of the windlasses d, &c. till the ship is lirmly united to the camel. The water is next pumped front the cos itics of the cancel, by means of the pumps g, g, till the buoyancy of the hollow raises the ship from the sand, and ena bles it to surmount the obstruction. The length MN of the camel is generally about 127 feet ; the breadth OP, of the one end 22 feet, and the breadth QR, at the other, 13 feet. The hollow part of the vessels li, C, is divided into several compartments. An East India ship that draws 15 feet of water, was so much elevated by means of this machine, that it drew only I I, and the largest ships of war in the Dutch service, from 90 to 100 gulls, were always enabled to surmount the different sand-banks of the Zuyder Zee. These machines have been likewise used at Venice, and in Russia. For fur ther information on this subject, see .12..irt do batir les vaisseaus, Amsterdam, 1719 ; Le upo:d's Ma chinariunz, tom viii. § ISO, p. 96, tab. 24; Wright's Tra vels; Aluschenbrock's Introduct. ad Philos. Xatur. ii. p. 521. The engraving of the camel in Plate CIX., is, we believe, the lirst that has been given in any Eng lish work. (:r)