A caisson lock was invented in the late 18th century as a solution to minimise the use of great volumes of water required to raise and lower canal boats through large height differences. It was normal to only raise and lower boats through small height differences of a few feet when traversing undulating terrain. A solution was required when either large height differences were encountered or water was in short supply. The Caisson (or Caisoon) was thought to be one solution. The technology of the time was not capable of achieving this type of construction economically with current building materials. This design attempted was a type of canal lock in which a narrowboat is floated into a sealed watertight box and raised or lowered between two different canal water levels. It was designed prim