Andre,
interesting shots;however if I remember my industrial history correctly the idea was fist conceived and built in England in the late 1790's.
William Reynolds (cousin of Abraham darby III ) built a series of these inclines to dramaticaly cut the time it would take to raise a barge over conventional canal locks.
He constructed a series of 6 inclines on the Shropshire Union canal featuring the system you show.
The barge would be floated onto a wheeled trolley at the lower level.This trolley was counterbalanced by attaching it to a rope(and later a chain) so as when 1 boat went up the incline; 1 came down.
The most famous of these is the Great Hay Incline just outside Coalport(Near the Ironbridge Industrial Museum.
http://www.canals.btinternet.co.uk/c...shropshire.htm
http://www.canals.com/lifts.htm
Was lucky enough to visit this on a school trip way back in the 70's and Andres photos reminded me.
So nice to see the idea still working and in use,
cheers Dal