Weather Shuttle - Work of Art

The weather shuttle is a large object located on the Central European watershed between the Danube (Austria) and the Vltava (Czech Republic).

There is a certain irony in the fact that this giant machine interferes with the natural irrigation of the continent, driven solely by the power of water. Rainwater, intended by nature for the Danube, is poured into the Vltava and vice versa.


Function and technology:
The machine is a 5.4 m long iron wagon (4.5 tonnes moving mass), with four steel-tyred granite wheels (grey-blue fine-grained granite from Windhaag b. Fr.) with a diameter of 127 cm, reminiscent of the cult wagons of the Celts. On the frame of this running gear, an iron balance beam holds two granite bowls with a diameter of 120 cm and a capacity of 170 litres. When a bowl is filled with rainwater, its weight sets the wagon in motion via a cable drive on the axles. After travelling 8 m on a 15 m long standard-gauge (1435 mm) track, crossing the line of the watershed, an emptying mechanism tilts the filled bowl and raises the other bowl. The track is supported by a box bridge-like construction (2.30 m high).