Baťa's tipper in Sudoměřice celebrated its 70th anniversary

Sudoměřice (Hodonínsko) - A unique technical device, the Unloader in Sudoměřice near Hodonín, which served for transferring coal from railway wagons to boats sailing on the Baťa Canal, celebrated its 70th anniversary today. Enthusiasts who take care of this rarity are striving for its inclusion among technical monuments. Vojtěch Bártek, the director of the public benefit corporation Baťa Canal, told ČTK.
    The repaired facility has been serving as an unconventional technical exhibition and a viewpoint over the Baťa Canal since 2005. It is visited by 2,500 people each year.
    The canal was created during the First Republic as a 50-kilometer route for transporting coal between Rohatec near Hodonín and Otrokovice in Zlín. It was named after the Zlín entrepreneur Jan Antonín Baťa, who was one of the authors of the project.
    The Sudoměřice Unloader is a construction where wagons full of coal would drive in. The cargo was then dumped out. In the vast majority of these facilities, a technology was used that tilts the wagon to the side. However, in Sudoměřice, the Unloader lifted the entire rear part of the wagon.
    The dumped coal would then be transferred onto a boat anchored by the facility. In Otrokovice, the coal was again removed from the vessel in an unconventional way, using a pneumatic vacuum.
    Today, the Baťa Canal serves only for romantic boat rides. About 50 vessels navigate it. Each year, 80,000 people pass through it.