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Horsepower.....something to think about

Pennyrick

Pennyrick

New member
Horsepower is a measurement of power. With electricity one horsepower equals 746 watts.

James Watt wanted to measure how his steam engine compared to horses so he determined that a horse could turn a mill wheel 144 times in one hour or 2.4 times in a minute. The wheel was 12 feet in radius, therefore the horse travelled 2.4 x 2pi x 12 feet. Watt judged that a horse could pull with a force of 180 pounds so......

a1f88b48faa7319c28914b0f31d351a5.png

He rounded the number to 33,000 ft/lbs per minute.

So however you want to look at this measurement it is a very arbitrary figure.

I vote we stop using the term and just call it 'power' . We need a new way to measure it though.

Anyone have any thoughts?
 
Bob is not far off, but kilowatts would be more appropriate 1 hp =.75 kw. But Roger raises a good point, is it change because horses are not really part of the equation? What about other arbitrary units, knots for example. I'm pretty sure sailors no longer count the knots on a rope going over the side to measure speed.;)
 
Anybody remember when it was 427cu. ins, 396 cu. ins, or 409 cu. ins.
and everybody said wow.
now it's 5.7 liters, and the reaction is "uh"

keep horsepower. :2thumbs:;)
 
Progress

I have to agree with the poster, technology should never stand still.
It's horses for courses.
No one horse is the same, so how can horsepower be an accurate measurement with todays technologically advanced engines.
I have no idea how this could be achieved as I struggle converting centimetres to inches.
 
I believe a "knot" is traveling a nautical mile in a hour. that one has ben around for a while.
Metric, American and among others Whitworth sizes for wrenchs and things. Meter stick anybody ?
Many Americans have no idea what a 5 liter engine size is in inches.
Many American things are already metric to be able to sell in other coutries.

Several years ago, there was push to make everything metric here in America. One big complaint was how will I every be able to p[ut gas in my car in liters ? How many people put 5 gallons in anymore ? Stationed in German, we bought gas with coupons, 5 liter and other sizes
Oldmanzues
 
Oldmanzues said:
I believe a "knot" is traveling a nautical mile in a hour. that one has ben around for a while.
Metric, American and among others Whitworth sizes for wrenchs and things. Meter stick anybody ?
Many Americans have no idea what a 5 liter engine size is in inches.
Many American things are already metric to be able to sell in other coutries.

Several years ago, there was push to make everything metric here in America. One big complaint was how will I every be able to p[ut gas in my car in liters ? How many people put 5 gallons in anymore ? Stationed in German, we bought gas with coupons, 5 liter and other sizes
Oldmanzues
Click to expand...

Yes a knot is traveling one nautical mile an hour, but before more modern technology, a rope was tied of in knots a specific distance apart and they counted the number of knots that went over the side in 30 seconds to determine the number of nautical miles per hour travelled. It is coincidence that knot sounds like naut. So me no longer use knots to measure knots;)
 
vided said:
Anybody remember when it was 427cu. ins, 396 cu. ins, or 409 cu. ins.
and everybody said wow.
now it's 5.7 liters, and the reaction is "uh"

keep horsepower. :2thumbs:;)
Click to expand...

I like the old system too myself but sadly cubic inches will soon be gone
 
Pull up a sand bag.

Oldmanzues said:
Stationed in German, we bought gas with coupons, 5 liter and other sizes
Oldmanzues
Click to expand...

Happy days. I was stationed in Germany as well, Soest & Fallingbostel with the British Army, remember the petrol coupons and travelling home to England with a boot full of fuel in jerry cans.
We used to love doing exercises with the yanks, they would swap anything for the kit we had.
 
I vote for Spyder-Power. It works like this:
The original Spyder motor produced what? 96 horsepower? So, each spyder-power is equivalent to 96 horsepower. Let's give up on all that overly complicated math type geek stuff: nutons, horse power, foot pounds, cc, cubic inches, and on and on. Let's put it in terms that are REALLY important: SPYDERPOWER!
 
Dan_Ashley said:
I vote for Spyder-Power. It works like this:
The original Spyder motor produced what? 96 horsepower? So, each spyder-power is equivalent to 96 horsepower. Let's give up on all that overly complicated math type geek stuff: nutons, horse power, foot pounds, cc, cubic inches, and on and on. Let's put it in terms that are REALLY important: SPYDERPOWER!
Click to expand...

You're a little off on hp for the original spyder.
 
Hi Double,

Re: With electricity one horsepower equals 746 watts.

Every now & I'll be reading a foreign auto magazine and I seem to recall that most of them use kW values.

IMO most Americans are scared spitless of the metric system. There is nothing to fear of it.

When Australia made the switch, everything in the country had two years to convert, they seemed to have survived.

While stationed in France I had to learn a little of it.

Most of the cars I have owned have had metric fasteners, etc. After a while one can just look at a bolt and automatically reach for the 10 mm wrench.

I prefer it.

Jerry Baumchen

PS) If anyone wants to experience how easy it is to learn a new system, just buy a metric measuring tape and use it for one week. They are available.
 
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