WHAT IS A "ONE-HORSE POWER?"

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 42, 22 March 1884, Page 7

WHAT IS A " ONE-HORSE POWER?"

Lot us suppose a deep well. A weight of 1501b in the bottom of the well is tied to a rope ; the rope going over n friction loss pulley at the top ot the well, to which rope a horse is attached ; said horse walking oft' nt the rate of 25 miles in a 10 hour d-,l\, 2$ miles in 1 hour, or 220 feet in 1 minute. Two miles and a half an hour is 2£ times 5280 feet, or 13,200 feet, which, divided by GO minutes in .in honr, m.ike 220 iVet travelled over in one minute. Arithmetical fonnuli proofs : I foot space multiplied by t minute time multiplied by 33,000>b equal tn 33,000'b ; 220 ieet space multiplied hy 1 minute time, multiplied by 1501b,, equal to 33,000; 33,0001b divided by 220 equal to 150 ; or 33,000 divided by 150 equal to 220. Steeled Natural Philosophy B ny B : " A horse-power is reckoned in mechanics as a force that will lift 33,0001b 1 foot in a minute without any assistance of machinery." Worcester's Unabridged Dictionary says a horses-power for a steam engine is "« power capable of raining 33,0001b avoirdupois through (he space of one foot in a minute." Yon.ill says •' the average force or power of traction of a horse is variously stated as equal to BJlb, 1001b, 1501b, and even 2001b." Some European writers estimate a horso-po'.ver at about half or two thirds ot 33,000! b ; but in Great Britain arid the United States (he above is the generally accepted rule. It matters very little what the unit of the measure is, it it ia only understood and accepted. When we say that certain machinery is 10. 100 or 1000 horse-power, we know it is so many times some real or imaginary unit of measure, and that unit must be decided upon conventionally or by custom.