ORIGIN OF "HORSE-POWER"
... The champion shire horse of Britain at a recent show ;o'f the Shire Horse Society was bred within the confines of, Birmingham, ; the city where the formula upon which horse-power was calculated was evolved over 150 years ago. ■■■ ■ ■ ':.<■■ '•..'■ .'-■.■
In James Watt's scrapbook, which is now in the Birmingham Reference Library, ' appears; under the date of February,' 1782, his computation :of horse-poweri, based upon the experiences of Wrigley, his millwright. At that .time horses were,employed to drive mill machinery, and Watt estimated, that the average, cart horse developed 22,000..fQQtl pounds of work per" miniite. Anxipiis to give good value,.to. tjie ,purchasers of his steam engine, Watt, in using the term "horsepower," increased' his estimate by 50 per cent;, and thus it came about that the 33,000 foot pounds per minute formula was evolved.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19370603.2.139
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 130, 3 June 1937, Page 16
Word Count
135ORIGIN OF "HORSE-POWER" Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 130, 3 June 1937, Page 16
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