THE TERM “LITRE.”
The question is sometimes asked by motorr ists—what fraction of horse-power does the litre equal? The term “litre” as applied to many European sports cars is really a measurement of engine capacity and cannot be expressed in terms of horse-power where a multi-cylinder engine is concerned. In connection with motorcycle engine 100 c.c. (i.e., one-tenth of a litre) is sometimes regarded as representing 1 h.p., as, for example, a 175 c.c. engine is designated 1J h.p. A car engine of, say, 10 h.p. is sometimes termed 1 litre, a 15 h.p. engine 1| litre, and a 20 h.p., 2 litre and so on. A good way of calculating the cubic capacity of an engine is to obtain the diameter of one of the cylinders in centimetres (there are 10 m.m. in a centimetre), square it, multiply by .7845, which is a constant, and multiply the result by the length of the stroke (also in centimetres). This is for a single cylinder, so that for a multi-cylinder engine you would have to multiply by the number of cylinders.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19281215.2.76.16
Bibliographic details
Southland Times, Issue 20669, 15 December 1928, Page 17 (Supplement)
Word Count
180THE TERM “LITRE.” Southland Times, Issue 20669, 15 December 1928, Page 17 (Supplement)
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Southland Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in