Home › Forum › Ask A Member › Outboard horsepower measured? › Re: Outboard horsepower measured?
James Watt determined that lifting 33,000 pounds 1 foot in 1 minute was a little more than the best horse could do. He rated engine’s capacity in "Horsepower" because customers could understand the power of a horse but not math of engine power. Early steam engines did not have to be very efficient to replace human or animal power. A steam engine at a coal mine could pump out water continuously 24/7 using coal from mine to fuel boiler. Hoisting coal up out of mine could also be done by a steam engine supplied with steam by same boiler. The efficiency of iron wheel rolling on an iron rail led to horse powered railway to haul coal to market…eventually steam engine replaced the horse there also. Not even a super horse could work as hard or as long as a steam engine of 1 horsepower…Watt sandbagged his power rating.