HORSE Power

[Mark Page]

I've always wondered how much power a horse can really generate. I've been around a bunch of horses and mules and if they don't want to do what you would like they can throw you around like a rag doll.
I was trying to get an 18 hand draft mule out of his stable one day and he wasn't having it. He got a hold on the shoulder of my Carhardt coat and picked me 3 feet off the ground. I have seen stall dividers made of Oak 2x12's turned into splinters with one strike of a rear hoof.
25 hp-35 hp?

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

1 horse = 1hp... that is the definition....been that way since the begining.

In 1993, R. D. Stevenson and R. J. Wassersug published an article calculating the upper limit to an animal's power output. The peak power over a few seconds has been measured to be as high as 14.9 hp. However, Stevenson and Wassersug observe that for sustained activity, a work rate of about 1 hp per horse is consistent with agricultural advice from both 19th and 20th century sources. (wikipedia)

 

[Monster5601]

Horse power, torque, and the decibel share something in common. Everybody thinks they know what these units of measure are but few can really explain any of them.

A simple explanation of HP and torque is this: torque is the amount of twist being applied and HP is how fast the twist can be applied.

If you would like more information, I've attached a good read on HP and torque, it is five pages but defines these without the big engineering words.

Oh yea, the decibel (db), well a decibel is 1/10 of a bell and a bell is unit of power measurement. 1db is a little more and 3db is twice as much, bells are logarithmic.

 

[grsthegreat]

well i have a 2 horse team that can pull my fully loaded manure spreader up a hill with very little effort. Id like to see a 2HP motor do that. wont happen. My 2-1/2 HP Emglo motor barely powers my compressor.

 

[MasseyWV]

well i have a 2 horse team that can pull my fully loaded manure spreader up a hill with very little effort. Id like to see a 2HP motor do that. wont happen. My 2-1/2 HP Emglo motor barely powers my compressor.

All you need is a conveyor belt and you'd have your own mobile manure production and distribution facility. :laughing:

 

[grsthegreat]

The have to spread their own manure....hehe

makes them think twice about pooping....... not:licking:

 

[Garybake]

Horse power, torque, and the decibel share something in common. Everybody thinks they know what these units of measure are but few can really explain any of them.

A simple explanation of HP and torque is this: torque is the amount of twist being applied and HP is how fast the twist can be applied.

If you would like more information, I've attached a good read on HP and torque, it is five pages but defines these without the big engineering words.

Oh yea, the decibel (db), well a decibel is 1/10 of a bell and a bell is unit of power measurement. 1db is a little more and 3db is twice as much, bells are logarithmic.

Monster a man after my own heart! 30 years running dynos for GM and 4 for Chryslers before that you took the words right out of my laptop.

 

[Egon]

Well, lets see. Hook up two horsepower to the back of an 8 N and the only direction it's gona go is where the two horse power are going.:thumbsup:

 

[MasseyWV]

Well, lets see. Hook up two horsepower to the back of an 8 N and the only direction it's gona go is where the two horse power are going.:thumbsup:

I'm no expert but it seems to me that it would take a pretty big tractor to pull as much dead weight as the horses in the following video (part 1 of 3) are pulling so yea, I could see two of them easily pulling an 8N wherever they wanted it to go.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl9amqC6c1M]2010 Brethren Horse Pull Part 1 of 3 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[rsewill]

Long ago in my college physics class lab we all had to calculate how much HP we generated sprinting up one flight of stairs. My lab partner weighed about 155 pounds and was a bit faster than me (125 pounds). He generated a bit over one HP and I put out about .8 HP. But we could only do that for a matter of seconds.

 

[Raspy]

Whenever you imagine replacing a horse with a small engine you have to remember the engine peaks at a much lower number than the horse. As stated earlier, a horse might put out 14 HP for a few seconds but a 1 HP engine will not do that. Also, the engine's power must be fed through a transmission system with gears, belts and/or pumping losses that add up to a significant parasitic loss.
But in the long run, over a period of time, the engine crankshaft HP and the horse must be approximately the same. But is it equal to a Clydesdale, an Arabian or a Shetland pony?

 

[k0ua]

Also don't confuse horsepower with traction.. as in the example of 2 horses pulling an 8N backwards.. The horses have better traction than the 8N typically will have. but now put cog wheels on the 8N. perhaps put another final drive gear reduction on the 8N. and run it on a cog track. Now the 8N will pull several horses backwards or pull them in two. All the horsepower in the world wont do a bit of good unless you can apply it and operate the engine in its powerband. And by the way its almost 3db of change before most people can really notice it. But a 10db change is considered pretty large by most people. Example start with 1 watt of power, 3db increase =2 watts. 6db increase =4 watts. 10db increase =10 watts. 20db increase =100 watts 30 db increase =1000 watts.

James K0UA

 

[Garybake]

I know I am pretty spoiled just having to put in a little deisel and routine maintenace than feed, groom and clean a stable full (I would never get anything done):laughing:

 

[rockinmywaypa]

I know I am pretty spoiled just having to put in a little deisel and routine maintenace than feed, groom and clean a stable full (I would never get anything done):laughing:

My barn here used to have a third of the stable dedicated to stalls for the horses used on the farm. Probably a quarter of the feed they worked so hard to put in the barn went to feeding aformentioned horses so that they could feed the cattle that made them the money. Yeah, I'd far rather drive past the diesel tank and be done with it.

 

[MasseyWV]

Also don't confuse horsepower with traction.. as in the example of 2 horses pulling an 8N backwards.. The horses have better traction than the 8N typically will have. but now put cog wheels on the 8N. perhaps put another final drive gear reduction on the 8N. and run it on a cog track. Now the 8N will pull several horses backwards or pull them in two. All the horsepower in the world wont do a bit of good unless you can apply it and operate the engine in its powerband. And by the way its almost 3db of change before most people can really notice it. But a 10db change is considered pretty large by most people. Example start with 1 watt of power, 3db increase =2 watts. 6db increase =4 watts. 10db increase =10 watts. 20db increase =100 watts 30 db increase =1000 watts.

James K0UA

I agree that traction makes all the difference in the world and given the right circumstances the tractor would most likely win but thought the sight of two draft horses winning against a tractor was just too cool to imagine otherwise.

I can't help it, I like horses.

 

[Mark Page]

I once saw an Amish farmer with a 4 horse team pulling a loaded manure spreader at a canter. They didn't appear to be having any problems with the load. I know I couldn't have done it with my 45 hp 4wd machine.
I wondered how much time was spent just tacking up that team.

 

[Baby Grand]

When I was young I spent some time on a farm in Five Islands, Nova Scotia. The farmer wanted to build a log sugar shack near a dirt road through an area that was dense with conifers. He had a large horse that he hitched to pull tree logs that we felled out of the these woods to the clearing where the cabin was being built. The ground of woods there was a sort of big interlocking jumble of tree trunks that had fallen every which way, in various states of decay, and covered with moss. A real challenge to walk over. I don't think a wheeled vehicle could have got any traction in that mess, even if it could have kept upright. The horse didn't seem to have any problem other than occaisionally getting the butt of a log hung up on something. Really impressed me as to what you could accomplish with 1hp.

 

[20 20]

This thread is educational

I noticed some one said have 2 horse hook to an 8n. How about a crotch rocket hooking to an 8n, 20+hp compared to over 100hp bet the tractor would win. Traction gearing weight engine speed all have influence.

 

[Egon]

http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/Buffalo/images/pf069335.jpg

Four Horse Power.:thumbsup:

 

[MF1652]

http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/Buffalo/images/pf069335.jpg

Four Horse Power.:thumbsup:

I've seen that picture before. Pretty impressive in just what it took to actually stack and secure those logs. I can't imagine they would have been travelling very far with that load. If they were going down hill what is to stop the sled from running the team over?