Horse engine

Designs, terms, and output

In the 19th century, even boats were powered by horse engines. Team boats were popular for river ferries.

Circa 1828, the Westminster Cracker Factory's machinery was powered by horse engine; steam power followed, and by 1922, the bakery was electrified.

Wendel (2004) provides contemporary drawings from advertisements.

Strength and power

The term "horse power" probably predates the name of the horsepower unit of measurement.Mills driven by horse powers were called horse mills. Horse engines were often portable so that they could be attached to whichever implement they were needed for at the time. Others were built into horse-engine houses. The word "power" in late-19th-century American English, for example, was often used for any example in the whole category of power sources, including water powers, wind powers, horse powers (for example, sweep powers), dog powers, and even (in a few cases) sheep powers; in the Pennsylvania Oil Country during that era, sweep-style powers run by steam engines and gas engines to power oil derricks were called "powers" in the local vocabulary, just as horse powers on farms were also often simply called "powers", unless specification of the type was needed, in which case terms such as "tread power" or "sweep power" were used. Regional norms determined which term was more common in any given region or country.

Power output was limited by the size of the team. Horse powers were often run with a single horse or a two-horse team, which means that, judged by today's standards, not much power output was available and the feed mill or pump being driven was a rather small one. Regarding choice of type, at various times and places there were accepted notions of conventional wisdom, such as that more usable power per horse came from a tread power than from a sweep power (in other words, that a sweep power was less efficient of the horse's effort) or that a tread power would wear down a horse prematurely (a notion roundly refuted by others).

Notes

References

References

1. Johnson, Cuthbert William. (1844). "The Farmer's Encyclopaedia, and Dictionary of Rural Affairs: Embracing All the Most Recent Discoveries in Agricultural Chemistry". Carey and Hart.
2. Todd, S. Edwards. (1850). "Railway or endless-chain horse power—threshing, sawing and cutting machines, &c., &c.". American Agriculturalist.
3. Wendel, Charles H.. (2004). "Encyclopedia of American Farm Implements and Antiques". Krause Publications.
4. (1922). "The Cracker Baker". American Trade Publishing Company.