Horse 1, Jess 0

[Buckethead]

Nah, I think its just a sign of the times. Even our horses have gotten lazy. 

(Actually, its probably because way back when people used draft horses to pull stuff, not skittish Arabians that looked "pretty.")

[GAAN]

maybe they just measure them now at the back hoof where as before they were measured at the crank.

They stopped measuring horses at the crank

it was dangerous and sometimes messy

[KnightofNi]

i'm nto doing research until after i post this, but i'm fairly certaint he reason horses aren't 1 hp is because of inflation.



either that or it's because they were used in teams.

[Slide Panda]

They stopped measuring horses at the crank

it was dangerous and sometimes messy

I saw that episode of Dirty Jobs - Traumatic.

[Statler]

if my memory of the 80s is any good (ha) we did some highschool physics fun tests with running up stairs and calculating hp with weight and height.   people did maybe a quarter to a third hp.  some of the jocks got close to 1/2.   any current math geeks think that sounds right?   any health geeks think that sounds right?    I don't remember that time with too much accuracy.   it was a short sprint thing.

[KnightofNi]

if my memory of the 80s is any good (ha) we did some highschool physics fun tests with running up stairs and calculating hp with weight and height.   people did maybe a quarter to a third hp.  some of the jocks got close to 1/2.   any current math geeks think that sounds right?   any health geeks think that sounds right?    I don't remember that time with too much accuracy.   it was a short sprint thing.

at a dealers halloween party we set up a bicycle on the dyno and did a few runs. I topped at 9.5.
i think the winner hit 11HP.

[Slide Panda]

1 hp isn't all that much - so I could see a human being able to put out a few HP at peak - for a short term.  But for sustained effort, we are lacking.

Some horses have been observed to put out double digit hp for brief peaks...

[Ash]

if my memory of the 80s is any good (ha) we did some highschool physics fun tests with running up stairs and calculating hp with weight and height.   people did maybe a quarter to a third hp.  some of the jocks got close to 1/2.   any current math geeks think that sounds right?   any health geeks think that sounds right?    I don't remember that time with too much accuracy.   it was a short sprint thing.

yep we did the same thing and those numbers sound right on

[GAAN]

1 hp isn't all that much - so I could see a human being able to put out a few HP at peak - for a short term.  But for sustained effort, we are lacking.

Some horses have been observed to put out double digit hp for brief peaks...

Well that kinda make the beast with two backss with the whole idea of using a horse as a standardizing measure

goddam walking glue

[TiNi]

They stopped measuring horses at the crank

it was dangerous and sometimes messy

[Speeddog]

if my memory of the 80s is any good (ha) we did some highschool physics fun tests with running up stairs and calculating hp with weight and height.   people did maybe a quarter to a third hp.  some of the jocks got close to 1/2.   any current math geeks think that sounds right?   any health geeks think that sounds right?    I don't remember that time with too much accuracy.   it was a short sprint thing.

IIRC, and it's been a while since I looked at this myself...
Pro bicyclists, specifically sprinters, could pull .5 - .75 or so for very short periods.
Max was about .25 for any reasonable period of time, like a couple minutes.
That's what I remember from respectable scientific periodicals back in the day, early 80's.

Current reference.

About a third of the way down the page:
http://www.palmbeachbiketours.com/2008/10/27/man-versus-bike-versus-horse-100-miles-to-go/

"An average cyclist in good shape can produce 200 watts for hours at a time.
A top-level professional cyclist can generate 500 watts.
All else being equal, a horse produces two to four times more horsepower than a cyclist."

1 HP = 746 watts

So that would be .27 HP and .67 HP.

IMO, when they say 'average cyclist' they don't mean the average schmoe on a bicycle, they mean average for those who do it as a serious hobby.

[cyrus buelton]

I don't know why we (the US) decided to come up with our own system.

The Britt's had it right.

[bigiain]

IIRC, and it's been a while since I looked at this myself...
Pro bicyclists, specifically sprinters, could pull .5 - .75 or so for very short periods.
Max was about .25 for any reasonable period of time, like a couple minutes.

I think it's a little higher than that, I remember the Gossamer Albatross, which flew across the English Channel under pedal power, required 500W to climb off the ground, and 300W to maintain level flight, which it needed to maintain for almost 3 hours for the channel crossing...

<google google google>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossamer_Albatross

not heaps of detail there tho... Does indicate a top level cyclist can maintain at least 300W for 3 hours.

The wikipedia has a nice historical summary of he "horsepower" here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsepower

which includes:

"Most observers familiar with horses and their capabilities estimate that Watt was either a bit optimistic or intended to under promise and over deliver; few horses can maintain that effort for long. Regardless, comparison to a horse proved to be an enduring marketing tool."

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[Speeddog]

Cool, something more recent and reliable than my memory. 

Seems Mr. Watt was guesstimating a bit.

Horses are very low rpm, so the torque is huge. 
I've ridden very few horses, but even the most average ones were pretty wicked on acceleration.

[bigiain]

Horses are very low rpm, so the torque is huge. 

I thought that was only true for Mr Ed?

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