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Old 23rd April 2010 | 16:58
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enicalyth
 
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 513
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From: Sydney NSW
horsepower

A bit of a throwback but one horsepower = 550ft-lb/sec. I knot is also 1.69ft/sec. So divide 550 by 1.69 and the answer is 325 or near enough. In old money. So the story goes James Watt was often asked how many horses would the steam engine replace. So he took a stab at what a reasonable cart horse could be expected to do and halved it to take into account unskilled labour and management of said steam engine. Hence the 550 ft[lb/sec.
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