Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-10-08
MEASURING REAL HORSE
POWER
By Frederic j. Hasktn.

IHdL SOuHuS like q lOOAASi QuSSllOlt
but it is exactly the question fc.'
which W were sought in n CON
test at the recent Iowa State Fair. II
was a horse and mule pulling con
test, demonstrating q machine
known as the horse and mule dy-
namometer which was invented by
e. v. Collins of the agricultural en-
cheering department of the Iowa
State College at Ames.
The apparatus proved that a team
or horses, instead of the theoretical
2-horsepower they are supposed to
possess, can deliver 10 times that
much in energy. To be exact, the
champion pair of Percherons actual
/ ly demonstrated that their horse-
power was PIP and exerted q trac-
tive pull of 1890 pounds. F.,
Experts say that the Collins dyna-
mometer will undoubtedly revolu-
tionize the draft horse industry be-
cause it will bring about the selec-
ton of horses for breeding purposes
on the basis of what the animal
, can actually do. 1t will be impor-
tant to the city transportation user
because it shows him how big a load
his team can haul without injury.
This is especially significant now in
view of the fact that there is a grow
ing tendency on the part of men who
replaced their horses with auto
trucks to return to horses for short
hauls.
The demand for the invention
came from the Horse Association of
America which had exerted pressure
upon agricultural engineers to de-
wise some means of measuring the
| fattIItt,r A-y1 - 9 A. -~I ~z,z y
In appearance the Collins dynamo
meter Is much like a wagon. 1t util-
ICES the principles of hydraulics.
Weights of the desired amount are
suspended in mid-air while the
horses are pulling. The wagon can
not move forward until the weights
are lifted, for as long as the weights
are down a value is closed and the
wheels are locked by hydraulic pres
sure. AS soon as the hoTses put
forth sufficient power to raise the
weights, the valve opens and the
wheels are released.
Exactly the same draft is requir-
ed by the apparatus whether it is
being drawn up hill, down hill or on
the level, over a plowed field or a
smooth hard road surface. The
horses must expend more energy in
moving their own bodies up hill than
on the level, but the pull on the ma
chine remains constant and may be
set at any predetermined load de-
sired.
The contest at tho Iowa State
Fair, which the fair officials had
been somewhat reluctant to stage,
proved to be one of the big drawing
cards of the week. 1t attracted the
interest of city folks as well as far
mers, and the crowds that gathered
to see the horses put forth their ut
most strength were unmindful of
either blazing sun or thunder storms.
The of pulling power is
known as the ~"tractive pull" by
which is meant the load-moving en-
ergy exerted. The tractive pull re-
CURED in pulling an ordinary walk
ing pillow in stubble, turning a fur
row 6 inches deep and IA inches
wide, is about 400 pounds. In other
words, the horses 1--we to exert the
same pull they would in pulling a
4%00-pound weight out of a deep
hole.
The load a tractive pull will move
depends on the surface over which
1t is moved. A demonstration load
to illustrate this was shown in con-
nection with the Iowa tests. A wagon
was loaded with sacked grain weigh
ing GAO pounds-equivalent to 104
bushels of wheat or 111.7 bushels of
shelled corn. To move this load,
which with the wagon weighed
1920 pounds, or $3.50 tons, required
a tractive pull of 125 pounds of 1926
pounds per ton on a concrete ave
ment; 200 pounds of SIS pounds per
ton on a brick pavement; 300 pounds
of 77.7 pounds per ton on asphalt,
and $40 pounds, or 134.7 pounds per
ton on a dirt and cinder surfaced
road.
These results corroborated by
other tests show that 1t is easier to
pull three tons on a concrete road
than one ton on q firm dirt road.
Awards in the pulling contest went
to the horses that pulled the max
imum load over a required distance,
idea being that the mar who uses
horses is rot primarily concerned
with the speed at which his horses
can pull nor the horsepower which
they car develop, but Is concerned
with having team that is capable of
pulling a load over a bad place in
the pavement or out of a muddy
field.
While it is said that final con-
illusions can not be drawn until
thousands of pairs of horses and
mules have been tested, the Iowa
State Fair contest sufficed to show
that the value of weight car not be
OVer-emDhaSized. Th'ue = pulling !
lightweight teams were able to
start almost as heavy loads as the
heavier horses, but they were not
able to carry them the required dis
lance and the tremendous effort
they were compelled to exert show
ed that they would soon be too ex-
hausted to start such a load. The
tests also proved that some horses
will settle into their collars and pull
until they are told to stop, wen oil
loads that-they could not bulge, |
while other horses are rank quit
tiers.
One pair of little bronchos which
weighed 455 pounds less than any of
the others pulled larger loads in pro-
portion to weight than any of their
competitors. Through sheer nerve
and extreme muscular effort they
successfully exerted every pull re-
CURED up to 1000 pounds and pull
ed even this for 40 feet. The win
ming team made every pull on the
first trial, which no other pair vas
able to do.
No mules were entered in the
competition. so the old argument as
= -