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240:. 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).
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was one of their main applications. They were not portable, but the farm culture of
Britain was well suited to their stationary nature, as farming communities tended to be organized around villages. In North America, portable horse powers were more usual, with family farms spread far and wide. Even
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system, and then to a shaft or pulley that could be coupled to another machine. Such powers were called tread powers, railway powers, or endless-chain powers. Another common design was the horse wheel or sweep power, in which one or several horses walked in a circle, turning a shaft at the center.
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unit of measurement. 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
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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
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were built in
Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Relative to 1-horse and 2-horse powers, they could provide larger amounts of power through larger teams. Powering
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on which one or more horses walked. The surface of the treadmill was made of wooden slats linked like a chain. Rotary motion from the treadmill was first passed to a
281:. 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
68:. 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
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The Farmer's
Encyclopaedia, and Dictionary of Rural Affairs: Embracing All the Most Recent Discoveries in Agricultural Chemistry
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for horse tread powers and sweep powers, and for various mills that horses can power (feed/fodder cutters and grain grinders)
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208:'s machinery was powered by horse engine; steam power followed, and by 1922, the bakery was electrified.
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or hired on a custom (job) basis—it tended to be portable, moving from farm to farm over country roads.
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333:"Railway or endless-chain horse power—threshing, sawing and cutting machines, &c., &c."
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Photograph of a horse power being used to thresh wheat in southeastern
Washington State.
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during that era, sweep-style powers run by steam engines and gas engines to power oil
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saws. They could also be used interchangeably with other forms of power, such as a
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in cases where equipment was not owned by each farm—for example, owned jointly in
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Wendel (2004) provides contemporary drawings from advertisements.
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In the 19th century, even boats were powered by horse engines.
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Examples of farm machinery powered with a horse engine include
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The term "horse power" probably predates the name of the
393:. American Trade Publishing Company. 1922. p. 38.
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Encyclopedia of
American Farm Implements and Antiques
367:(2nd ed.), Iola, WI, USA: Krause Publications,
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Today there are still a few modern versions used by
150:people that assist in farm chores and that power
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416:From the Garfield County Heritage Collection.
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277:driven by horse powers were called
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309:Johnson, Cuthbert William (1844),
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410:- mention horse power machines
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315:, vol. 1, Carey and Hart.
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40:) is a (now largely obsolete)
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408:The Papers of John C. Calhoun
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52:that was very common before
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363:Wendel, Charles H. (2004),
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206:Westminster Cracker Factory
54:internal combustion engines
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162:Designs, terms, and output
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283:horse-engine houses
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107:, and saws such as
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279:horse mills
226:Oil Country
156:line shafts
135:shaft of a
113:lumber mill
66:horse mills
38:horse-power
34:horse power
424:Categories
293:References
250:Horse mill
221:horsepower
195:Team boats
131:pulley or
117:hand crank
93:horse mill
89:gristmills
44:for using
129:flat belt
127:, or the
77:treadmill
244:See also
230:derricks
109:bucksaws
137:tractor
42:machine
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188:co-ops
275:Mills
262:Notes
177:Many
148:Amish
141:farms
105:pumps
91:(see
62:Mills
369:ISBN
255:Whim
238:team
154:via
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