Your right, there is no free lunch when it comes to power.
My thing here is that given all of the theories thrown out stating that I couldn't possibly go 150 in a 3500 lb car with a 275+ HP engine due to weight, drag, etc, it means, by extension of the same theories, there is no plausible way that my 32000 lb truck with way, way more drag could run 90 with the same or lesser HP engine. The numbers just don't add up....
In the end it all comes down to one thing, every measurement here was made/stated using the speed obtained from one gear meshing with another. Granted when you throw torque converters, etc in the mix things can get screwy but when your talking steel gears directly meshed with other steel gears, the speed of each one is always going to be in proportion to the number of teeth on each gear as there is NO slippage involved. In this case the engine was turning at 6000 RPM and it's speed was being picked up by a tach sensing rotational speed off a gear driven distributor. That speed was then being transmitted one to one, directly through the transmission to the rear axel where there was a 3.23 to 1 ratio taking it out to the tires. If the engine had not had enough power to overcome the drag, the friction, and any other forces present as has been implied, then it would have stalled or at least slowed down and would not have been showing 6000+ RPM on the tach. Now if something had gotten between any of the gears and stopped them the the engine would have either stalled or broken something to keep running at speed, none of which happened.
By the same reasoning unless the tires were slipping or the clutch was slipping a significant amount (and if it were it would have been burned up in short order at that RPM) then the only conclusion was that the car had to be traveling as the stated speed as there is no way the numbers can lie in a direct coupled application such as this. Too thinking this through further I never factored that the tire I measured the circumference on was cold and not turning. Everyone knows from watching drag racing that as a tire heats up and spins faster it's circumference increases. That would have actually had me traveling faster than stated as every RPM would have resulted in a further distance traveled, but I won't even go there...
That said it would probably freak most of these guys out to see the size of the electric motor needed to turn over the shaft in an aircraft carrier when warming and cooling the turbines for operation or shutdown. If I recall correctly the one on the America (CV66) was something like 40-50 HP. That one small motor turned both an HP and an LP turbine, every gear in the main gearbox, all of the associated parts attached to the shaft in the main thrust bearing, as well as about 400 feet of shaft that was around 28 inches in diameter, and ultimately a propeller 22 feet in diameter and weighing 69,300 lbs. In other words just because it took a 25,000+ HP steam turbine engine to turn everything on that shaft fast enough to assist the other three 25,000+ HP turbines and make the ship move in excess of 30 knots (around 45 MPH) doesn't mean it took that much to overcome frictional forces and turn that same shaft at something like 1/2 RPM shaft speed. Basically anything over the 40-50 was just extra and allowed the turbine to spin the shaft and prop alot faster. As for the way the gearing is involved you ought to see what happens when that motor doesn't get decoupled from the gear train and the shaft is spun at several RPM. Pretty much what happened is the motor basically went 'supersonic', exploded off of it's mount, and flew about 40 feet across the space, bouncing off everything in it's path as it went. They said all they heard was a high pitched sound like a turbine and then a huge explosion. Fortunately no one got hurt and I unfortunately I wasn't onboard to see it happen. I actually reported aboard shortly after the incident so I did get to see the damage to the decking, lockers, railings, etc....It's amazing what that much weight can do when it's thrown with that much force...it wasn't pretty.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Restoration Story: Fordson Major - by Anthony West. George bought his Fordson Major from a an implement sale about 18 years ago for £200.00 (UK). There is no known history regarding its origins or what service it had done, but the following work was undertaken alone to bring it up to show standard. From the engine number, it was found that this Major was produced late 1946. It was almost complete but had various parts that would definitely need replacing.
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
1964 I-H 140 tractor with cultivators and sidedresser. Starts and runs good. Asking 2650. CALL RON AT 502-319-1952
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
