Dynamometer car

Dynamometer car

A dynamometer car is a railroad maintenance of way car used for measuring various aspects of a locomotive's performance. Measurements include tractive effort (pulling force), power, top speed, etc. Although now, advanced calculations make the dynamometer car join the ranks of obsolete equipment such as cabooses and steam locomotives, it was certainly a valuable asset when it was used.

History

The first dynamometer car was probably one built in about 1838 by the "Father of Computing" Charles Babbage. Working for The Great Western Railway of Great Britain, he equipped a passenger carriage to be placed between an engine and train and record data on a continuously moving roll of paper. The recorded data included the pulling force of the engine, a plot of the path of the carriage and the vertical shake of the carriage. The work was undertaken to help support the position of The Great Western Railway in the controversy over standardizing the British rail gauge.

Trivia

The 1930 movie "Danger Lights" includes footage of a dynamometer car in operation.

External links

* [http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r062.html Testing a Locomotive] - Comprehensive details of how a dynamometer car is used for performance testing
* [http://www.northeast.railfan.net/equipment2.html Rail Training & Test Cars] photos of some prototype cars.
* [http://www.lnwrs.org.uk/Carriages/Lnwrs807.php Carriages of LNWR: 6-wheeled Dynamometer Car]
* [http://www.victorianrailways.net/pass%20cars/pass%20car%20pages/dynamom.html Laboratory on Wheels] Details (including publicity article from February 1951) of the Victorian & South Australian Railways' dynamometer car
* [http://www.geocities.com/budb3/arts/tsteqa.html Esoteric Test Equipment]
* [http://www.nmra.org/bash_dymo.html National Model Railroad Association, Kitbash Korner: ML&S Dynamometer Car] building a model of a dynamometer car.

References

*cite journal | author= M. V. Wilkes | title= Charles Babbage and his world | journal= Notes and Records of the Royal Society | year=2002 | volume=56 | issue=3 | pages=353 – 365 | doi= 10.1098/rsnr.2002.0188

*cite journal | author= K. K. Schwarz | title= Faraday and Babbage | journal= Notes and Records of the Royal Society | year=2002 | volume=56 | issue=3 | pages=367 –381 | doi= 10.1098/rsnr.2002.0189


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • dynamometer car — noun : a laboratory car with equipment for measuring and recording drawbar pull, horsepower, brake pipe pressure, and other information on locomotive performance and train operation * * * Railroads. a car equipped with special instruments and… …   Useful english dictionary

  • dynamometer car — Railroads. a car equipped with special instruments and coupled to a locomotive to record its energy output, fuel consumption, and other data continuously during a regularly scheduled run. [1875 80] * * * …   Universalium

  • dynamometer car — noun A piece of railway rolling stock used to measure various aspects of a locomotives performance …   Wiktionary

  • Dynamometer — For the dynamometer used in railroading, see dynamometer car .A dynamometer or dyno for short, is a machine used to measure torque and rotational speed (rpm) from which power produced by an engine, motor or other rotating can be calculated.A… …   Wikipedia

  • American Muscle Car — infobox television show name = American Muscle Car format = runtime = 30 minutes creator = starring = country = network = SPEED Channel first aired = 2003 last aired = num episodes = American Muscle Car is a weekly television show on Speed (TV… …   Wikipedia

  • Horsepower — hp redirects here. For other uses, see HP (disambiguation). Horsepower (HP) is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.[1] Horsepower was originally defined to compare the… …   Wikipedia

  • List of railway vehicles — The is a list of all types of vehicle that can be used on a railway, either specifically for running on the rails, or for maintenance or up keep of a railway. FORCETOC General classes of railway vehicle* Locomotive * Multiple unit ** Electric… …   Wikipedia

  • 4-6-2 — Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 4 6 2 locomotive has four leading wheels (generally arranged in a leading truck), six coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels (often but not always in a trailing… …   Wikipedia

  • Victorian Railways H class — Infobox Locomotive name = Victorian Railways H class caption = Victorian Railways builder s photograph of H 220, 1941 powertype = steam data for = Victorian Railways H class builder = VR Newport Workshops whytetype = 4 8 4 numinclass = 1 length …   Wikipedia

  • South Devon Banks — The South Devon Banks are a series of steep inclines on the ex GWR railway line linking Exeter and Plymouth in Devon, England. These two major towns are separated by the rocky uplands of Dartmoor forcing the early railway surveyors to propose… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”