Why do they call it brake horse power?
Best Answers
Brake horsepower (bhp) is the measure of an engine's horsepower before the loss in power caused by the gearbox, alternator, differential, water pump, and other auxiliary components such as power steering pump, muffled exhaust system, etc. ... More recently, an engine dynamometeris used instead of a De Prony brake. read more
It is called "horse power" as engines (going back to the early days of steam) were originally used to replace horses, and a 2hp engine could do the same amount of work in a set amount of time as 2 horses. read more
It's really not a complex answer. Back when powered vehicles were being made people wanted to know how powerful it was. The only relative thing they had to compare to was the power of horses. Eventually they came to a standard which was defined as one horse power and that's where the measurement comes from. read more
