When this photo, supposedly from 1924 appeared in our forum section, several members were trying to discern what exactly was going on. Taken at a near pre-historic Texaco station, there’s an old jalopy up on what seems to be rollers, or some type of modified truck rear end.
The barrell in the rear of the photo is a “gasometer” to check ring seal, but there has to be more going on than that. The assembled crowd of local gents appear to be on hand to see a show of some sort. Hell, maybe the operator yelling out “22hp!” would get a rise out of them.
The man in the coveralls is holding what may be some sort of brake handle and if you look down at the area near his right knee there is a gauge, perhaps a cable drive tach that would give some sort of reading. A tach would be useful in computing horsepower, if this machine is in fact a chassis dyno.
Check out the larger photo below and tell us what the hell is going on here!
(This photo comes from the Shorpy Historical Photo Archive, an amazing place you should check out and get lost in for hours!)
Back then they used a dyno of sorts to measure horsepower on the big syeam engines. It used a weight scale with pulleys and a hand brake. I believe they were called Prony brakes. This could be one since the gent is appling some sort of load to the machine. Or they could just be tuning the engine while under a load.
They’re running it backwards to see if they can take miles off the odometer before the old man gets home.
Looks like some sales guys demonstrating how “Havoline” will help seal worn rings?
First annual ‘HorsePower” challenge. You should have been around for the bathing suit competition. All the bare knees and elbows you could stand!