As a means of power transmission, hydraulics has many advantages. But overall efficiency is NOT one of them. A single-reduction gearbox has an efficiency of 98 to 99 percent, double-reduction 96 to 97 percent and triple-reduction 95 percent. A chain drive in good condition has an efficiency of 97 to 98 percent.

A high-performance piston pump has an efficiency of … Read more

It’s ski season here where I live down under. And yesterday, while skiing with his school, my son Ben got taken out by a snowboarder. Hit him from behind, so squarely the snowboarder’s fault.

The snow was hard-packed and Ben banged his head hard. Hard enough to see stars and not remember what he had for breakfast. And that’s WITH … Read more

I’m currently living in the Snowy Mountains region in eastern Australia, near a small village called Jindabyne, which is about 5 hours drive from Sydney. Jindabyne is 3000 ft (944 meters) above sea level.

As you’d expect, I regularly see hydraulic machinery working on roads and construction sites in the area and I often wonder how they perform on a … Read more