Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

[eight tracker]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

an engineer drives a train!

 

[QC]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

. . . but Motoring is driving a car . . .

 

[Campylobacter]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

Hmm, this is a tough one. Perhaps I'll just type some keywords into my trusty search engine.....

Words have different meanings in different fields. As jkust pointed out, in boating motor refers to the whole propulsion system. That heavy thing hanging from your transom is called a motor.

It has an engine in (or on) it, but the whole thing is referred to as a motor.

 

[dwhite1031]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

I call it the outboard "motor"​

Wife calls it "that Mercury thingie"......​

 

[MushCreek]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

Sillies- it's called a 'vroom-vroom'!

 

[Jeep Man]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

An engine is a motor. A motor is an engine. Question answered!
If this is the biggest problem today, we are in pretty good shape.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

I agree Jeep man and I believe language is always evolving and changing.
I love America's regional dialects and of course FoMoCo.
Obama motors, not so much.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

An engine is a motor. A motor is an engine.

Now, ya just had to go there and cross the line didn't ya

Yes it's a slow day, MJ was burried yesterday (or was it the day before?) and were filling in the gaps...

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

Sombody break something so we can talk about something important.

 

[FlyinGuy1017]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

This is stupid...

I've never been in a 'motor room', but there is an 'engine room'.

Nautical and aero-nautical terms are so closely linked...why don't we call it a 'power plant'?

Helm -vs- cockpit never translated either.

 

[Lone Duck]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

Ditto. That's the way that I've always heard it denoted in the engineering world.

Yup! internal combustion engine. Electric motor air etc:

 

[Ridemywideglide]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

saying a motor is powered while an engine is fueled isn't really straight forward either. They both take an energy source and convert it into motion. There really is very little difference between an electric motor and having to put new batteries in, vs a fueled engine that you have to fill up the tank. And then you end up with the fun of a hydrogen fuel celled vehicle. Try classifying that one with that analogy!

QC's post said "A motor is driven, an engine drives." Simplest answer so far. So a motor is driven by electric current, but an engine isn't driven by gas, it derives it's power to drive from gas. If you turn the power to a motor, it starts running (being driven). If you put the gas pump nozzle in your carburetor and turn it on, your motor sits there while you scare the tourists. The introduction of the fuel source doesn't make an engine run on it's own.

Thus, the outboard would technically be a motor, as it's driven, it just carries it's own engine.

 

[Bill Adkins]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

According to the dictionary a motor is an electrical device converting electrical energy into motion. An engine is most all other devices described here. I was a mechanic for an entire career and thats how it was described.
Bill

 

[lowkee]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

Thus, the outboard would technically be a motor, as it's driven, it just carries it's own engine.

An outboard is an engine bolted to a transmission with a propellor at the end instead of a wheel or gear (a powertrain). A person wouldn't call the transmission, drive train and wheels of a car a 'car motor'. If fact, you wouldn't call it anything, you would call it a 'car'. It is assumed it has those things, and outside of that car it is called an engine with a transmission, drive train and wheels, the combination (without missing parts) being called a powertrain.

So I guess to be correct in the description an outboard engine strapped to a transmission, drive train and propellor would be to call it an outboard powertrain (all items in a combined package). We just call it what takes less time to spit out, I would guess, making it slang.

So next time you call an outboard an outboard motor, you can consider yourself a slang-talkin' hippie!

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

I use the terms, in relation to boats and car, interchangeably. I know it's not correct, but I do, and most people do.
Now when I was adjusting a loss on a combine or a skid steer or something that had both an engine and motors, I referred to them by what the manufacturer called them, or else the parts/service guys didn't know what I was talking about.

 

[Ridemywideglide]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

An outboard is an engine bolted to a transmission with a propellor at the end instead of a wheel or gear (a powertrain). A person wouldn't call the transmission, drive train and wheels of a car a 'car motor'. If fact, you wouldn't call it anything, you would call it a 'car'. It is assumed it has those things, and outside of that car it is called an engine with a transmission, drive train and wheels, the combination (without missing parts) being called a powertrain.

So I guess to be correct in the description an outboard engine strapped to a transmission, drive train and propellor would be to call it an outboard powertrain (all items in a combined package). We just call it what takes less time to spit out, I would guess, making it slang.

So next time you call an outboard an outboard motor, you can consider yourself a slang-talkin' hippie!

I see I should have went all PC in here, as is usual someone always comes along and picks the 1 sentence out a post that they think they cam stab you with and runs with it.

I intended, (and obviously should have stated) that "for the purpose of this thread" the outboard technically is a motor, as a whole. I didn't say my cars drivetrain had any bearing on this discussion, your interpretation, nor the outcome of the world series..
Propulsion system would be correct, both Politically, and Technically. But I didn't see anywhere in the discussion where that came up with any integrity.
Based on QC's statement, which I plagerized, an outboard IS a motor, as it's DRIVEN by an engine.

 

[Viking...]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

When the time comes to change the oil, do you buy engine oil or motor oil?

 

[QC]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

Oh great, now this guy comes along and tries to turn this into an oil thread . . . Shheeeeeessss, some people's kids . . .

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

According to the dictionary a motor is an electrical device converting electrical energy into motion. An engine is most all other devices described here. I was a mechanic for an entire career and thats how it was described.
Bill

100 percent correctusmaximus!

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Correct terminology .... "Motor" or "Engine"?

A couple on here have implied or stated that only electric motors are motors. Not all motors are electric motors, though. There are hydraulic motors that make things go, like skid steers. They are supplied their hydralic fluid by a pump that is driven off an engine! Nothing confusing there, right?!