Fwd: "Superchargers" - another lost in space

[QSHIPQ@aol.com]

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Forwarded message:
Subj:    Re: "Superchargers"
Date:    97-01-02 10:12:13 EST
From:    QSHIPQ
To:      audidudi@delphi.com
CC:      quattro@coimbra.ans.net

In a message dated 97-01-02 08:24:50 EST, you write:

<< >But a supercharger is not a turbocharger.  And I think the difference
will 
 >become more relevant now that some cars are to be offered with both.
 
 Wrong ... I hate to be pedantic but "supercharger" is the generic
 engineering term for any forced-induction system, of which turbocharging is
 but one type. 
 
  ___ >>
Jeff is technically right on here....  Supercharging really refers to
anything you are doing TO the air to create pressure above that which the
pistons would draw in a induction system, now more commonly referred to as a
Charge-air or Forced Induction system....  In 1896 the "Supercharger" was
invented, about 1925 the Turbocharger was invented....  Referred then as the
Mechanical Supercharger and the Turbine Supercharger....  In the 80's the
marketing guys (<here's where the hot air starts) really differentiated the
two into the "Supercharger" and the "Turbocharger" as two distinct entities,
but just like Kleenex (blow pun intended), both are "superchargers".....
 Principles of the means to the end are different, but the end is the
"supercharging" of air into an induction system....  I don't buy the now
common S vs T as a rule, cuz the Comprex Pressure Wave Supercharger, uses
exhaust gasses too, but does use a belt drive to keep the rotor spinning at a
proportional engine speed....  Ram Air is technically supercharging as well,
with no mechanical association....

My Websters:
"Supercharger - An apperatus consisting of a pump, compressor, or blower used
to increase the volume of air over and above that which would normally be
drawn into an internal combustin engine by the action of it's pistons:
designed to increase the power output of the engine." ---- Pretty
generic.....

My .02 agin......
"Always full of hot air - it's a heat soak prollum"

Scott