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Maybe they should have called the 'original' supercharger a "mechanical air compressor" instead of supercharger since the connection between the term and the de

• sliverstorm 14y ago
  Maybe they had more reason to call it a supercharger than you think. Supporting evidence- A turbocharger, or turbo (colloquialism), from the Greek "τύρβη" (mixing/spinning) Turbochargers were originally known as a turbosuperchargers when all forced induction devices were classified as superchargers -- Wikipedia In other words, the turbocharger was actually the origin of the concept of "turbo" meaning boosted speed/power. I'm still looking for the origin of the "super" part.
  • mseebach2 14y ago
    "Super" means that the subject is "above" as in superstructure, superscript and superintendent. A supercharger is then a charger that's above (presumably in performance) regular chargers. "To charge" means "to load [a carriage]", "A charge" means "a [carriage] load" -- so while the metaphor is overloaded, it actually seems to applies better to charging a battery than to forcing air into a combustion engine.
    • sliverstorm 14y ago
      If we go with your interpretation of "above", it actually makes perfect sense- the intake charge is "above" ambient pressure.
• brc 14y ago
  'air charge' is a specific term meaning the air entering the combustion chamber. So 'supercharge' is a term for 'bigger air charge'. However, when you deconstruct it, it is a bit silly. I dislike the addition of 'super' to things anyway, it's a very lazy way of coining a term. Maybe we should all just adopt Kompressor like the Germans. And leave supercharge, supercharger and supercharged for the marketing folk to devalue to oblivion. Edit : I just thought of a much better name. Who wouldn't want to connect up their Tesla to the ... wait for it..: Warpcharger Yeah, Warpcharger stations. Much cooler, and probably able to be trademarked as well.
  • TeMPOraL 14y ago
    > Warpcharger Nope, we'll need that after SpaceX develops FTL drives.