The poncelet is an obsolete unit of power, once used in France and replaced by cheval vapeur (cv, metric horsepower

Horsepower

Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...

). The unit was named after Jean-Victor Poncelet

Jean-Victor Poncelet

Jean-Victor Poncelet was a French engineer and mathematician who served most notably as the commandant general of the École Polytechnique...

.

One poncelet is defined as the power required to raise a hundred-kilogram mass (quintal

Quintal

Quintal may refer to:* Quintal , a unit of mass* Quartal and quintal harmony in music* Quintal, Haute-Savoie, a commune of the Haute-Savoie département in France* Stéphane Quintal, NHL ice hockey player...

) at a velocity of one metre per second (100 kilogram-force

Kilogram-force

A kilogram-force , or kilopond , is a gravitational metric unit of force. It is equal to the magnitude of the force exerted by one kilogram of mass in a gravitational field...

·m/s).

1 p := 980.665 W

Watt

The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...

= 1⅓ cv (metric hp) = 1.315 hp (traditional horsepower)