Horsepower is one of those terms we hear almost daily but don't really know what it means. If you are into cars, horsepower equals the ability to go faster. Horsepower in cars became a huge issue with the muscle cars of the 1960s and is often used as a statement of speed or strength.

The true definition of one horsepower (HP) is basically the force required to move 550 pounds one foot in one second. We often think of this as the strength of one horse. By that measure, as I grow older, my horsepower is decreasing. When I was younger, I had the horsepower of a corvette. Now I have the horsepower of a pogo stick.

Despite my inability to move 550 pounds - or win a tug of war with a pony, much less a full-sized horse - there is a company in Fort Mill that manufactures motors that could put a whole pasture of horses to shame. Baldor Electric makes big electric motors. Really big electric motors.

Baldor is headquartered in Fort Smith, Ark., but reaches from Fort Mill to California, and Mississippi to Wisconsin. They even have a plant in the United Kingdom. The Fort Mill location, tucked into the woods beside Knights Baseball Stadium, is one of seven motor manufacturing plants in the Baldor stable.

Baldor produces motors in the range of 1/50th horsepower (HP) to 1600 HP. But the Fort Mill plant works on the bigger sizes, up to 700 HP for a DC motor and 1600 HP for an AC motor. Fort Mill also makes tachometers (used to gauge the speed of motors) and line reactors (used to smooth power source spikes and drops giving motors an even, continuous level of power).

According to Dan Rollins, Fort Mill's plant manager, Baldor is probably the last motor manufacturer that designs, markets and produces motors in the United States. There are many other motor companies in the U.S., but they don't perform all three of these functions in this country. Baldor's motto says it all: "To be the best (as determined by our customers)."

Baldor came to this area in 1988 through buying a company in Charlotte. In search of a better location, the plant was moved to Fort Mill in 1992. They employ about 140 people with three shifts in Fort Mill. For two years running, in 1998 and 1999, Fortune Magazine rated Baldor one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For."

When you try to imagine a 1600 HP motor, think of this. It could pull a tractor-trailer rig, no matter how much braking or speed you used. If you placed your house on a large turntable, it could rotate the building without effort, even if your house was huge.

Baldor electric motors are used anywhere you need to move people, air or water. You will rarely see one of the motors unless you are behind the scenes, in locations where only service technicians and maintenance personnel generally roam. But you will see the effects in amazing places.

Baldor makes the motors used to power the trams and people-moving systems in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. Baldor motors move thousands of people between plane arrivals and departures on a daily basis.

ThyssenKrup elevators use Baldor electric motors to lift passengers between floors in high-rise buildings in many major metropolitan areas. Helping people change locations is one of Baldor's primary markets.

You may remember seeing the huge banners wave in the wind during the Atlanta Olympic games. Actually, the wind was not supplied by nature. Baldor motors created the breeze that made the banners flutter.

Do you ever wonder how the roof of the Seattle Superdome is moved? Motors made in Fort Mill open and close that incredible structure. And the massive fabric roof of the Syracuse Superdome is kept aloft with air supplied by Baldor motors.

The plant in Fort Mill was even selected by the Canadian navy to supply two 1600 HP motors for one of the navy's icebreaking ships. The motors were nicknamed "trolling motors" because they will be mounted on the bow and stern to finely position the ship in port. These motors weigh more than six tons apiece. Later this year, the Fort Mill plant will manufacture a motor that weighs a whopping 9 to 10 tons.

It is a safe statement to say that Baldor Electric is producing tons upon tons of big electric motors. And with all that horsepower, Fort Mill must be one of the strongest towns in the Southeast.

Bill Henson is a technical writer and marketing copywriter living in Rock Hill. You can reach him by e-mail at writer@cetlink.net.