Wozzit called?

[dennis]

That's a bipod as it only has two legs. Its probably a boil on the end of his tongue.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Camera tripods have adjustable legs. You may not always use them on a level surface and the 'head' adjustment is limited.

Wonder where the name came from. 'Tri' is obvious but pod is usually some form of container. Perhaps an old cooking pot? Or is it a corruption of the French 'pied'

[dennis]

That's a tripod all the sheer legs are the same length.

One where they are different lengths is known as an accident in waiting as some fule will attach the tackle to the longer leg and get the CG outside the base.

[Keith W]

Possibly from the same line as biped, quadruped etc. It may have started life as triped and changed over time with use as so many words do.

[McKevvy]

But the one in the photo of your link has three EQUAL leg lengths.

McK.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Hmm

Not quite sure why, when the legs are in compression!

[The Natural Philosopher]

OTOH I think on googling a bit a sheerlegs is actually two poles used as a crane with a rope holding the jib steady. the Gyn is in fact the three legged sort..

[Ian White]

You're right, it says so in Wikipedia (but we can soon change that :-)

[Andy Dingley]

A "Fecking Dodgy" ? You're using one pole as a gin (i.e. an unsupported pole) and you're doing this at an angle, not even vertically. You've had to put the equivalent of four poles together to make something with only the strength of one and no mobility. Gins are inherently dodgy (a slight sway sideways changes the loads from axial compressive to bending, then the whole thing collapses rapidly). This seems safer as it already starts out in the worst-case configuration, but it's not an efficient use of materials.

A tripod is three poles, with the weight carried on the junction of the three and thus shared between them.

Sheerlegs are a rigid frame in one plane, allowed to hinge at the base. They're usually constructed from two poles, as fixing the ends down is sufficient to hold the frame together. The advantage of sheerlegs is that they're a purely compressive load, not a bending load (as they're free to move), so they don't need clever carpenty and joints to make the frame.

There are also the two forms of timberyard crane, but I can't remember the precise names. Both use a fixed tripod, the jib for one is a single beam sheerleg from the ground, the other uses a rigid post & jib, supported at the top by the tripod. These need strong joints (the tripod carries a side-load) and the rigid post version is based on the millwright carpentrythat evolved in the late medieval period. The advantage is that they can slew a load sideways to position it, the first sort can even luff it inwards, and both can be dismantled and re- assembled to move around a yard, woodland or construction site. Names for these are probably in Sandels, Sprague du Camp or even Vitruvius, but those books are at home.

[Phil Jessop]

jib

[Dave Plowman (News)]

But those are animals etc

Perhaps if three legged animals were common. Apart from the odd dog, obviously.

[Kostas Kavoussanakis]

Not sure about your train of thought here. Are you wondering about an incarnation of the term that predates building equipment? Pythia was sat on a tripod.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (and what I know of my native tongue :-)) the "pod" bit comes from the Greek for foot.

On a slightly shakier ground, I am not sure we have a different word for leg in Greek.

HTH, Kostas

[Ian White]

Not forgetting all those well-thumbed copies of 'Practical Pyramids'.

[stan]

Wig-wam?

[ericp]

Where's that damn crucifix when you want it???

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd guessed it might mean that in some languages. But pod has meant a container in English for some time - seed pod etc.

[geoff]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Same root as podium IWHT

[OG]

'Sheer=steep' - really? I'd have thought the term 'a sheer drop' would follow the OED etymology where comes from a root meaning 'pure, clear, unbroken'.

The OED has the wozzit spelled 'shear-legs', probably from the way that the components are joined like scissors/shears.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Pure clear unbroken 90 degrees to the horizontal.

But they are not joined like that.

[OG]

Maybe, but the angle has (probably) nothing to do with the etymology.

I wouldn't know, I've never used a modern one. Nor an ancient one for that matter.