jury-rigging
May 20, 2010 22:30:27 GMT
Post by bixaorellana on May 20, 2010 22:30:27 GMT
In conversation with Charlie today, I commented that we spend an inordinate amount of time figuring out how to fix stuff that had been improperly made to begin with, i.e., jury rigging the jury rigged.
This comment was prompted by the fact that I spent a large part of today trying to clean out my rain catchment system. It's a bunch of pvc pipes coming down from an inadequate tube in the roof gutter. Were you to see it, you'd probably say, "Oh -- you keep a hamster on the roof?"
The last bit of pipe that goes into the cistern is cemented in. Of course this is where any debris winds up. Charlie said I needed to figure out a filter further up the system, something I just accomplished with a funnel and a cut-down plastic sieve. We shall see.
So ~~ anyone else have tales of creative low-tech engineering to share? Or perhaps you'd like to tap into the creative juices here for help in jury rigging your own home.
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Jury rig
Jury rigging refers to makeshift repairs or temporary contrivances, made with only the tools and materials that happen to be on hand. Originally a nautical term, on sailing ships a jury rig is a replacement mast and yards improvised in case of damage or loss of the original mast.
Etymology: The phrase "jury rigged" has been in use since at least 1788. However, the adjectival use of "jury" in the sense of makeshift or temporary dates from at least 1616, when it appeared in John Smith's A Description of New England. It appeared again, in a similar passage, in Smith's more extensive The General History of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles published in 1624.
There are several theories about the origin of this usage of "jury":
* From the Latin adjutare ("to aid") via Old French ajurie ("help or relief").[4]
* "Jury-mast" derived from "injury-mast", though The Oxford English Dictionary indicates no evidence has been found to support this theory.[1]
* From the French du jour ("of the day"), and thus temporary
source: encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/jury+rig
This comment was prompted by the fact that I spent a large part of today trying to clean out my rain catchment system. It's a bunch of pvc pipes coming down from an inadequate tube in the roof gutter. Were you to see it, you'd probably say, "Oh -- you keep a hamster on the roof?"
The last bit of pipe that goes into the cistern is cemented in. Of course this is where any debris winds up. Charlie said I needed to figure out a filter further up the system, something I just accomplished with a funnel and a cut-down plastic sieve. We shall see.
So ~~ anyone else have tales of creative low-tech engineering to share? Or perhaps you'd like to tap into the creative juices here for help in jury rigging your own home.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jury rig
Jury rigging refers to makeshift repairs or temporary contrivances, made with only the tools and materials that happen to be on hand. Originally a nautical term, on sailing ships a jury rig is a replacement mast and yards improvised in case of damage or loss of the original mast.
Etymology: The phrase "jury rigged" has been in use since at least 1788. However, the adjectival use of "jury" in the sense of makeshift or temporary dates from at least 1616, when it appeared in John Smith's A Description of New England. It appeared again, in a similar passage, in Smith's more extensive The General History of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles published in 1624.
There are several theories about the origin of this usage of "jury":
* From the Latin adjutare ("to aid") via Old French ajurie ("help or relief").[4]
* "Jury-mast" derived from "injury-mast", though The Oxford English Dictionary indicates no evidence has been found to support this theory.[1]
* From the French du jour ("of the day"), and thus temporary
source: encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/jury+rig
