So sorry. I am still learning not very well how to use this site.
I have written a lengthy spiel on this subject, but now lost it !
I feel like Thomas Carlyle; he went out for a walk after completing his manuscript on the French Revolution and left his draft on the kitchen table. On returning home, he discovered his
house maid had used the draft to kindle a fire. Aaaarrghhhhhh . . . . . . .
So what I write now is a summary.
The vocabulary around '
clevis' is varied:
Clevis: pronounced in the UK as 'clev(er)iss'. Think of Elvis whose name lies as an anagram within the word.
Design similar to a shortened 2-pronged
tuning fork; round hole in the end of each prong; handle very short or non-existent and welded to or forming part of a bar being part of the structure at the rear of a towing
vehicle.
Linked to a 1-pronged '
clevis' at the front end of a non-powered
vehicle to be towed and bearing a load.
A stout metal pin holds the two parts together. The connection articulates: if the pin is horizontal, the assembly adjusts to the contours of the route; if the pin is vertical, it adjusts to the lateral changes in the route.
Pic1 shows a heavy duty
clevis.
Shackle: used to secure (eg) a yacht sail, or a prisoner.
Manacle: simliar.
Fetters: similar, being an assembly including attached chains.
(
Hand)cuffs: similar.
Bail/
Bale (US/UK): loop on the
butt end of a pocket knife, for securing a
cord then tied to user's belt to prevent loss of the knife. ('
Bail' (UK) also means money paid to allow a person charged with a crime to be released whilst awaiting appearance in Court). ('
Bail' (UK) also one of two short stubs of wood resting across the top of the three stumps in a game of cricket.)
Bale: Origin Old French '
roll of organic matter, tied tight'; now means a bundle of material, laid parallel and tied tight with
wire or twine. Commonly refers to harvested stalks of corrn tied or 'baled'. It has an archaic meaning 'evil' or 'bad'.
Bale is also a word referring to the SHAPE of some particular objects.
THIS is the meaning that interests me the most !
If you Google "
bale handle paint tin" you will find
BALE is used specifically for its shape, simultaneously with its design features being the same as those of the
shackle and the American '
bail'.
All these complications, inconsistencies, duplications, variations, subtleties and differences make this very boring subject unendingly fascinating.
Is anyone able to suggest the original use of the wooden
bale ?
I believe it dates back to early 20th/late19th century. Please help me; this is, I believe, a truly "classic" '
bale'.