Michigan tripod

Michigan tripod

[′mich·ə·gən ′trī‚päd] (mining engineering) A support for a drilling outfit; consists of three debarked pine or fir timber poles about 25 feet (7.6 meters) long whose butt ends are about 12 inches (30 centimeters) in diameter; a sheave suspended from a clevis at the top of the tripod is aligned over the hoisting drum and the borehole; there is a minimum of 22 feet (6.7 meters) of headroom above the drill floor.