A-frame

This article is about the basic structure. For the house style, see A-Frame house. For the equipment used in dog competitions, see dog agility. For the musical group, see A Frames (band). For the JavaScript framework, see A-Frame (VR).
A sawhorse, which is an A-frame structure.

An A-frame is a basic structure designed to bear a load in a lightweight economical manner. The simplest form of an A-frame is two similarly sized beams, arranged in a 45-degree or less angle, attached at the top. These materials are often wooden or steel beams attached at the top by rope, welding, gluing, or riveting.

Because they have only two "legs", A-frames are usually set up in rows so that they can have good stability. A saw horse is a good example of this structure. More complex structures will have a crossmember connecting the two materials in the middle to prevent the legs from bowing outwards under load, giving the structure the appearance of the capital letter A.[1]

Other structures that use A-frames

Media related to A-frame beam engines at Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. "A-frame" Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.