Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Pegleg

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A pegleg is a prosthesis, or artificial limb, fitted to the remaining stump of a human leg. Its use dates to antiquity.

Contents

By the late 19th century, prosthetics vendors would offer peglegs as cheaper alternatives to more intricate, lifelike artificial legs. Even as vendors touted advantages of more complicated prostheses over simple peglegs, according to a contemporary surgeon, many patients found a pegleg more comfortable for walking. According to medical reports, some amputees were able to adjust to the use of a pegleg so well that they could walk 10, or even 30, miles in one day.

Nowadays, wooden peglegs have been replaced by more modern materials, though some sports prostheses do have the same form.

Historical

  • François Leclerc (~1554), privateer
  • Cornelis Jol, (1597–1641), privateer and admiral of the Dutch West India Company
  • Peter Stuyvesant (1612–1672), Dutch director-general of New Amsterdam
  • Blas de Lezo (1687–1741), Spanish admiral
  • Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816), American politician
  • Józef Sowiński (1777–1831), Polish 19th century general
  • Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864), Serbian linguist
  • Albert Chmielowski (1845–1916), Polish artist, founder of the Albertine Brothers and Sisters, saint of the Catholic Church
  • Daniel Sullivan (~1871), Chicagoan
  • Thomas L. "Pegleg" Smith (1801–1866), American prospector
  • Robert McAlpin Williamson (1804? – December 22, 1859), nicknamed "Three-legged Willie", Republic of Texas Supreme Court Justice, state lawmaker, and Texas Ranger
  • Clayton (Peg Leg) Bates (1907–1998), dancer
  • Peg Leg Sam (Arthur Jackson) (1911–1977) American blues musician
  • Dennis Collins, British sailor

    • Railroads

  • Bradford and Foster Brook Railway is also known as the "Peg Leg" from its wooden support piles.
  • Fulton Chain Railroad is also known as the "Peg Leg" from its wooden rails.

    • References

    Pegleg Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA