to facilitate the automatic opening thereof. If the legs of the ""251 tripod were to extend vertically adjacent the center post when in the closed position, the downward pressure applied when the tripod is placed on a support surface will not be directed outwardly to automatically open the support legs.
The tripod of the present invention improves upon the ""251 patent by offsetting the pivotal attachment of the coupling links to the support legs to bias the legs outwardly while allowing the support legs to pivot to a vertical position parallel and adjacent to the center post when in the closed position. By allowing the support legs to close to a vertical position, the tripod of the present invention requires less space than the ""251 tripod to store andtransport.
Another problem that photographers and videographers encounter when using various video equipment on a tripod is that the video equipment such as video cameras and lights require an external battery to operate for extended periods of time. Conventionally, the user of the video equipment would carry the battery around his or her shoulder with an electrical cord extending from the battery to the video equipment mounted on the tripod. Often the user will forget that the user is connected to the tripod by the electrical cord and will step away from the tripod pulling the tripod over and possibly damaging the expensive video equipment mounted thereon. Another method used to connect the battery to the video equipment is to strap the battery directly to the tripod using, for