Talk:Spring (device)

Untitled
This article needs a major rewrite. (Springs are not just toys...) Jorge Stolfi 12:40, 9 Apr 2004 (UTC)


 * Go on then! - 82.33.96.38 13:28, 14 May 2004 (UTC)


 * Wow, I agree, this really needs to be rewritten. And I'm sorry, but I can't do that.222.152.164.233 05:38, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 19 January 2021 and 16 April 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Awsamb1.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 10:04, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

can you help me?
does anyone know of a way to set up springs so that they rotate a verticle pole on a axle? \

Proposals for improvement
This article would be much better if it had photos of the various spring types. The descriptions given here leave the novice completely confused.

I am seriously thinking of rewriting some sections from the point of view of a retired machine designer who has experience at selecting and specifying springs of all types. Before doing this I have to take time to learn how to work with wikipedia.


 * Don't worry too much about learning to use Wikipedia; as I'm sure you know, one of the best ways to learn how to do something is to simply do it! Wikipedia has a motto: be bold! The Wikipedia FAQ has lots of helpful info as well. And if you screw up a little, there are folks watching this page who can help out. (Remember, all the old versions of a page are saved and easily accessible via the page "History" so you can't do any permanent harm.)


 * By the way, it's usual to sign posts to "Talk" pages by typing ~ . This adds your username in a handy format and also includes a timestamp of when you made the edit.


 * Atlant 11:46, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the encouraging words and the tip on signing my posts. I have a lot of information that I would like to publish on the subject of selecting and applying mechanical components. Now if I could only find that damned spell checker. ~.

Apparently my I did not succeed at signing the above paragraph. I was logged in as "Renard". What did I do wrong? ~.


 * Don't use the nowiki tags! I included them just so that the four tildes that I put there to show to you wouldn't automagically be turned into my signature. Just type four tildes with nothing special around them.


 * Atlant 19:25, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

OK let's try this again. Renard 21:54, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * Bingo!


 * Atlant 00:04, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * Just to echo Atlant's comment that you don't have to worry too much about formatting and learning wiki syntax before editing an article. If you have useful material to add, you can just hit the edit button on the article page and start typing and save the result. One of the marvels of Wikipedia, is that before long a couple of other editors will pop out of the woodwork and fix up the formatting, typos, links etc. Its almost worth doing just to watch it happen. :) -- Solipsist 05:52, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * Just to re-echo Atlant's comment, Wikipedia only works well when it's fun. This is fun. See User:Andrewa/creed. Andrewa 05:59, 9 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Its almost worth doing just to watch it happen.


 * Oho! So you're the wiseguy that does that! :-) (Actually, there are several typos that I routinely make, and no matter how many times I Show preview, I can't be sure of catching them all so I really, really appreciate the fact that someone always saves my bacon on them. What Solipsist said is definitely true!)


 * Atlant 11:14, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * I have tried several times to get started without success. It looks like I am going to need some help.  I understand that this is not the place for general questions.  Where should I go to ask some questions re starting a new page, and uploading photos? Renard 21:46, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * A good place to ask general How-to questions is at the Help desk. The starting point for instructions on uploading images is at Uploading images. -- Solipsist 08:07, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Excuse my ignorance but I am new at Wikipedia. I would love to add info to this as spring making has been my life for the last 40 years. It needs to have the spring makers input to add some clarity and also some much missed info. Do I just do it and see what happens? --Burrfree (talk) 04:49, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

I am not a springmaker, I was just looking for info on a spring that I need made and wanting to understand the terminology used. So, please take these comments and being from a semi-satisfied reader, not a potential contributor!

This article, whilst pretty comprehensive, fails newbies like me in the following respects:

1) It does not provide very much in the way of basic terminology. One glaring example - the term "Free Length" is used but not explained and that parameter is one you definitely need to understand when shopping for springs!

2) It needs more and better examples of where and how springs are used. A picture of a spring doesn't convey a lot to the mind of the uninitiated. Having taken apart endless consumer electronics items, I know they often use several springs for various purposes. I would suggest that it would be very useful and easy to relate to, for readers new to this field, to see how many springs there are in something like a DVD player or a PC. Also, it would be handy to show springs in use in other contexts such as inside switches, power tools, cars etc etc.

3) The article might perhaps have a section on "alternatives" to springs -newer materials such as elasticated plastics are - in my understanding - doing some of the jobs that traditionally metal springs have done. It might be good to give a flavour of how that has come about and the pros and cons of each approach. Yes, the article does touch on this, but I think there must be better examples.

The article is very good as it stands, but I think it is like a tower without steps to get up to it. It provides high level information, without easing the novice into the subject first. Maybe there is scope for multiple articles, one for newbies, one for advanced and one for applications of springs? After all, it is a surprisingly important engineering subject.

Alan T — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.157.141.92 (talk) 07:37, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

The Theory section is wrong. In a coiled spring, the wire is subject to torsion, not extension. So the constant in the equation should be the shear modulus, not Young's Modulus.Haruspicator (talk) 00:07, 6 March 2016 (UTC)

Suggested Deletion

 * I think that the entire paragraph titled "Custom Fabrication of Springs" should be eliminated. First, it is NOT easy to fabricate springs as the author states.  To simply wrap some music wire around a bolt by hand would not work very well.  The coil spacing would be irregular, and the spring rate would not be consistent.  In the case of extension springs (the type where the coils are wound adjacent to one another) you would have to twist the music wire while wrapping it on the mandrel in order to generate a pre-load.  This is not feasible to do by hand. Renard 21:58, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Plagiarism by another site?
I was doing a search on google and I noticed that this site:  appears to have copied the contents of this article without any mention of wikipedia in an attempt to get people to click on the ads that surround the page. I'm not sure what to do about this, so I'm posting it here and hoping a more experienced user can inform the right people. Oh and there seems to be a claim in the bottom left corner that this is their content: “2000-2005 guideofcasinos.com” --Canageek 21:49, 28 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Good catch!


 * It's been listed for at least a month at Mirrors and Forks with its non-compliance noted. Hopefully the person who listed it also sent a standard GFDL violation letter. It should also be listed at GFDL Compliance but doesn't seem to be yet. That's about all we can do, other than sticking pins into a wax model of their server. Andrewa 05:45, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Captions
I'm not convinced that this edit is an improvement at all. Designed to be used for isn't accurate IMO. We could say designed to be used under or designed to be used in, but I don't see what was wrong with the original designed for. Andrewa 08:46, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

In that no-one speaks, I've gone back to designed for. This is accurate, and IMO perfectly good English. I've left the or coil although I think that would be better placed in the article rather than in the caption. Andrewa 15:48, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Merge in of Coil spring
I think Coil spring should remain separate because there are dozens of links to it, mainly from car articles, which are only concerned with this type of spring. It could then be further expanded to cover its particular properties and characteristics. Indeed Torsion spring, Leaf spring, and cantilever spring each have their own articles. Perhaps the piece about coil springs in 'Spring (device)' should be reduced a bit, and rely on the link to 'coil spring'. -De Facto 15:20, 26 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Flags removed after a month with no support. -De Facto 20:40, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Now ten years have passed since the last merger proposal and no one has expanded the coil spring article "to cover its particular properties and characteristics". Hence I think it should be merged here. Åkebråke (talk) 20:23, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

Oppose I see no real advantage in doing so. Greglocock (talk) 23:19, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

Oppose There are many sorts of spring and much to write about them. FullMetalJackalope (talk) 22:48, 27 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Closing merge proposal, given consensus not to merge. Klbrain (talk) 12:24, 29 December 2017 (UTC)

Pretensioned Springs
I understand that often, some tension coil springs are pretensioned (pre-tensioned?). I seem to remember from school that this messed up my Hookes law experiment, as the equilibrium length was actually shorter than the entire spring length. Please can someone elaborate on pretensioned springs. Does anyone know how they are made, compared to non pretensioned ones. Does this make any sense? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ajoiner (talk • contribs).


 * It seems to me that most tension coil springs are at least slightly "pre-tensioned" so that the coils are pressed against each other in the resting state. I assume this is an artifact of the specific shape given to the wire as it is bent to make the spring form. That is, as the spring-forming machine takes the wire and gives it the bend that it needs to form the coil, the wire is also given a slight bend that biases it to press against its neighbor. I'd imagine the amount of pre-load is, in that way, an arbitrary choice made by the spring designer.


 * Atlant 12:28, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Atlant, your idea is correct. Extension (or "tension") springs - the kind you pull apart to get them to work - are almost always wound with what's called initial tension. Initial tension is basically the amount of force that's needed in order to just barely break the coils apart. In a spring such as a Slinky, that's not much. In a spring such as you find in garage door mechanisms, the initial tension is huge.

Initial tension can be wound into a spring coil either by hand - on a lathe or other wining machine - or as part of the settings on an automated coiler.

22:03, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

History
When were springs invented? Industrial revolution? Middle ages? Just curious. Andyana 15:00, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

What causes 'tired' clock mainsprings?
Was wondering what causes the well known phenomonon of clock and watch mainsprings losing some of their torque and becoming 'tired' or 'set' after decades of use? Talk:Creep (deformation) says it's not creep. Is it metal fatigue? I'm editing Mainspring and can't find any information on this failure mode. Thanks -- Chetvorno TALK 02:02, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

energy in springs?
I was dissapointed. There's no mention of the energy stored in springs!

Anybody have any material about energy in srpings vs batteries? I remember reading that there are hopes to develop some more compact springs, which could be used for storage, or that since they do not ware out, large springs could be used in static locations. What determines the K of the spring? How is weight involved? Is a material's weight a factor? Are metal springs any stronger than plastic ones? Can plastic springs be "recharged"? Are tension springs any stronger than compressed springs? Are there ways of measuring performance between springs like air/gas springs vs solid springs? Here's the glove, anybody wanna pick it up? Pashute (talk) 00:05, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Bending a helical Spring
What happens if we bend a helical spring? How can we approximate the force or the torque it exerts to bend back?--Reza M. Namin (talk) 13:18, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Spring Volume
I'm working an article about Gogu Constantinescu yheory of sonics there i've found the below formula can someone help me with some reference? For a spring wire of circular section:
 * $$B=\frac{2G}{\sigma^2} Ff$$

Where
 * B is the volume of spring in cubic centimeters

and
 * σ the allowable stress of metal in kilogrames per square centimeters.
 * G the coeficient of transverse elasticity of the metal.

CristianChirita (talk)

Spring stores
where can you buy springs at?--Super fuzz bros (talk) 01:39, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

Domed spring discs in switches
In the "Types" section, could we add the ubiquitous little domed spring contact disc that is used in myriad electronic keypad-type switches. Does anyone know if this type has a particular name ? Darkman101 (talk) 14:26, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

Coil spring of Roman Period.
There is a spiral spring of the Roman period in showcases of Roman Archaeology Museum of Altino near Venice, along with a key lock. It is shown together with other findings of the 1 century CE. Finding code AL8654.

--Andriolo (talk) 20:46, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Recent edits
The recent edits by the students from Pune are uncited and it looks like they might have been copied from somewhere (possible copyvio). If this isn't clarified it'll probably have to be deleted. DexDor (talk) 06:49, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

Progressive spring
I can't find any mention of progressive springs, as opposed to linear rate springs. Should that be added here or a new Progressive spring article be written? --Dennis Bratland (talk) 22:42, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Partition of stored spring energy
If energy is stored in a spring between a mass unit 1 and a mass unit 2 (or some other mass), what is the formula for the partitioning of the restored energy to the 2 different masses?WFPM (talk) 16:28, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Spring rating
In the introduction, the rate or spring constant is explained. 'Spring rate' already has a redirect to the article, however 'spring rating' does not.

Can I suggest a redirect to Spring_(device) from Spring rating? wcrosbie (talk), Melbourne, Australia 03:46, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

Zero Length Springs
I think that the author tried their best to put the description into words but I would like to add that if a conical coil spring was made as zero length that it would want to invert (and you could perhaps use an inverted conical spring as a zero length spring). That would add half a twist - this twisting effect could be called "torsion" as well. One could also add twists in the metal of normal springs by inverting the spring a few times (in the same direction) which should improve the spring’s ability to retract (or expand). Which way to invert the spring will likely depend on the hand it has been wound on (clockwise or anticlockwise) and if it is for pulling or pushing. Inverting too many times could overcome the spring’s ability to maintain a curve and it could attempt to flick back (especially if a pulling spring is caused to expand) else it could just deform. Springs with closer turns on the ends might be a zero length spring, because it may work to hold the tension better. Charlieb000 (talk) 01:37, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

coiled springs from mauryan period
piprahwa stupa relics include some springs as well dated to ashokan era.

object 4 and 6 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.135.118.112 (talk) 21:14, 2 January 2019 (UTC)

Constant spring
The text about 'constant spring' seems to originate from the indicated website. To me the website shows rather a construction, than a special type of spring.Madyno (talk) 22:50, 7 January 2019 (UTC)

Adding a section about energy fluctuations and a section about period and frequency
I'm going to be adding 2 sections to this page. One will deal with energy conversions in the spring mass system. The other will deal with period and frequency. These transfers come from by sandbox page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Awsamb1/Spring_(device)). --Awsamb1 (talk) 22:00, 19 April 2021 (UTC)

India Education Program course assignment
This article was the subject of an educational assignment supported by Wikipedia Ambassadors through the India Education Program.

The above message was substituted from by PrimeBOT (talk) on 19:55, 1 February 2023 (UTC)