On The Development History Of Coil Springs

A coil spring is just an accumulator that has the function of storing energy, but it cannot slowly release energy. To achieve this function, it should rely on a "spring+large transmission ratio mechanism", which is commonly seen in mechanical watches. Coil springs have been used for a long time, and ancient bows and crossbows are two broad types of Coil springs.

The inventor of Coil springs should strictly be British scientist Robert Hooke. Although spiral compression springs had already appeared and been put into use at that time, Hooke proposed the "Hooke's Law" - the elongation of a spring is proportional to the magnitude of the force it is subjected to. It is based on this principle that in 1776, a spring scale using spiral compression springs was introduced.

Not long after, Hooke himself invented a spring specifically designed for clocks and watches based on this principle. The spring that conforms to the "Hooke's Law" is the true spring. The disc spring was invented by the French man Belleville and is a washer type spring with a truncated conical cross-section made of metal plate or forged billet. After the emergence of modern industry, in addition to dished springs, new types of springs such as Gas Spring, rubber spring, scroll spring, mold spring, stainless steel spring, air spring, memory alloy spring and so on also appeared.