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This time of year, we want to give thanks to all our employees, our customers and our partners from all across the country. We are grateful for everything that you all have done for us, and we hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season.

We also want to give thanks to the tiny little product that has made our company what it is today: we’re talking, of course, about the mechanical spring.

Today we are going to take a short trip into the past to discover the origin of springs and how they came to be what they are today.

When Was the First Spring Created?

While coiled springs didn’t appear until the 15th century – they were typically used in door locks – non-coiled springs have been used throughout history. Everything from bows to tweezers in the bronze age used the technology.

Getting Hooked

Every student of physics as well as any engineer who works with springs will be able to tell you all about the properties and effects of Hooke’s Law, which states that the force a spring exerts is linearly proportional to its extension (i.e. the distance from its length at equilibrium).

In 1676, the British Physicist, Robert Hooke discovered the law, which is a mathematical consequence that states a rod’s potential energy is at its lowest point when it has a relaxed length.

How Spring Have Evolved

Over the years, many different types of springs (compression, extension, torsion) as well as many different classifications (flat, coiled serpentine, etc.) have been developed. They are used in a huge variety of products including:

  • Door hinges
  • Vehicle suspensions
  • Ratchets
  • Mouse traps
  • CNC machines
  • Pens
  • Jewelry
  • Locks
  • Firearms
  • Watches
  • Manufacturing machinery

The List Can Go On

We can sit here all day and name everything in our world that benefits from springs, but we’d rather just take this opportunity to once again thank all of our customers, employees, partners, family and friends for making 2016 such a great year.

Thanks again and have a great holiday season!