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236 Making Things Move

Leaf Springs
A diving board is an example of a leaf spring that probably everyone has seen and
most have used. When you jump on the end of the board, the springiness of it
cushions your landing and moves down, and then helps push you back up and propel
you into the air. This same cushioning effect is used in leaf springs in mechanisms and
car and truck suspensions.

Spiral Springs
As mentioned in Chapter 5, spiral, or clock, springs are often used in wind-up toys to
store energy that is converted to motion when the winding stops. Another version of
a spiral spring, called a constant-force spring, is used in tape measures. These springs
constantly want to return to their rolled-up state, and will provide a consistent pull
force in that direction. You can find constant-force springs on McMaster.

References

1. Richard G. Budynas, J. Keith Nisbett, and Joseph Edward Shigley, Shigley’s
Mechanical Engineering Design (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008).
2. Dennis Clark, Building Robot Drive Trains, ed. Michael Owings (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2003).

3. U.S. Bureau of Naval Personnel, Basic Machines and How They Work (New
York: Dover Publications, 1971).
4. Lesley Flanigan, “Making Basic Gears: Tutorial,” ITP Mechanisms and Things
That Move Archives (http://itp.nyu.edu/~laf333/itp_blog/ mechanisms_and_
things_that_move/).