Industrial Springs Key Terms

Get basic vocabulary to understand the wide variety of industrial springs
By Lisa Maloney Industrial springs are often responsible for controlling movement in vehicle suspensions, for providing precise timing in watches, or for suspending heavy weights, as is sometimes done with extension springs. Use this as a basic vocabulary sheet to familiarize yourself with the various types of industrial springs and their key concepts.

Working turns

The number of working turns in an industrial spring are the number of times the spring wraps or coils around. To count how many working turns a spring has, trace it with your finger and, every time you complete a revolution around the spring, count one working turn.
Try:  BestBedGuide gives a definition of working turns. While the spring application is different, the concept is the same.

Hair springs

Hair springs are also known as spiral springs. They resemble nothing more than a closely wound spiral of metal. Their coils don't touch, but lay close together. Hair springs may be used in anything from industrial balances to small medical instruments.
Try:  Sandvik illustrates hair springs and describes their operating characteristics.

Coil springs

Coil compression springs are the most common type of spring. They're shaped as if wire had been wrapped around a cylinder, and are used in everything from automotive applications to mattresses and ball point pens.
Try:  Tooling University defines the common coil spring and the coil compression spring.

Torsion springs

The best example of a torsion spring can be found in a simple clothespin. Torsion springs resist twisting, torquing and winding forces and can be used to hold objects in place or to store and release angular energy.
Try:  Century Spring Corp. offers illustrations along with its explanation of how torsion springs work.

Wave springs

Both coil springs and wave springs are compression springs. They compress down into a smaller space, offering resistance as they go when pressure is applied. Wave springs look much the same as a coil spring, except instead of tracing an unbroken spiral of wire around an imaginary cylinder, wave springs more closely resemble mesh webbing wrapped around an imaginary cylinder shape.
Try:  Smalley Steel Ring Co. details the difference between wave springs and coil springs.

Extension springs

Extension springs are tightly coiled springs designed to resist stretching. When you stretch an extension spring, it attempts to retract back into the original coil. This type of spring is sometimes used to suspend loads.
Try:  ThomasNet explains how extension springs work, and details a drawbar spring, which is both an extension and compression spring at the same time.