Spring technology for damping is relatively old. Stagecoaches had leaf springs, early trains had large, crude, coil-spring buffers (to absorb shocks when cars bumped together) and early automobiles ...

Here’s the rub with friction — scientists don’t really know how it works. Although humans have been harnessing its power since rubbing two sticks together to build the first fire, the physics of ...

Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www ...

Friction springs consist of radial rings that deform briefly and convert impact energy into frictional heat. Design them into your next design for damping. Carl Fenstermacher, President, Ringfeder ...