There may not be life on Mars, but there are Vulcan Springs

With expeditions to Mars at the forefront of future space exploration, it’s exciting to look to the past with Vulcan Spring’s involvement with the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars, the Viking 1 Orbiter and Mars Lander. “Mars tugs at the human imagination like no other planet. With a force mightier than gravity, it…

Understanding the role of springs in the James Webb Space Telescope

Dramatic. Magnificent. Awe-inspiring. Three words to accurately describe the images of our universe being captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Having a small but critical role in the success and creation of the JWST with our constant force springs, Vulcan Spring and Manufacturing eagerly awaits each exciting update from NASA. “The Webb telescope is the…

The Driving Force Behind Automotive Interior Kinematics

It is no secret that the exterior and interior design of vehicles has gone through a multitude of modifications and transformations. As a species, we have seen it all – from the Flintstones Flintmobile/Cavemobile to now electric vehicles and self-driving cars. All jokes aside, what we do know and continue to learn about vehicles and…

A Spring Manufacturer’s Collaboration in a COVID-Specific Medical Application

Battling COVID-19 One Spring at a Time The news came as a shock to businesses of all sizes and specialties. Here in Pennsylvania, on Thursday, March 19th, 2020 – just hours after business closing time – operations were ordered to cease. For sure, a familiar story to many. We were left wondering how a business…

Design Study: Spool-Mounted Constant Force Springs Used for Dampened Linear Motion

  Design Principles  There are several critical principles that influence the design of a linear motion application when powered by a spool-mounted, dampened constant force spring. These principles support the robust and consistent performance of products in a variety of applications such as automotive and aircraft interiors, industrial machine components, and many other user-interface applications.   The sample assembly shown above will be referenced as an example of various design principles detailed below. This example assembly…

Robot Makers Rule

We are excited to have Molly Dugan, a high school student and president of team 1218, for a short time working at Vulcan Spring to complete her senior project.  As sponsors of the FIRST Robotics, we are thrilled to have the chance to work with her and asked her to give us her unique perspective…

Vulcan Spring’s Back to School Quiz

It is late August and the time of the year for pennant races in baseball, pre-season football and of course, the kids go back to school.  To celebrate, we thought we’d make this blog into a fun quiz with some multiple choice and true and false questions.  The quiz includes industrial and point of purchase…

8 Steps to a Constant Force Spring Design

Vulcan Spring has put together 8 steps to help you make some initial design calculations on your constant force spring. In addition to this article, our design guide is available for download online and will provide you with charts and more detailed information. Select Material – Most of the flat steel springs that Vulcan Spring produces…

Springs Used as a Stopping Mechanism

Too often we find that the springs we manufacture are mistakenly used as stopping mechanisms in a design.  This design flaw can occur in all types of springs including Constant Force Springs, Constant Torque Springs and Power Springs.

Counterbalancing With Constant Force Springs

Constant Force Springs are commonly used to provide a counterbalancing effect for a product. This blog examines different ways to integrate a counterbalance into a design, emphasizing the use of constant force springs in the manufacturing of a counterbalanced unit.