One of the researchers finally spoke up, "assuming a spring can do what you say, there would indeed be many ways to utilize the ability to move a part, hold it in place, and release it with force whenever you want. However, we would need to get most of our inventor types to work diligently in creating products with a spring in mind. It will take a while for us to actually make products to sell, I don't know how explosively revolutionary it will be…it is definitely a good invention, but maybe you oversold it to us earlier."
Some of the other researchers started adding to the conversation. "I don't think so, having a spring would open up a lot of doors for products that I tried to create in the past, but had to scrap because it was impossible with current methods. I think I could make 3 middle tier products right off the bat."
"Yes, maybe we won't be able to create any top tier products, but the quantity of middle tier products we can create should make the spring a big boon for us."
I couldn't help smiling because I had them right where I wanted them. "Yes, I believe the invention of the spring itself will be revolutionary with time as we create new products and update current products with the functionality of a spring.
However the reason I said that this blueprint was revolutionary was because I have the idea for a top tier product that will most likely be used throughout the whole country."
Becca's Father finally spoke up in excitement, "you really have not just the spring concept, but also a product with the spring? It will really that wide spread?"
I shrugged my shoulders, "I'm not sure exactly how wide spread it will be, but Becca was the one who said it would be a revolutionary product."
His eyes started to sparkle. "Quickly, please explain it to us."
I raised my finger as I started to explain, "what you guys don't realize yet is that a spring can absorb a lot of force smoothly. It can compress or stretch its coils when a force is applied unlike rigid objects that relay all the impact when a large force is applied on it. This shock absorption is the key reason why it can be used for this new large scale product. The product is a coil spring suspension system that can be put on a carriage's axials to greatly reduce the bumpiness a passenger feels during a ride.
Right now, the only difference between a long distance and a short distance carriage is that the wood underneath is thicker and the seat cushions are nicer. However, the thicker wood is still not great at absorbing force. The smoothness of the ride of a coil spring suspension system carriage will be like night and day if we do it right. Bumps will become unnoticeable.
I also believe the suspension system can have ranges of quality from the best materials and most smooth to minimal materials and thickness of the springs to make something affordable so that we can put a coil spring suspension in every single carriage in the entire country."
The chatter between the researchers soon got very intense.
"We have been trying to create a better suspension system for years!"
"If we could really have a 100% market share it would be massive!"
"Can we really make various suspension models to have a part of every carriage market?"
"We need to start working on this immediately!"
Everyone was excited and happy.
Becca's Father said, "I have always hated taking the hour long carriage ride everyday to the shop. If everything you say is true, I would be happy to make a deal with you. However, now you need to explain how to make a spring."
I scratched my head in hesitation. "This is the part where I will need your help. Let's work together to figure this out and create a product that will help improve the lifes of many people!
The first thing I'm not really sure about is how you make the spring have the spiral shape. I am guessing you have to get a rod of steel and shape it with a hammer until it has the correct shape, but I don't know how you can do that without snapping the rod of steel in half. You all probably know better than me because you have experience with steel work…"
One of the researchers quickly waved his hand. "Oh, don't worry about getting the shape. That is actually very doable if you shape it while the steel is still molten hot. It would not be possible to do it with already formed steel like you said, but with molten steel, we have crafted shapes that are much more intricate than the spring you are showing."
My eyebrows raised at the new information. It really never occurred to me that they could make the spring by shaping it when smelting. "Oh I see! The other big concern I have is that I am not sure what the ideal material strength should be so that the spring will not crack while it is being compressed. It even might work the first couple of times, but it needs to last years of wear and tear to be safely placed in a carriage suspension system…"
A different researcher nodded his head. "We completely agree that the durability will need to be thoroughly tested so that we can put a warranty on how long we believe the spring suspension systems will last. We will do plenty of testing to check the durability of each suspension system model that we come up with. I already did research in the past for a potential suspension system and we decided on 100,000 occurrences of a thousand pound force would be the equivalent of normal use for a short distance carriage for 1 year. For our most expensive model, we will most likely test it for 10 years of use."
"That's good to hear, I'm not familiar with product development, so I just wanted to make sure the quality was checked appropriately. The last thing I will add about springs is that we found a theoretical mathematical law where F = -kx. Where F is the force on the spring, K is this variable called a spring constant, and x is the distance the spring is displaced. We call this law Nick's Law since it was found from my team's research.
The important thing for you all to know is that every spring has its own spring constant. The spring constant depends on many variance like the number of coils, the thickness of the steel rod used, or the type of material. I'm not sure how much each variable will affect the spring constant since we haven't made any real springs yet, but you all should do lots of experimenting on how all the potential variables affect the spring constant so you can make the most efficient springs.
Also it's good to know that because of Nick's Law, once you pick a specific spring for a model of suspension, the spring will always displace the exact same amount if the force is the same for all the springs you make in that model. It is a good number to give to your customers so they can have it for their own use."
Becca's Father replied, "it's good to know the results of the suspension will be the same for all springs we make for a specific model. Though it is a little pretentious of you to name it after yourself when your researchers were the ones doing all the work…"