Interesting Finds & Heads-Ups

[mf68]

This reminded me of my analysis of the two-stage spring in the conversation about springs we had a couple of weeks ago:

@mf68

However, this is not counting with the buckling effect, so nicely described by @flashquark above. The upper part of a two-stage spring may experience some support from the stem and buckle differently than the lower part that is perhaps more free to buckle. This gives rise to interesting effects not seen in run-of-the-mill mechanical engineering applications. In this context, two-stage springs make sense, but three-stage probably not.