Spring (device)

“ Unclouded the spring sky certainly is not, rather it is covered with clouds of all sorts, even in the finest weather with bedded clouds and wool-packs, which stretch more or less thickly over the whole dome of heaven, and around the horizon appear to touch the ground. When these clouds thicken the heavens darken, and only here and there does the sunlight pierce the curtain and show the steppes warmed by the first breath of spring, and flushed with inconceivable wealth of colour. ”

“ If it were not for the air surrounding it and other frictional losses, the spring would vibrate for a very long time as the stored up energy and the energy of motion would practically offset each other and so the energy would not be used up. But as the spring beats the air the latter is sent out in impulses and the conversion of the vibrations of the spring into waves in the air soon uses up the energy you have imparted to it and it comes to rest. ”

“ We have returned, at least in an astronomical sense, to the budding, happy, radiant spring; the sun, in its apparent course, crosses the equinoctial line; the duration of the day, transiently equal to that of the night, will augment in proportion as the great luminary describes above our horizon greater and yet greater arcs of a circle. Yet this is not the budding, happy, radiant spring of the poets. No, if it be spring according to the law of universal gravitation, it is winter still by the law of life. ”

“ Oh, yes, the gush of spring is strong enough to toss the globe of earth like a ball on a water-jet dancing sportfully; as you see a tiny celluloid ball tossing on a squint of water for men to shoot at, penny-a-time, in a booth at a fair. The gush of spring is strong enough to play with the globe of earth like a ball on a fountain ”

“ Springs occupy much less room than weights, and are indispensable for portable timepieces. The employment of them [Pg 414] caused trouble to early experimenters on account of the decrease in power which necessarily accompanies the uncoiling of a wound-up spring. ”

“ A spring is always old and always new. It is ever in movement, yet constant, seldom greater and seldom less, in the case of most natural upspringing waters, syphoned from the deep cisterns of earth. Absolutely material, with no mystery in its origin, it impresses the fancy as a thing unaccountable, like the source of life embodied, something self-engendered. ”

“ An intermittent spring is shallow; it has no deep root, and is like an inconstant friend. But a perennial spring, one whose ways are appointed, whose foundation is established, what a profound and beautiful symbol! In fact, there is no more large and universal symbol in nature than the spring, if there is any other capable of such wide and various applications. ”

“ This cylinder thus storied over is set upon a large disc with mouldings and bevelled slope, upon which the Seasons are seated, in varied attitudes, and weaving a garland of the flowers and fruits which the earth produces during the year. Spring is peacefully sitting, lightly draped, crowned with daisies, and holding her head somewhat elevated, to express the reawakening of Nature. Summer has her torso nude, is crowned with ears of corn, and is more robust of form than the others. ”

“ It is not the natural wont of spring to shine forth in its radiant beauty all at once, but there come as preludes of spring the sunbeam gently warming earth’s frozen surface, and the bud half hidden beneath the clod, and breezes blowing over the earth, so that the fertilizing and generative power of the air penetrates deeply into it. ”

“ Thoreau was right in saying that no man was ever alert enough to behold the first manifestation of spring. Sometimes as we walk toward the mossy bank in the glen where the fresh green leaves of the haircap mosses were last year's first signs of vernal verdure, the bluebird calls to us from the torch-like top of the smooth sumac and shyly tells us that, if we please, spring is here. ”

“ As the sun moves in each season through the same angular distance, a right angle, and as the spring and summer make together more than half the year, and the spring is longer than the summer, it follows that the sun must, on the whole, be moving more slowly during the spring than in any other season, and that it must therefore pass through the apogee in the spring. ”

“ SPRING BALANCE. An instrument used to determine the weight of a body by the extension or compression of a spring. In the usual form of spring balance a spring of coiled wire is contained in a metal case and incloses a central rod to which is attached at one end a hook, and at the other a projection which extends through a slit in the case and moves over a graduated scale. The central rod can also be connected by means of a rack and toothed wheel with an axle on which is fastened a pointer moving over a circular scale or dial. ”

“ It was a night of early spring,
The winter-sleep was scarcely broken;
Around us shadows and the wind
Listened for what was never spoken.
Though half a score of years are gone,
Spring comes as sharply now as then—
But if we had it all to do
It would be done the same again.
It was a spring that never came,
But we have lived enough to know
What we have never had, remains;
It is the things we have that go. ”

“ XI SPRING, SPRING! Bytuene Mershe ant Averil, when spray beginneth to spring! When shaws be sheene and swards full fayre, and leaves both large and longe! When the hounds of spring are on winter’s traces, in the spring time, the only pretty ring time, when the birds do sing, hey-ding-a-ding ding, cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-wee, ta-witta-woo! And so on and so on and soon. See almost any poet between the Bronze Age and 1850. ”

“ In spring the sun not only exerts an influence through the increased temperature of the air and earth, but its heat passes through ice a foot or more thick, and is reflected from the bottom in shallow water, and so also warms the water and melts the under side of the ice, at the same time that it is melting it more directly above, making it uneven, and causing the air bubbles which it contains to extend themselves upward and downward until it is completely honeycombed, and at last disappears suddenly in a single spring rain. ”

“ Where after a great deal of guessing what it might be, when they had discovered the invention of the Spring, some said, that a good many Fire-Works should be fastened to it, because their Force carrying them up on high, and the Machine playing its large Wings, no Body but would take it for a Fiery Dragon. ”

“ So with the seasons with all that they mean in the life of the world; spring never fails to follow winter. Little things happen that make spring "late," as we say; but - 262 - spring itself never fails to come and always in its right place in the procession of the year. All this because the earth stays in its orbit and spins on its axis. Watches break their mainsprings, clocks run down. ”

“ It is a place of fine weather, and this is a book of fine weather, a book written in Spring. I will not remember the winter and the rain. It was the Spring that brought Sarah Brown to Mitten Island, and the Spring that first showed her magic. It was the Spring that awoke her on her first morning in the House of Living Alone. ”

“ The winding and unwinding of the spring is alternating and almost instantaneous, as the balance oscillates from one extreme to the other. For observation of the spring when it is wound or unwound it is necessary to stop the balance with the finger or camel's hair brush as it reaches its extreme arc of motion, then hold it stationary for a few seconds while the space between the coils is being examined. ”

“ "Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like? You don't see it in rooms if you are ill."
"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine, and things pushing up and working under the earth," said Mary. ”

“ The strength of a perfectly tempered spring will always remain the same, whether in winter or summer, never losing its elasticity. The best of tempering, however, is useless in a spring badly formed or clumsily tapered. ”

“ My theory is that the rapid rotation and progression has the effect of compressing the air, so as to act like a spring, and, when the strength of spring has overcome the impressing force, then the weapon is impelled in a new direction compounded of several forces. ”

“ The spring is entirely concealed within the material of the glove, and may be secured to the latter in any suitable manner; but I prefer to simply stitch it in place, as indicated by the dotted lines, x, in Fig. 1. The spring may also be variously shaped; but I prefer to construct it of a single piece of wire, bent to the form shown, as I have ascertained, by experiment, that a spring of this form is most suitable for the purpose, while it possesses the further advantage of presenting no sharp or abrupt ends, which would be apt to force their way through the material of the glove. ”

“ When spring came, after that hard winter, one could not get enough of the nimble air. Every morning I wakened with a fresh consciousness that winter was over. There were none of the signs of spring for which I used to watch in Virginia, no budding woods or blooming gardens. There was only—spring itself; the throb of it, the light restlessness, the vital essence of it everywhere: in the sky, in the swift clouds, in the pale sunshine, and in the warm, high wind—rising suddenly, sinking suddenly, impulsive and playful like a big puppy that pawed you and then lay down to be petted. ”

“ Spring, in a general acceptation, an elastic body; a body which when bent, or distorted, has the power of restoring itself to its former state. It is in general a piece of tempered metal, which by means of its elastic force, is useful in several machines to give them motion. In a gun lock the springs are distinguished by various appellations according to their several uses, viz. ”

“ At one moment the spring is moving violently, and at the next it is bent to its utmost extent; and these states succeed each other. The store of energy in the vibrating spring is, however, gradually frittered away, partly because the continual bending of the steel heats it, and this heat dissipates some of the energy; but also because the spring, if vibrating quickly enough, imparts its energy to the surrounding air, and creates air waves, which travel away, and rapidly rob the vibrating spring of its stock of energy. ”

“ If one end of such a spring be fastened to a wooden box on the wall of the lecture-room, while the other end is held in the hand, we can see that any motion communicated by the hand is successively transmitted to the different parts of the spring until it reaches the wall. ”

“ It is more dashing, rippling, sparkling, living this windy but clear day, never smooth, but ever varying in its degree of motion and depth of blue, as the wind is more or less strong, rising and falling. ”

“ The first breath of spring comes at last, but only slowly can it free the land from winter’s shackles. Only when the life-giving sunshine is accompanied by the soft south wind, at the earliest in the beginning of April, usually about the middle of the month, does the snow disappear quickly from the lower slopes of the mountains and from the deep valleys rich in black earth. ”

“ An undermotion of this kind is illustrated at Fig. 96. The spring is fixed at A, and a wire hook connects the spring with the quadrant at B. It will easily be seen that as the stave lifts, the direction of the pull of the spring is gradually moved over the centre of the quadrant at C. If the stave were lifted until the spring was in a direct line from A to C, the pull on the stave would be nil, as all the force would be exerted on the fulcrum. ”

“ The elliptic spring is sometimes used single in what are called under-spring carriages, where the spring rests on the axle and is connected with the framework of the body with an imitation spring or dumb iron to complete the ellipse. ”

“ A spiral spring from an old bed-spring will do for Jack's body, but if you cannot get one of these it is a simple [Pg 194] matter to make a spring. Take a piece of No. 12 gauge wire about 10 feet in length and wind it around a rolling-pin or anything that is cylindrical and about 21⁄2 inches in diameter. Fasten this spring with doubled-pointed tacks upon a piece of wood cut to fit the inside of the box (Fig. 290) , then procure a small doll's head, baste a circular piece of cardboard to the top of the spring and to this sew the head. ”

“ It is like a wire spring being freed at both ends at once, each end springing away from the middle. [225] When you push the spring together, that is, when in taking the second movement you draw in your hands and feet, do it slowly ”

“ And Nature has accomplish’d all the Spring.
This was perfectly conventional and perfectly indefinite; not a single flower, bud, blossom, bird, or bush is specified. The six lines amount to a general formula for spring and would apply equally well to Patagonia, Italy, New England, or northern Siberia. Mr. R. Lewis, who wrote on “A Journey from Patapsco to Annapolis” in 1730, improves on this:
First born of Spring, here the Pacone appears. ”

“ Cams and springs, moreover, are not positive enough in action, as the resilience of the spring does not act quickly enough, and so more positive gearings, such as eccentrics and cranks, must be employed. ”

“ I wish, and I wish that the spring would go faster,
Nor long summer bide so late;
And I could grow on like the foxglove and aster,
For some things are ill to wait. ”

“ Measure your health by your sympathy with morning and spring. If there is no response in you to the awakening of nature, if the prospect of an early morning walk does not banish sleep, if the warble of the first bluebird does not thrill you, know that the morning and spring of your life are past. Thus may you feel your pulse. ”