# Who invented the spring? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-spring/315722 "2005-08-05T15:29:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thin\_Lizzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@Thin\_Lizzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Lizzy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-spring/315722/1 "2005-08-05T15:29:47Z")
And when was it invented? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-spring/315722/2 "2005-08-05T15:50:07Z")
Dunno exactly but I found the earliest use of a spring in a timekeeping device was sometime before 1430. For all I know the spring was invented LONG before this and it wasn’t till this time that someone thought to use it in a clock (or springs reliable could be made) but it narrows the search somewhat. > [@](#): > > The use of a spring instead of a weight in a time-keeping device was a major revolution. It is not exactly known when and where this invention was made; we know that the mainspring in a barrel with a chain and fusee (initially, gut and fusee) was established by 1430. > > SOURCE: [http://www.ozdoba.net/swisswatch/history\_part1.html](http://www.ozdoba.net/swisswatch/history_part1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-spring/315722/3 "2005-08-05T15:51:45Z")
THis site gives a somewhat different date for a spring powered clock. > [@](#): > > The spring-powered clock was invented in about 1510 by Peter Henlein of Nuremberg, Germany, > > SOURCE: [http://users.commspeed.net/k6xf/clock.htm#FIVE](http://users.commspeed.net/k6xf/clock.htm#FIVE) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-spring/315722/4 "2005-08-05T15:59:57Z")
Ok…best I could find. Understand that there are a lot of “springs” out there of which the kind that look like a spring on the wheels of your car are just one. Springs were originally made from wood it seems. > [@](#): > > Like most other fundamental mechanisms, metal springs have existed since the Bronze Age. Even before metals, wood was used as a flexible structural member in archery bows and military catapults. Precision springs first became a necessity during the Renaissance with the advent of accurate timepieces. The fourteenth century saw the development of precise clocks which revolutionized celestial navigation. > > SOURCE: [http://www.efunda.com/designstandards/springs/spring\_introduction.cfm](http://www.efunda.com/designstandards/springs/spring_introduction.cfm) The Bronze Age is a bit vague as different parts of the world entered the Bronze Age at different times. Far East was around 3300 BC while the British Bronze Age started around 2200 BC. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-spring/315722/5 "2005-08-05T16:24:02Z")
The spring seems to have been invented sometime in the Oligocene, roughly 30 million years ago, when general global cooling began to produce pronounced seasonal changes in the temperate zones. I don’t know who invented it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-spring/315722/6 "2005-08-05T16:52:24Z")
> [@](#): > > The bow seems to have been invented in the late Palaeolithic or early Mesolithic. The oldest indication for its use in Europe come from Stellmoor in the Ahrensburg valley north of Hamburg, Germany and date from the late Palaeolithic Hamburgian culture (9000-8000 BC). The arrows were made of pine-wood and consisted of a main-shaft and a 15-20 cm (6-8 inches) long fore-shaft with a flint point. [Bow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_%28weapon%29#History) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-spring/315722/7 "2005-08-05T16:52:27Z")
It was invented just after winter, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-spring/315722/8 "2005-08-05T17:36:11Z")
Water running out of the ground did not need to be invented. Perhaps “discovered” is a better word. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-spring/315722/9 "2005-08-05T19:48:10Z")
[Ancient Greek helmet](http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/5310/helmet8tc.jpg) with springs attached, about 5th c. BC