Author: European Springs

However, woman have longed played an important part in the field of engineering. Despite this, they are often unheard of or forgotten about when discussing engineering achievements.

Do you know which important inventions were created by women? We’ve put together a guide to some of the most influential female engineers.

Mary Anderson (1866 – 1953)

Did you know that a woman was behind the invention of the windshield wiper? You do now! Mary Anderson was the genius behind this essential device that you probably take for granted when driving in your cars.

Whilst living in New York in 1903, Mary witnessed a driver leave his front window open so that he could clear some sleet that had fallen. This gave her the idea for the windshield wiper. She applied for and was granted her patent for it in November that year.

It expired before the windshield wiper really became a big thing, which came about with the boom of the automotive industry.

Martha J. Coston (1826 – 1904)

Martha was a 21 year old widow who was struggling to take care of her four children after the death of her husband. She knew she needed a better way to support her family, so set about to find a way to do so. She found a design in a notebook that her husband had done before he died and realised that she could get it to work.

She spent around 10 years redesigning, developing and testing her reworking of the designs, so that they included pyrotechnic components that could make an ongoing and colourful system of flares.

She was granted a patent in 1859, and the US Navy bought it off her for around $20,000 – although she did win the right to manufacture the device. Her system is credited as helping the North win the Civil War.

Emily Roebling (1803-1903)

Emily Roebling was the woman behind the creation of the Brooklyn Bridge. When her husband was suddenly paralyzed after an accident, Emily became the first woman field engineer and leader of the project. She was the woman in charge of the chief engineer’s duties, supervising the day to day running of the project and was the person in charge of the project management.

She taught herself in all areas of civil and construction engineering, so that she could communicate goals to the workmen and financiers.

When the project was finished, the American Society of Civil Engineers wanted to credit her husband as the head engineer. Emily protested and was rightly given the credit for her work on the bridge.

As you can see, women have and will hopefully continue to make a fantastic contribution to the field of engineering. We think it’s important that more woman take up STEM subjects, as the future of engineering depends on their involvement. Keep on checking back on our blog, as we will be revealing even more of these incredible and interesting women.

As for us here at European Springs & Pressings Ltd, we contribute to the engineering industry in our own special way. As compression, torsion and flat spring manufacturers, our products are used in major industrial environments throughout the UK and the world.

For more information, please contact us on 0208 663 1800 and a member of our team will be happy to help.

European Springs

The technology being used was originally developed to help communicate with robots in space. Now, it’s believed that it could bring about some fantastic improvements in car communications.

The technology includes a software tool that enables vehicles to choose from the strongest wireless connections available. This could be several things; Wi-Fi, mobile phone, or direct communication with other vehicles. This allows data to be transmitted to the cloud. This ‘intelligent connectivity manager’ is thought to be useful when connectivity conditions are not so good.

The Aim & Method?

The aim of the trial is to combat the unreliability of data transmission in vehicles when they are on the move. They want to do this by dynamically shifting access to the cloud through a reliable transmission method – such as those we mentioned earlier.

To test their theory, the research team looked into sharing information about a road emergency with drivers who were in an area with bad connectivity. The scenario involved a car entering a tunnel and experiencing black ice – they then needed to send a signal warning other drivers of the icy conditions. Although they have no cellular reception – another car exiting in the other direction has both connection and vehicle to vehicle.

The intelligent connectivity manager will when select the other cars vehicle to vehicle channel in order to send information gathered from the first car. This will be sent to the cloud to send out a warning to other drivers about the dangerous tunnel conditions.

In the off chance that no other cars are actually around – it will send the message when the first car reaches an area in which there is a network available.

The Future?

The engineering team know that they face a lot of challenges whilst researching this technology. However, they believe that the first results are extremely promising in terms of offering reliable communications technology.

The solutions developed are thought to be of high reliability, scalability and adaptability.

We’re just as excited to hear about how this technology is going to change the future of vehicle to vehicle communication. Keep checking back as we will be keeping up to date with the latest on this story.

Here at European Springs, we are leading experts in the field of springs  and pressing technology.  Our products are used in major industrial environments around the world and we are dedicated to providing our customers with only the very best.

For more information, please contact us by ringing  0208 663 1800 and a member of our team will be happy to help.

European Springs

As such we feel it's of paramount importance to ensure that all of our staff are trained up to a specialist level where they completely understand not only their own department, but are familiar with the processes throughout.

Well, after much hard work and dedication from our apprentices, European Springs & Pressings Ltd are very pleased to announce that three more apprentices have passed their apprenticeships with the company. So please welcome to the team, Daniel Gillam, 22, Vincenzo Ciacciarelli, 23, and Joe Cussell, aged 19.

Seen here, being handed their certificates by group CEO, Kjell-Arne Lindbäck, the three new additions to the team can be extremely proud of themselves; as you may be able to imagine, we have a particular set of standards that we adhere to at European Springs, and all three have shown to us great promise in their field.

Nationally Recognised Engineering Operations Qualification

However, it's not all down to our high standards, all three have achieved a nationally recognised qualification in performing engineering operations; they have accomplished this by systematically rotating through all areas of the business in order to gain the relevant skills required.

Now the apprentices have attained this level, they will specialise in the areas of the business where they showed most promise and interest, and continue to develop their skills as spring technicians of the future. We feel it's important to have the team work in the area where they are best allowed to shine, and as such we feel that their enthusiasm and potential for the role will manifest itself through the high quality of work they are set to produce.

European Springs & Pressings Ltd are very proud to be producing spring makers of the future who are able to satisfy the ever-increasing requirements of their customers. In doing this our new team members are strengthening their already wide skillset and setting foundations for future growth and development within the spring industry.

Contact Our Professional Team!

We are excited about the potential of each of our team members, as we only seek to hire and produce the best, so we know the future is bright. So, if you would like to discuss the potential for joining our professional team, or would even like to discuss the possibility of seeking our services, don't hesitate to get in touch. You can contact us on 0208 663 1800 where one of our friendly team will be eagerly awaiting your call.

European Springs

With the fear of sounding like an over excited child; isn’t that amazing?
We simply adore robotics and the ingenious engineering minds behind them. The skill and imagination it takes to transform a… well Transformer, from our TV screens and comic books, into real life is astounding, and the possibilities it creates are endless.

Where Did They Come From?

Though these bots didn’t crash land from a far off galaxy, according to The Engineer they were first developed to help find them. Humans are physically unable to handle high pressure environments. Giant robots were first created to help aid our exploration of space, Mars exploration missions and deep sea adventures. The stand on giant robots took a humanist turn in the wake of the devastating nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan, in 2011.

In the wake of the this catastrophe, the US Defence Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) set its focus on using giant robots in high risk situations as disaster-relief technology. The movement would include using robots in the wake of major natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and- in the small chance of a similar disaster occurring- nuclear explosions.

Why a Giant Robot Fight?

Robot fighting has littered our media for years. We have comic books dedicated to robot fighting and recent blockbusters such as Transformers, Real Steel and Pacific Rim have catapulted our robot loving imaginations into new territory.

We want to know everything we can about robots. We want to push our engineering masterminds to their absolute limits and, so far, it’s paid off. Engineers have created self-aware robots and humanoid robots, sparking a mixture of fear and wonder around the world. The only problem with research into robotics, however, is funding.

Mechatronics requires more research, and for that it requires more funding. This latest robot stunt has produced a burst of investor interest in the upcoming giant robot battle set to take place July 2016. The hope is that it will help to further fuel innovation activity into robotics.

Putting a Spring in Their Step

In all of the excitement surrounding this giant Rock’em Sock’em match,  we forget about the components making up giant robots. One component we simply can’t ignore is the compression spring. Without it, robots wouldn’t be able to move quite so easily.

Made to absorb energy, we’re proud to say that we’re the best compression spring manufacturers in Europe. Though we aren’t helping to build any giant robots yet (or are we?), if you need the help of a trustworthy, quality compression spring, we’re here to help. Contact us today on 0208 663 1800 to find out more!

European Springs

Yes, recently scientists at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia have created a guide to developing new metallic glass alloys. As far as excitement goes, we’re jumping in our seats here. The metal alloys being created are 3x stronger than your average metal yet, once heated up, they become as malleable as clay, as soft as chewing gum, capable of twisting and changing shape. All in all, ladies and gentlemen, we’re presenting you with shape-shifting metal!

How Is Shape Shifting Metal Possible?

It sounds like something you’d find in the pages of a sci-fi novel, or on the big screen in the form of the Terminator assassins, but truly, the process in which these new metallic-glass alloys can change their shape is all down to their make-up.

As Europe’s leading spring manufacturers, we know how metal works. The allows in your every day metal are arranged in a regular, uniformed structure. This gives them their hard, unrelenting properties we’re able to use to our own picky preferences.

The metallic-glass allows, however, have a highly irregular alloy structure. This has allowed them to remain strong and unmovable when solid, but when heated the alloys slip out of place, thus allowing the metallic-glass to morph its shape.

What Does This Mean For Us?

With the help of the UNSW’s metal making guide, scientists have been able to “successfully predicted over 200 new metal-glass alloys” according to their science department. Once the keen scientists at the university understand the “atomic fundamentals” behind the metals amazing properties, they “will also be able to engineer, these materials on an atomic scale so they have the specific properties we want.” says Dr Kevin Laws of the UNSW.

“They have been described as the most significant development in materials science since the discovery of plastics more than 50 years ago,” says Dr Laws to the UNSW article.

With the new creation of stronger, more flexible metallic-glass alloys, comes a possibility for greater uses. Batteries, for instance, and space craft parts could also be in the running.

Why Wait? Why Not Get Straight To It?

At the moment, metallic-glass alloys are very expensive to manufacture so their use has been limited to  iPhone parts, golf clubs and springs in certain watches. With further development, however, the price might reduce enough for their true potential to be reached.

Can you imagine bullet proof, shape-shifting vests?

We’re still a long way off of creating shape-shifting robots, but with the dramatic advances in science, it’s proving that the sky really isn’t the limit.

Though we don’t deal in shape-shifting springs, we do supply the best quality springs in Europe. If you’d like to know more about what kinds of springs we manufacture, contact us today on 0208 663 1800.

European Springs

The First Female

Naomi Climer was recently appointed as the first female president of the IET, a job that she will take up from the 1st October. Her main aim is dispel the myth that engineering is just for men, and to encourage more women to take up jobs within the field. She has said that she wants to show how engineering can be “exciting” and “fun” and showcase how it can lead to fascinating and varied international careers.

Naomi studied chemistry at college before becoming a trainee engineer with the BBC. She’s campaigning for quotas to be introduced for female engineers and for more female role models in popular culture. Despite originally being against quotas, she has since said that:

“I am increasingly feeling like we have to introduce quotas because despite the best efforts [engineering] has been exactly where it is today for decades. We are making really slow progress.”

Urges Britain to Think More About Recruiting Females

Climer has admitted that Britain is facing a shortfall in engineers in general, with around two million needing to be recruited over the next decade. Young people need to realise that it’s a brilliant industry to enter, instead of being discourage by stereotypes. She has said that:

“What so many young people don’t realise is that engineering will give you work wherever you want: in the office or out of doors; on your own or as part of a team; working with computers or without them. You could work with food, chemicals, machines, electronics, bridges or railways or design software. It is an amazing range. Young people need to be made aware of that.”

She believes that it’s especially important for women to be introduced to the benefits of the sector. Despite recent efforts, engineering is still regarded as being stuck in the past, with around 94% of the jobs still being held by men.  This means that less than 6% of the UK engineering workforce are women.

Climer is urging companies to consider the number of women they have in their workforce and work on pinpointing where they are going wrong. She hopes to make a difference very soon.

As leading manufacturers of torsion, tensions and compression springs , we make it our job to keep on top of the latest engineering news. This is both because we find it interesting and because we want to share all the newest information with you.  We especially love reading about all the latest efforts to inspire more women to join such a rewarding and fascinating field – and we hope you have enjoyed reading this too!

If you would like more information on our services, please don’t hesitate to contact us. You can give us a call on 0208 663 1800 and a member of our team will be happy to help.

European Springs