Springs are both delicate and strong. They create tension and balance. They have existed since the Bronze Age in one form or another.
In the seventeenth century, Robert Hooke, a man long considered the British Leonardo da Vinci, invented the clock spring, the microscope and discovered the cell. He also developed a mathematical equation that bears his name and still influences the design of springs.
Hooke's Law
... so long as we don't exceed the elastic limit.