The amount of nip in laminated springs has been determined in most factories by mere experience due to lack of knowledge. The writer has already published a method for its calculation in order to obtain the total force necessary for fastening up the nipped plates, the pull or increase in camber at the fastening, and the initial stresses in each plate due to the fastening. (See the Trans. Jap. Soc. Mech. Engrs. Vol. 17 No. 63, 1951).
This paper describes an application of the theory, setting several examples of numerical calculation with various kinds of actual truck springs. The results of the calculation agreed with the experiments with an error of less than 10%, and it was found that unexpected high stresses are produced in the shorter plates even by a slight nip in the shorter plates.
The writer, therefore, recommends that the amount of nip should be limited so far as the stress in the shortest plate does not exceed 30kg/mm2.