Examples of flexible devices that use elastic deformations to perform interesting tasks are all around us. In this three-part episode of Compliant Mechanism Design, Professor Jonathan Hopkins provides a host of such examples and discusses their impact on our daily lives.

Specifically, in this first part of episode 2 (i.e., Part 2A), ancient compliant inventions that shaped human history (e.g., bows and bellows) are discussed and the fundamental principles of compliance and stiffness are taught in the context of linear elastic springs.

Additional course resources are posted to Professor Hopkins’ website: www.flexible.seas.ucla.edu

Acknowledgements:
Special thanks to Professor Karen Carr from Portland State University for sharing insights, photos, and knowledge about the history of bows and bellows. Additional information about these compliant items can be found at:
Bows: https://quatr.us/african-history/inve...
Bellows: https://quatr.us/history/bellows-inve...

Also, I am grateful that I was able to reuse and adapt the iron age swords shown in my video:
Museovirasto - National board of Aniqtuities of Finland / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...

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Disclaimer:
Responsibility for the content of this video is my own. The University of California, Los Angeles is not involved with this channel nor does it endorse its content.