Development
During the 1930s, many innovations in the components of light tanks would make US tanks considerably reliable. These included rubber-bushed tracks, rear mounted radial engines and the vertical volute spring suspension.
A volute spring is a compression spring in the form of a cone (a Volute). Under compression the coils slide over each other, affording longer travel. The result is more stable and powerful than any leaf, coil, or torsion bar spring in the same volume. Mounted vertically in a road wheel bogie for a pair of road wheels in a tank made a very compact unit.
The Rock Island Arsenal produced a small tank for the cavalry which used vertical volute spring suspension instead of leaf spring suspension. Standardized as the M1 Combat Car, it entered service with the US Army in 1937. The design was used in the M2 Light Tank and subsequent Stuart tank series. Design features of the Stuart were scaled up for use in the first M2 Medium Tanks which would evolve into the more successful M3 Lee and M4 Sherman, all using the VVSS.
Read more about this topic: Vertical Volute Spring Suspension
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