A metallic spring finger is a device which is capable of biasing an object or providing a holding force on the object in order to maintain the object at a fixed position relative to a main body. FIG. 1 shows a side view 20 of a metallic spring finger 22 attached to a main body 24. As shown, the metallic spring finger 22 includes (i) a V-shaped end portion 26, and (ii) a substantially flat middle portion 28 which connects the V-shaped end portion 26 to the main body 24. Here, the overall length (L) of the entire spring finger 22 from the main body 24 to the end of the spring finger 22 is based on the length contributions of both the middle portion 28 and the V-shaped end portion 26 (see FIG. 1).
Such a metallic spring finger 22 applies a reaction spring force (F) in response to a displacement (D), e.g., due to displacement by an object 29. The dashed lines show the metallic spring finger 22 in a new position after being displaced from its original position. In general, the spring force (F) provided by the metallic spring finger 22 is a function of a spring constant (k) and the displacement (D).F=k*D  (1).Equation (1) illustrates the function for determining the spring force (F) provided by the metallic spring finger 22 in FIG. 1.
FIG. 2 is a graphical illustration as to how the spring force (F) of the above-described conventional metallic spring finger 22 increases linearly as the displacement (D) increases. The slope of the curve in FIG. 2 is equal to the spring constant (k).
It should be understood that due to the above-described property of the metallic spring finger 22, the metallic spring finger 22 is suitable for positioning or holding an object relative to the main body 24. For example, as shown by the solid lines in FIG. 1, the metallic spring finger 22 may initially extend from the main body 24 at a 90 degree angle. Then, when an object 29 is placed at a location 30 between the metallic spring finger 22 and the surface 32 upon which the main body 24 is mounted resulting in the metallic spring finger 22 being pushed in a direction away from the surface 32 to the new position which is slightly greater than 90 degrees (shown in phantom in FIG. 1), the metallic spring finger 22 responds by providing the force (F) against the object to hold the object at the location 30.