Questions on hardware history

[cubingwithmeki]

Hello, so i was doing some research into the history of cube mechanisms, and I was wondering, what was the first cube to be tension-able, and the first cube to have springs? (3x3) Thank you

 

[SenorJuan]

1980 vintage Rubiks brand cubes had springs and screwed cores. I don't know about the earlier models. Rubik designed in springs to cater for wear in the edge pieces, rather than for any corner-cutting/performance reason. In practice, the corners wore out quickest.