Those are called Belleville washers.

I have a hard time thinking an engineer would want it "crushed" beyond a perfectly flat position.

On your first post, you mentioned the words "dome shape (like the disc)"  = Question: Does that mean it is EXACTLY shaped the same as the big disc blade, or is there a slight difference, and it would compress slightly if installed with concave Belleville washer against concave big disc blade?

Here's some pictures, and I don't see any showing crushing that type of washer from concave to all the way convex:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1600&bih=731&q=belleville+washer&oq=belleville+&gs_l=img.1.0.0l10.1780.9664.0.11632.13.8.2.3.3.0.361.1529.0j3j3j1.7.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..1.12.1643.7xXtKJtTSf8#imgrc=_

(bw-1.jpg)

bw-1.jpg (26KB - 50 downloads)