Carburetor Dashpot

["Neil Shaw" <neil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

While rebuilding the Motorcraft 2100 carburetor on our '72 Javelin I was
fooling with the plunger pin on the dashpot to see if it was working or
stuck in place and it came off. I can put the pin back in place so I'm not
quite sure if I broke it or not.
My questions are:
What does the dashpot do?
How do I know it's working correctly (or at all)? (I can push it in
slightly, but it's very stiff.)
Does it even need to work correctly?
Where can I get a replacement if necessary?

Looking for some education on this.

Thanks,
Neil Shaw
'72 Javelin SST w/304