Abstract A wire is fed from a supply roll to a device which twists the wire on its longitudinal axis and continuously forms the twisted wire into a non-rotating helical coil. The coil is fed directly from the device through a plastic tube extruding head by a rotatable screw which extends within the coil, and a vacuum is created within the tube as it is extruded over the coil to shrink the tube between the turns of the coil. The coil reinforced tube may then be fed through a device which covers the tube with a continuous fabric member, and the covered tube is then fed through another extruder head which extrudes a second tube over the fabric member and shrinks the second tube onto the fabric member and the first tube. The coil feeding screw, the fabric member forming device, the extruders, and the tube feeding devices are driven at speeds correlated with the speeds of twisting and feeding the wire to provide a continuous conduit forming operation.
A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said shrinking step includes the creation of a vacuum within said coil and said tube as said tube is extruded from said head.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
74 words
A method as defined in claim 1 and further including the steps of forming a continuous fabric member around said assembled coil and tube, feeding the fabric covered coil and tube assembly through a second plastic extruder head at the samE correlated speed at which the coil is fed through the first extruder head, extruding a second plastic tube around said fabric member, and shrinking said second plastic tube onto the fabric covered assembly.
Claim 3
Independent Claim
95 words
A method for continuously producing a reinforced tubular conduit, comprising the steps of feeding a wire axially at a predetermined speed, twisting the wire on its longitudinal axis as the wire is being fed, forming the twisted wire into a helical coil of predetermined diameter, correlating the speed of twisting the wire with the speed of feeding the wire to produce a continuous non-rotating coil, feeding the non-rotating coil through a plastic extruder head at a speed correlated with the feeding and twisting speeds of the wire, and extruding a plastic tube around the coil.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 1 including the steps of establishing the turns of said coil at a predetermined spacing, and maintaining said spacing while feeding said coil and extruding and shrinking said tube thereover.