Unwinding a portion of a support helix that comprises a heating wire from a wall of a hose at an end of the hose; sleeving a length of heatshrink tubing at least partly onto the unwound portion of the support helix; heating the heatshrink tubing to shrink onto at least part of the unwound portion of the support helix; and at an end of the unwound portion, directly connecting the heating wire to an electrical contact of an electrical connector.

A method for manufacturing a waterproof felt duct may include (a) laminating a waterproof film on one side of a first nonwoven fabric and laminating a second nonwoven fabric on the waterproof film laminated on the first nonwoven fabric to form a laminated body; (b) forming a waterproof felt base material by thermally adhering the laminated body; (c) cutting the waterproof felt base material into a desired shape; (d) molding a duct while surrounding the waterproof felt base material cut into the desired shape around the external surface of a molding jig having a worm gear shape; (e) heat-treating the molded duct; (f) cooling the heat-treated duct; and (g) ejecting the cooled duct from the molding jig.

A threaded shaft for a ball screw comprising: a shaft of fibre-reinforced polymer material; and a helical ridge formed on an outer surface of said shaft, said helical ridge being formed from a fibre-reinforced polymer material comprising a plurality of helical fibres wound around the shaft in the same sense and grouped together to form the ridge. The helical ridge formed from grouped helical fibres all wound with the same sense provides excellent axial load carrying capability as the fibres run continuously from end to end of the shaft and can thus transmit load from end to end. This adds much greater strength than a shaft formed from plastics only. The load carrying capability of the fibre wound helical ridge can indeed approach that of existing metal threads while still being much lighter in weight.

A threaded shaft for a ball screw comprising: a shaft of fibre-reinforced polymer material; and a helical ridge formed on an outer surface of said shaft, said helical ridge being formed from a fibre-reinforced polymer material comprising a plurality of helical fibres wound around the shaft in the same sense and grouped together to form the ridge. The helical ridge formed from grouped helical fibres all wound with the same sense provides excellent axial load carrying capability as the fibres run continuously from end to end of the shaft and can thus transmit load from end to end. This adds much greater strength than a shaft formed from plastics only. The load carrying capability of the fibre wound helical ridge can indeed approach that of existing metal threads while still being much lighter in weight.

Helically winding an extruded web to form a wall of a heated hose about a central axis, extruding a bead of plastics material around a heating wire such that the extruded bead comprises the heating wire at a first location within a cross-section of the extruded bead, helically winding the extruded bead onto the wall of the hose to provide a support helix, and exerting tension on the heating wire to draw down the heating wire toward the central axis such that the heating wire migrates radially inward from the first location to a second location within the cross-section of the extruded bead.

An undermold coupling to couple a hose to a hose fitting includes: a tubular portion to be inserted into a hose interface of the hose fitting; threads formed on an inner surface of the tubular portion to engage a support helix on an end of the hose as a set of threads; and a first grating comprising a first plurality of elongate portions to intermesh with a corresponding second plurality of elongate portions of a second grating of the hose interface, wherein the first plurality of elongate portions extend into a second plurality of slots defined by the second plurality of elongate portions, and the second plurality of elongate portions extend into a first plurality of slots defined by the first plurality of elongate portions.

A method for manufacturing a waterproof felt duct may include (a) laminating a waterproof film on one side of a first nonwoven fabric and laminating a second nonwoven fabric on the waterproof film laminated on the first nonwoven fabric to form a laminated body; (b) forming a waterproof felt base material by thermally adhering the laminated body; (c) cutting the waterproof felt base material into a desired shape; (d) molding a duct while surrounding the waterproof felt base material cut into the desired shape around the external surface of a molding jig having a worm gear shape; (e) heat-treating the molded duct; (f) cooling the heat-treated duct; and (g) ejecting the cooled duct from the molding jig.

A method includes: extruding a continuous web of plastics material from an extruder of a hose making apparatus; helically winding the extruded web about a mandrel or at least one rotating rod of the hose making apparatus to form a wall of the hose about a central axis of the hose; extruding a continuous bead of plastics material to have a cross-section that defines a lumen at a location within the cross-section; cooling the extruded bead sufficiently to cool the plastics material adjacent the location within the cross-section of the extruded bead to cause the lumen to retain its size and shape within the cross-section; re-heating the extruded bead sufficiently to cause outer surface portions of the plastics material of the extruded bead to become molten; and helically winding the extruded bead onto and about an external surface of the wall to provide the wall a support helix.

A threaded shaft for a ball screw comprising: a shaft of fibre-reinforced polymer material; and a helical ridge formed on an outer surface of said shaft, said helical ridge being formed from a fibre-reinforced polymer material comprising a plurality of helical fibres wound around the shaft in the same sense and grouped together to form the ridge. The helical ridge formed from grouped helical fibres all wound with the same sense provides excellent axial load carrying capability as the fibres run continuously from end to end of the shaft and can thus transmit load from end to end. This adds much greater strength than a shaft formed from plastics only. The load carrying capability of the fibre wound helical ridge can indeed approach that of existing metal threads while still being much lighter in weight.

A threaded shaft for a ball screw comprising: a shaft of fibre-reinforced polymer material; and a helical ridge formed on an outer surface of said shaft, said helical ridge being formed from a fibre-reinforced polymer material comprising a plurality of helical fibres wound around the shaft in the same sense and grouped together to form the ridge. The helical ridge formed from grouped helical fibres all wound with the same sense provides excellent axial load carrying capability as the fibres run continuously from end to end of the shaft and can thus transmit load from end to end. This adds much greater strength than a shaft formed from plastics only. The load carrying capability of the fibre wound helical ridge can indeed approach that of existing metal threads while still being much lighter in weight.