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US 6,186,900 B1Granted
Flexible shaft
OwnerYadama Rathnakarinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flexible shaft comprising a flexible outer tube (10) containing a shaft core with specially designed links (18) that closely fit within the smooth interior of the outer tube (10). The links (18) are substantially rectangular and have construction which limits a flex angle between links. The links (18) may include stop surfaces (17) which limits the flex angle to prevent kinking or limit longitudinal movement of the links (18) with respect to one another.
Claims16
A flexible torque transmitting shaft comprising:
- a tubular flexible casing;
- a shaft core positioned within the flexible casing and including a plurality of horizontal links and a plurality of vertical links generally perpendicular to and interconnecting the horizontal links to form the shaft core, each of the horizontal and vertical links including first and second spaced parallel legs, and third and fourth spaced parallel legs connecting the first and second legs to form a substantially rectangular link, wherein a flex angle of the shaft is defined by an angle between the first and second legs of two adjacent horizontal links or two adjacent vertical links, and the flex angle is limited by the configuration of the horizontal and vertical links.
A flexible torque transmitting shaft comprising:
- a tubular casing flexible along a longitudinal axis;
- and
- a shaft core inside the flexible tubular casing for transmitting torque, the shaft core including a plurality of links, each of the links comprising:
- two end portions having a width arranged substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the casing;
- and
- a single opening extending through the link in a direction parallel to the width for receiving the end portions of two adjacent links, the opening having a dimension across the opening about midway between the two end portions of adjacent links, wherein the dimension across the opening is less than the width of the end portions of the adjacent links to prevent kinking of the shaft core.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.