Net body using helical wire members

#This invention relates to a planar or cylindrical net body using helical wire members.

#In biological tissues of living bodies such as bone, tendon and blood vessel, collagen filaments having a helical structure with flexibility constitute fibers for crests and troughs are united side by side. The biological tissue dispersedly supports an external force applied thereto on the helical slope of the collagen filaments united side by side, and exhibits high toughness. When some of the collagen filaments are damaged, the biological tissue exchanges the damaged collagen filaments with new ones, according to the metabolism, so as to maintain the tissue.

#The inventor of this invention filed Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) Nos. 8-290501, 8-291587 and 9-314709 on the basis of the helical structure of the collagen filaments, in particular. The technologies described in these Laid-Open Patent Publications propose building structures such as a post member, a wall member and a sheet member all of which combine helical wire members, can provide high toughness and can easily be repaired when a part of the structure is damaged. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 8-290501 and 8-291587 describe a helical structure obtained by uniting helical bodies, with their crests and troughs side by side, wherein each helical body is formed by winding, in predetermined lead and predetermined pitch, wire members having a predetermined diameter into a shape such that a diameter of a helix is about twice the wire diameter, the crests and the troughs oppose one another or have substantially a similar shape, and the troughs are positioned outside from the center of the helix, or a helical structure wherein the helical bodies are wound in the same winding direction or are wound alternately. In the helical structure described above, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No, 9-314709 proposes a helical structure by combining, vertically and transversely, helical wire members for a helical structure and forming a planar mesh, wherein the helical wire members can strongly fix or release the uniting state of the helical bodies, can exhibit a predetermined motion in accordance with an environmental change and can keep the size of the mesh constant.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a net body according to the present invention.

#FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a helical wire member according to the present invention.

#FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a helical wire member having a different helical winding direction from that of FIG. 2.

#Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings (showing schematically a helical wire member in each of FIGS. 2 and 3).

#FIGS. 1 to 4 show a net body 3 according to claim 1. A helical wire member 1 is made of various wire materials such as metal, plastic, ceramic (inclusive of glass), concrete, wood, and carbon fiber. The diameter of a helix is about twice the diameter of the wire material. The wire member 1 is wound in predetermined lead and predetermined pitch in such a fashion that crests 1a of the helical wire member 1 and its troughs 1b have substantially a similar shape, and the troughs are positioned in conformity with, or outside of, the center of the helix. In this winding structure, the helical wire members 1 are wound so that the space at the helical center is discontinuous in the axial direction, that is, the space does not exist when viewed from the axial direction. FIG. 2 shows the helical wire member 1 that has a right-turn helical structure extending upward in the axial direction, and FIG. 3 shows the helical wire member 1 that has a left-turn helical structure extending upward in the axial direction.

#The net body 3 is produced, for example, by combining transverse helical wire members 5 consisting of the right-turn helical wire members 1 and the longitudinal helical wire members 7 consisting of the left-turn helical wire members 1 into a planar shape in such a fashion that their troughs 1b engage with one another. The engaging method is as follows. While a plurality of transverse helical wire members 5 are arranged in such a fashion that their crests 1a and troughs 1b appear alternately with predetermined gap, the longitudinal helical wire members 7 are turned in the helical direction, and the crests 1a are allowed to engage with the troughs 1b to form the net body 3. Needless to say, the helical direction of both transverse helical wire member 5 and longitudinal helical wire member 7 may have a relation opposite to the relation described above.