Flexible tubing with imbedded helical conductors and method of making

A method for making a helically wound, seamless plastic tubing comprising the steps of:

• forming an elongate ribbon of molten thermoplastic having opposite side edges and a thickened plateau portion, helically wrapping said elongate ribbon so that said opposite side edges overlap a certain distance to form a helical lap joint and simultaneously heat-bonding said ribbon to itself to form an elongate tubular body with said plateau portion extending radially outwardly on and helically along said tubular body;
• laying an elongate conductor helically around and along said tubular body within said plateau portion;
• forming an elongate bead of thermoplastic material;
• and
• helically wrapping said bead around and along said tubular body atop said conductor and plateau portion, while simultaneously heat-bonding said bead integrally with said tubular body to form a unitary tubing including said ribbon and said bead with said conductor embedded therein.

A smooth-bore flexible tubing with helical outer support bead, said tubing comprising:

• an elongate thermoplastic ribbon helically wrapped and partially overlapped onto itself and mutually heat bonded at side edge portions thereof to form a flexible tubing wall, said thermoplastic ribbon including an elongate fine-dimension portion and a comparatively thickened elongate plateau portion extending radially outwardly and helically along said flexible tubing;
• plural elongate conductors disposed helically about and along said flexible tubing at said plateau portion;
• and
• an elongate thermoplastic support bead disposed helically around and along said elongate tubing atop of both said plateau portion and said conductors, said support bead integrally heat-bonding to said tubing wall to form a unitary thin-walled tubing structure with helical outer support bead and embedded conductors, whereby, said embedded conductors are spaced from one another within said plateau portion.