Flexible shaft assembly

Claim 1

A FLEXIBLE SHAFT ASSEMBLY, COMPRISING IN COMBINATION, A CASING HAVING A PAIR OF CONTINUOUS WIRE MEMBERS HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY IDENTICAL GENERALLY C-SHAPED TRANSVERSE CROSS-SECTIONS EACH INCLUDING A WEB AND SPACED FLANGES DEFINING THEREBETWEEN A CHANNEL, EACH OF THE CSHAPED CROSS-SECTIONS HAVING A GENERALLY SMOOTH CONTOUR BLENDING FROM THE WEB AROUND CONVEX FREE ENDS OF THE FLANGES, THE WIDTH OF THE CHANNEL BEING APPROXIMATELY TWICE THE WIDTH OF THE FLANGES, THE MEMBERS BEING FORMED TO SUBSTANTIALLY CONCENTRIC HELIXES STAGGERED TO OVERLAP ONE ANOTHER AND PRESENTING THE C-SHAPED CONTOURS TOWARD ONE ANOTHER, ADJACENT FLANGES OF THE RESPECTIVE MEMBERS BEING RECEIVED WITHIN THE CHANNELS OF THE OPPOSITE MEMBER, SAID MEMBER OF THE INNER HELIX DEFINING A BORE, A FLEXIBLE CORE DISPOSED WITHIN THE BORE, AND A PLUALITY OF NARROW PLASTIC BEARING MEMBERS SECURED TO THE CORE AT AXIALLY SPACED INTERVALS ALONG THE CORE, THE BEARING MEMBERS BEING ADAPTED TO FORM A BEARING CONTACT WITH THE PERIPHERAL SURFACE OF THE BORE.