An air intake duct comprising a main body with bellows which is made by blow molding soft resin and ring-like reinforcements made of hard resin. As the soft resin, a material which is capable of keeping a form of a tube by itself is adopted. The reinforcements are previously mounted on the internal surface of a blow molding die and unite with the bellows in the main body in blow molding.

A vibration absorbing hose has a corrugated portion extending substantially entire part of the hose and end portions of straight cylindrical shape. The vibration absorbing hose has multi-layered construction of tubular inner rubber layer, pressure resistant reinforcement layer circumscribing an outer side of the inner rubber layer and outer rubber layer as outermost cover layer. The pressure resistant reinforcement layer is formed, for example, by braiding reinforcing yarns, so as to have corrugations along the corrugated portion of the inner rubber layer.

An accordion spring that replaces traditional coil springs in suspension systems. The accordion springs are made of a fiberglass composite and can be designed to have a linear or progressive spring rate upon compression. To achieve a linear spring rate, the shape of the accordion spring is symmetrical with both the top and bottom surfaces of each of the plurality of central regions of the spring are flat, wherein contact between the upper and lower surfaces of adjacent central regions will not occur until the accordion spring has bottomed out. A series of complementary bent regions are introduced to the spoked regions of the accordion spring that varies the spring rate of the spring as the spring is compressed. The accordion spring can be manufactured using a three-dimensional weaving process and offer improvements in weight reduction, mass reduction, packaging space reduction compared to traditional steel coil springs.

A lightweight flexible conduit particularly suitable for aircraft applications for shielding electrical wire and cable from electromagnetic interference and radio frequency interference. The apparatus including an inner core of elastically deformable flexible tubing having an outside surface of helical corrugations, metalized fabric wrapped around the helical corrugations and post-formed onto the corrugated helix of the core by string, thread, or wire which pulls the fabric down into the base of the continuous trough of the corrugations, and a protective jacket. A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an axial drain wire incorporated into the lamination and running the length of the conduit to provide lower ground path resistance.

An expansion joint for connecting pipe ends includes a fluorocarbon polymer tube having a reinforcing fabric embedded within it. The ends of the tube have radially extending flanges which are adapted to be in sealing relationship with the pipe ends. The tube has an annular arch spaced between the tube flanges. Metal stub ends having a radially extending flange at one end are in abutting relation to the tube flanges, thereby providing support and improved sealing from the otherwise flexible tube flange. A rubber backing is fastened to the fabric embedded in the tube. A back-up ring having peripheral fastener apertures is disposed about the tube at each end of the tube. The tube flanges are compressed between the back-up ring and pipe flange when the latter two are bolted together. A washer, spaced between the backup ring and rubber back permits the ring to be rotated about the tube to allow alignment of peripheral ring fastener apertures with corresponding fastener apertures in the pipe flange.