Patent ID: 7549310

Claim:
A mandrel assembly for manufacturing a tubular product, including: a first plate; a cantilever drive roller extending from the first plate; a plurality of spaced further cantilever rollers extending from the first plate each, said further cantilever roller having an axis that defines an alignment of the respective roller; and means for rotating the cantilever drive roller whereby, in use, a strip may be engaged and advanced by the cantilever drive roller and thereby wound about the rollers to form a tubular product; wherein the mandrel assembly is mounted for rotation about an axis generally parallel to said first plate to offset said alignment of said further cantilever rollers, while said cantilever drive roller is positionable so that it extends not parallel to the further cantilever rollers but substantially perpendicularly to the strip as it is engaged by the cantilever drive roller, whereby the strip is wound about the rollers with a helix of predetermined dimension.