Patent ID: 8715441

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a medical tubing having a length with variable characteristics, the medical tubing comprising a plurality of individual, discrete, generally ring-shaped elements arranged in series and fused together to form a continuous tubular structure, the method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of ring-shaped elements; each ring-shaped element having an aperture located between an inner diameter and an outer diameter; passing a wire through the aperture of each ring-shaped element along a support member or mandrel such that the wire is adjacent to the inner circumference of the plurality of ring-shaped elements and the longitudinal axis of the wire is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the support member or mandrel; placing the plurality of ring-shaped elements upon the support member or mandrel in a series arrangement; heating the plurality of ring-shaped elements and wire to fuse the rings over the wire and support member or mandrel; and removing the support member or mandrel.