JP2006329935A - Muscle hardness meter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a muscle hardness meter capable of measuring muscle hardness in any orientation irrespective of a person to be measured, giving constant results by any measurer. <P>SOLUTION: A guide cylinder 6 of which tip edge is used as a contact edge 8 to epidermis of a muscle portion is protruded into one end of a body 1, and a moving material 9 energized in the contact edge direction by a first coil spring 14 is movably contained in the guide cylinder. A presser 12 protruding out of the guide cylinder is provided on a position in the axis line of tip of a position in the axis line of the moving material. The rear end side of the moving material is coordinated with a detection device 2 for displacement amount of the presser housed in the body. An operation material 17 being close to the body against energizing of a second coil spring 18 with a larger elastic force than the first coil spring is movably assembled along the extension of the axis line to a support lever 15 protruding into a position in the extension of the axis line at the other end of the body. An index means indicating a move position against the second coil spring of the operation material is provided to a proper place of the support lever 15. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a muscle hardness meter that measures muscle hardness.

  The lower part of the presser with its upper end fixed to the support is protruded from the lower surface of the support, and a contact provided around the presser is assembled to the support so as to be movable vertically, and the relative of the presser to the contact There is a structure in which a displacement detecting means for detecting an appropriate amount of displacement is accommodated on the support, and a weight for applying a predetermined weight to the presser is attached to the support (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2004-77314 A

  The conventional structure adopts a configuration in which the weight of the support and the weight is applied to the presser in order to obtain a relative displacement amount of the presser with respect to the contact, and the load weight is always constant. Although it can be evaluated, since the above-mentioned displacement is obtained by so-called gravity, the presser descends vertically (by the load weight) on the measured body (muscle or epidermis). It is necessary to arrange it, and at the time of measurement, it is restricted by the posture of the person being measured, and the usability is not necessarily good.

  The present invention focuses on the drawbacks of such a conventional hardness tester, and can be applied in any direction regardless of the posture of the person being measured. It was invented to provide a muscle hardness meter that can be loaded.

  A guide tube having a tip edge as a contact edge with respect to the skin of the muscle part is projected at one end of the main body, and the guide cylinder is movably accommodated with the advance and retreat material biased in the direction of the tip edge by the first coil spring, A pusher protruding outside the guide tube is provided at the front end of the advance / retreat material on the axial line, and the rear end side of the advance / retreat material is accommodated in the main body, and the pusher is relative to the contact edge. In addition to a displacement detecting device, a support rod projecting from the other end of the main body with the axial line extending upward is urged by a second coil spring having a larger elastic force than the first coil spring. Accordingly, an operation member that is close to the main body is assembled so as to be movable along the extension of the axis, and an indicator means that indicates a movement position of the operation material against the second coil spring is provided at an appropriate position of the support rod. The configuration is provided.

  According to the present invention, the operation material is set in advance (according to the elastic force of the second coil spring) against the bias of the second coil spring in a state where the contact edge of the guide tube is in contact with the skin of the muscle part. When it is moved to the indicator means position, it moves with a constant pressing load to reach that position, and this pressing load is applied to the contact edge at the tip of the guide cylinder via the support rod and the main body and presses against the skin. In this pressure contact state, the pusher protruding outside the guide tube moves backward against the bias of the first coil spring due to the hardness of the muscle existing in the epidermis, and the amount of retreat, that is, the amount of displacement is provided at the tip. It appears on the rear end side of the advancing / retreating material, and the displacement amount detecting device is operated so that the muscle hardness amount can be displayed on a scale as a hardness meter.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, since the so-called gravity is not used, the displacement amount of the presser when the operation material is moved to the index means position without being restricted in terms of usability (scale value) ), A measurement result that does not change depending on the measurer can be expected.

  1 is a front view, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view, FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a longitudinal section in a state during measurement. FIG. 5 and FIG. 5 are longitudinal sectional views of the second embodiment.

  In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body. The main body 1 accommodates a displacement detecting device 2 of the presser, and a pointer 4 is attached to a needle shaft 3 that rotates in conjunction with the displacement amount detecting device 2. The muscle hardness is displayed when the pointer 4 indicates the hardness scale 5a of the scale board 5 arranged on the surface.

  A guide cylinder 6 protrudes from one end of the main body 1, and the guide cylinder 6 protrudes directly from the main body 1 and communicates with the inside of the main body 1 in which the detection device 2 is disposed. 6A, a bottomless middle cylinder 6B fitted to the outside of the inner cylinder 6A and projecting a lower part (on the drawing) downward from the inner cylinder 6A, and fastened to the inner cylinder 6A with screws 7, It consists of a bottomed outer cylinder 6C fitted to the outer side of the inner cylinder 6B and fixed to the inner cylinder 6B with a screw 7 ', and the tip edge, that is, the tip edge of the outer cylinder 6C is brought into contact with the epidermis a of the muscle site. The advancing / retreating material 9 is accommodated (slidably fitted) in the lumen so as to be movable (movable longitudinally in the drawing) along the axis of the guide tube 6.

  The advancing / retracting material 9 is formed by providing a flange piece 9b on the front end side of the columnar main body 9a and projecting a continuous flange 9c on the rear end on the axis line. The cylindrical main body 9a is fitted (slidably fitted) into the guide cylinder 6 and has an outer diameter capable of sliding on the inner cylinder 6B of the guide cylinder 6, while being connected to the cylindrical main body 9a. The projecting rod 9c (projected) is introduced into the main body 1 through the inner cylinder 6A as described above, and a rack 10 is provided at the introduction portion and meshed with the pinion 11 constituting the displacement detection device 2. is there.

  The advancing / retracting material 9 further includes a pressing element 12 projecting from the flange piece 9b on the tip side so as to project on the axis 1 of the advancing / retreating material 9, and the pressing element 12 rolls the spherical body 12a on the support material 12b. It can be assembled freely (using the rolling sphere 12a, the movement on the skin a can be smoothly performed when changing the measurement location), and the front end surface of the guide tube 6 (outer tube 6C) That is, the spherical body 12a protrudes outside the guide tube 6 through the window hole 13 provided in the piece 6a constituting the contact edge, and the sensing body is configured by pressing the spherical body 12a against the skin a.

  One end of the advancing / retracting member 9 is engaged with the flange piece 9b (that is, the advancing / retreating member 9) and the other end is engaged with the tip 6B '(that is, the guiding tube 6) of the middle cylinder 6B. The first coil spring 14 is wound and contracted (not necessarily disposed in a contracted state) in the inner cavity, and the first coil spring 14 is energized to the tip of the advance / retreat material 9. The protruding presser 12 protrudes to the outside of the guide tube 6 through the window hole 13 and always contacts the skin a during measurement.

  Further, a support rod 15 is projected from the other end corresponding to one end of the main body 1 on the guide tube 6 side so as to extend the axis of the guide tube 6, and the support rod 15 is a base side on the main body 1 side. It is constituted by a rod housing having a pressure receiving portion piece (index means) 16 provided in a bowl shape and having a screw portion 15a at the tip, and on the outside of the support rod 15, the support rod 15 The operation member 17 is assembled with a cylindrical body having one end on the main body 1 side as a small diameter portion 17a and the other end side as a large diameter portion 17b. 15, one end is locked to the indicator piece 16, and the other end of the second coil spring 18 having a larger elastic force than the first coil spring 14 is connected to the inner wall of the small-diameter portion 17 a. As described above, the screw part 1 is assembled to the support rod 15 and provided at the tip of the support rod 15 as described above. The stop member as the support rod 15 passes through the nut member 20 screwed fitted in the large diameter portion 17b in a, in which assembled movably along the axis of the support rod 15.

  The displacement amount detection means 2 is configured by meshing a large-diameter gear 21 that is coaxial with the pinion 11 that meshes with the rack 10 and interlocked with the pinion 11 with a small drive gear 22 that is fixed to the needle shaft 3. Is.

  Thus, the operating member 17 that is retracted from the main body 1 side by the urging force of the second coil spring 18 and is locked to the nut member 20 to be restricted in movement and prevented from coming off from the support rod 15, When the contact edge 8 at the front end of the guide tube 6 is pressed in a state where it is in contact with the skin a, the support rod 15, the main body 1 and the guide tube 6 are integrated, so that they are provided with the second coil spring 18. The contact edge 8 on the distal end side of the moving body is in pressure contact with the skin a. When the pressing of the operation material 17 is continued in this pressure contact state, the movement of the moving body is interrupted by the hardness of the skin a, so that only the operation material 17 resists the bias of the second coil spring 18. Then, it moves forward in the direction of the skin a, that is, in the direction of the main body 1 and moves to the position of the index piece 16.

  When the tip of the operation material 17 reaches the index piece 16, the advance / retreat material 9 is urged in the direction of the skin a by the first coil spring 14 separately from the operation of the operation material 17 and the like, and the presser 12 Since the (sphere 12a) is in pressure contact with the epidermis a, the strength of the muscle existing under the epidermis a is stronger than the elastic force of the first coil spring 14 (strength to prevent the presser 12 from sinking into the epidermis a). As a result, the first coil spring 14 is retracted against the bias.

  Since the presser 12 is provided at the tip of the advance / retreat material 9, the retreat of the presser 12 appears as the retreat of the advance / retreat material 9, and the rack 10 at the rear end of the advance / retreat material 9 is accommodated in the main body 1. The pinion 11 of the displacement detection device 2 is operated, and the pointer 4 provided on the needle shaft 3 is rotated in conjunction with the large-diameter tooth 21 and the drive gear 22 in order, and a scale plate as a muscle hardness scale indicated by the pointer 4 By reading the scale 5a displayed on 5, the hardness of the muscle part which is the measurement part is visually confirmed.

  In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a pressure receiving piece 16A of the second coil spring 18 is provided on the support rod 15 separately from the indicator piece 16, and the remaining configuration and the movement of each part are shown in FIGS. As long as there is no contradiction with the second embodiment shown in FIG.

  In addition, the indicator piece 16 has a constant load load on the jacket a of the contact edge 8 at the tip of the guide tube 6 in other words, the amount of movement of the operation material 17 that resists the bias of the second coil spring 18. Therefore, the indicator piece 16 may be provided at any position on the moving path of the operation material 17 (although it is determined in relation to the magnitude of the elastic force of the second coil spring 18). ), Any means such as providing a color changing portion or a groove on the support rod 15 in place of the piece 16 is not inconvenient.

  The displacement detecting device 2 is not inconvenient even if it uses a differential transformer or a potentiometer.

Front view. FIG. FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 2. The longitudinal cross-sectional view of the state at the time of measurement. The longitudinal cross-sectional view of a 2nd Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Detection apparatus 6 of displacement amount Guide cylinder 8 Contact edge 9 Advance / retreat material 12 Presser 14 First coil spring 15 Support rod 17 Operation material 18 Second coil spring

Claims (1)

A guide tube having a tip edge as a contact edge with respect to the skin of the muscle part is projected at one end of the main body, and the guide cylinder is movably accommodated with the advance and retreat material biased in the direction of the tip edge by the first coil spring A pusher protruding outside the guide tube is provided at the front end of the advance / retreat material on the axial line, and the rear end side of the advance / retreat material is accommodated in the main body, and the pusher is relative to the contact edge. In addition to a displacement detecting device, a support rod projecting from the other end of the main body with the axial line extending upward is urged by a second coil spring having a larger elastic force than the first coil spring. Accordingly, an operation member that is close to the main body is assembled so as to be movable along the extension of the axis, and an indicator means that indicates a movement position of the operation material against the second coil spring is provided at an appropriate position of the support rod. A muscle hardness meter provided.

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