JP2501158Y2 - Endoscope - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope in which a distal end of a bending operation wire is fixed to a most advanced bending piece.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a bending operation wire of an endoscope is inserted inside a bending tube and guided by a wire receiver provided on an inner wall surface of each bending piece constituting the bending tube. Then, the distal end of the bending operation wire inserted through each wire receiver is brazed and fixed to the most distal bending piece, and the bending tube is bent by pushing and pulling the wire.

[0003]

However, in the prior art, the tip of the bending operation wire is brazed and fixed to the wire receiver of the most advanced bending piece, but at the time of the work, the wax flows into and out of the bending piece. Conventionally, the post-treatment for removing the flow-out wax has been troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an endoscope in which a brazing wire does not flow into and out of a bending piece during brazing and fixing work of an operation wire. Especially.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a plurality of bending pieces are pivotally connected in series to form a bending tube, and a distal end portion of a bending operation wire for bending the bending tube is brazed to the bending piece. In the fixed endoscope, at least the proximal end of the bending operation wire is fixed to the distal end of the bending piece to which the distal end of the bending operation wire is fixed.
A part of the peripheral wall of the bending piece adjacent to the side is cut out, and excess brazing wire is taken into the cutout during brazing and fixing operation of the operation wire.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 shows the entire endoscope, which includes an operating section 11, a long insertion section 12 connected to the distal end of the operating section 11 and inserted into a body cavity, and a base of the operating section 11. It is composed of a long light guide cable 14 provided with a connector 13 which is connected to an end portion and detachably connected to a light source device (not shown). The operation unit 11
A bending operation lever 15 and an eyepiece portion 16 are provided in the.

Further, the insertion portion 12 has a flexible tube portion 1 from the base end side.
7, the bending portion 18, and the tip forming portion 19 are connected in series. As shown in FIG. 1, the bending portion 18 is configured by covering the outer peripheral surface of a bending tube 20 formed of a bending piece row with a blade 21 made of a metal element wire and an outer tube 22. The distal end portion of the outer tube 22 reaches the outer peripheral portion of the distal end forming portion 19 excluding the distal end portion and is fitted therein, and is fixed by a tightening thread 26 and an adhesive 27.

The bending tube 20 has a plurality of short-cylindrical bending pieces 23 arranged in series, and adjacent portions of the bending pieces 23, for example, facing each other, are rotatably connected via a pair of pivots 24, and each of them is rotatably connected. In the inner wall surface of the bending piece 23, a pair of wire receivers 25 are integrally formed by cutting the wall portion inward in a circular arc shape at an intermediate portion in the axial direction at a relative portion orthogonal to the pivot portion. Further, the tip end of the most distal bending piece 23a is fitted on the outer peripheral portion of the base end of the tip forming portion 19 and is fixed by adhesive bonding, brazing or the like.

The tip of the image guide fiber 28 and the light guide fiber 29 inserted into the insertion portion 12 are fixed to the tip forming portion 19. The image guide fiber 28 is connected to the rear side of the objective lens 30 via an image guide base 31, and the light guide fiber 29 is connected to the light guide base 32 formed into a shape having a cylindrical inner cavity . . That is, the image guide fiber 28 is inserted into the light guide fiber 29.

The image guide fiber 28 is led to the eyepiece portion 16 of the operating portion 11, and the light guide fiber 29 is led to the connector 13 of the light guide cable 14 through the operating portion 11 and the light guide cable 14. The image guide fiber 28 and the light guide fiber 29 are housed together in the insertion section 12 by the covering tube 33, and the operation section 1
In the above, the image guide fiber 28 and the light guide fiber 19 are separated in 1 and installed in separate coating tubes (neither is shown).

A bending operation wire 34 is inserted through the wire receiver 25 of each bending piece 23, and the tip end of each wire 34 is fixed to the wire receiver 25a of the most advanced bending piece 23a by a braze 35. Has been done. Here, the depth from the outer periphery of the bending piece 23a in the wire receiver 25a of the most advanced bending piece 23a is almost the same as the outer diameter of the bending operation wire 34, including the thickness of the bending piece 23a as shown in FIG. equal. Further, in the wall portion of the curved portion 23a, adjacent to the wire receiver 25a, there are cut grooves 36 formed in notches in respective portions in both front and rear directions. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, assuming that the depth of the wire receiver 25a from the inner peripheral surface of the bending piece is H, the outer diameter of the bending operation wire 34 is D, and the thickness of the bending piece 23a is t, H + t = D Is set to. Also, the bending operation wire 3
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the tip portion of No. 4 is first exposed from the inside of the most distal bending piece 23a to the outside of the wire receiver 25a through the kerf 36a on the base end side, and then the tip end of The wire 34 is again inserted into the inside of the bending piece 23a through the cut groove 36b, and the wire 34 is axially tensioned so that no gap is formed between the bending piece 23a and the wire 34, and then the brazing 35 is poured and fixed by brazing. . At this time, since the excess braze 35 flows into the cut groove 36, it does not protrude to the inside and outside of the bending piece 23a. Therefore, generally no post-treatment of this brazing work is required.
After that, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the bending operation wire 34 is cut with a file or the like to finish the tip end surface of the wire 34 and the tip end surface of the wire receiver 25a on the same surface.

The proximal end of the bending operation wire 34 is guided to the bending operation lever 15 of the operation portion 11 through the insertion portion 12 and the operation portion 11, and by rotating the lever 15, a pair of wires can be operated. Push and pull 34, insert part 1
Here, the two bending portions 18 can be remotely bent in two directions such as the vertical direction.

In the endoscope having such a structure, the bending piece 23 in the wire receiver 25a of the most advanced bending piece 23a.
Since the depth from the outer diameter of a including the wall thickness t of the bending piece 23a is formed to be substantially equal to the outer diameter D of the bending operation wire 34, the outermost portion of the wire 34 fixed to the outer side of the wire receiver 25a is formed. The outer surface and the outermost surface of the bending piece 23a are substantially flush with each other. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the bending piece 23a
When the effective inner diameter Y of is calculated, as described above, H + t = D Therefore, H = D-t
Y = d- (2 × H + 2t)
= D-2D
Therefore, the effective inner diameter Y of the bending piece 23a can be increased by at least the thickness 2t of the bending piece 23a.

Therefore, it is possible to secure a large effective area in the most advanced bending piece 23a without changing the outer diameter of the insertion portion 12, and to improve the endoscope performance by increasing the diameter of the observation optical system and the illumination optical system. If the observation optical system and the illumination optical system have the same outer diameter as the conventional one, the outer diameter of the insertion portion 12 can be reduced.

Further, since the cut grooves 36 are formed on both sides of the wire receiver 25a in the front-rear direction, and the bending operation wire 34 is brazed through the cut grooves 36, the brazing work is easy. Becomes Plus, an extra wax 3
Since 5 flows into the cut groove 36, the bending piece 23a
Do not stick out inside or outside. Therefore, generally no post-treatment of the brazing work is required.

Further, the bending operation wire 34 is not straight with respect to the wire receiver 25a, but the wire receiver 25a is passed from the inside of the bending piece 23a through the cut groove 36a on the proximal end side.
Since it is exposed outside and fixed in a bent state, the fixing strength of this fixing portion can be improved and the wire 34 can be reliably prevented from coming off.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, a wire receiver 25a is provided at an axially intermediate portion of the most advanced bending piece 23a. In addition, a kerf 36a is continuously provided from the wire receiver 25a to the base end (rear end) surface of the bending piece 23a, and the bending operation wire distal end is fixed to the wire receiver 25a with a brazing 35.

Therefore, in addition to the above-mentioned advantages when brazing and fixing, the following advantages can be obtained. That is, when the bending portion 18 is bent, the wire receiver 25a is provided in the axially intermediate portion of the bending piece 23a, and the kerf 36a is continuously provided at the base end portion of the wire receiver 25a. The bending operation wire 34 is not sandwiched between the bending piece 23a and the bending piece 23b, even though the second bending piece 23b has no kerf. The wire receiver 25a is provided on the bending piece 23a, and the kerf 36a is continuously provided at the base end portion of the wire receiver 25a. It is not necessary to provide the kerf on the second bending piece 23b. Processing to the bending piece 23 becomes easy.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, the bending portion 18 is not limited to bending in two directions, but can be applied to bending in four directions (up and down, left and right directions) provided with four wire receivers. Of course, various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0020]

As described above, according to the endoscope of the present invention, when the bending operation wire is fixed to the bending piece wire receiver by brazing, the brazing wire does not leak inside or outside the bending piece. The brazing operation can be performed stably, and post-treatment of the leaked brazing material is not particularly necessary, and workability can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a distal end portion of an insertion portion of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front cross-sectional view of the same portion as FIG.

FIG. 4 is a view on arrow A in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the most advanced bending piece of the first embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a view on arrow B of FIG. 7. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of the most advanced bending piece of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the entire endoscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow D in FIG. 10, showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a side sectional view of a part of the bending piece of the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

20 ... Bending tube, 23 ... Bending piece, 23a ... Cutting edge bending piece, 25 ... Wire receiving, 25a ... Cutting edge wire receiving,
34 ... Curving operation wire, 35 ... Wax, 36 ... Cut groove.

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An endoscope in which a plurality of bending pieces are pivotally connected in series to form a bending tube, and a distal end portion of a bending operation wire for bending the bending tube is fixed to the bending piece by brazing. Following the part of the bending piece where the tip of
An endoscope characterized in that at least a part of a peripheral wall of the bending piece adjacent to the base end side is cut out.