JP3088030B2 - Endoscope - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope for observing the inside of a body cavity of a living body.
The present invention relates to a technique for fixing an endoscope tube such as a water supply tube.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an endoscope tube such as a forceps channel or an air supply / water supply tube provided inside an endoscope is provided by:
It is fixed as shown in FIG. In FIG.
Is a distal end structural member accommodated in a distal end rigid portion (not shown) of the endoscope. The distal end of the endoscope tube 102 is inserted into a screw hole 103A formed in the fixing member 103. The fixing member 103 is attached to the tip structural member 101. An external thread 10 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the end of the tube 102.
2A is formed, and a female screw that fits into the male screw 102A is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the screw hole 103A.

When the tube 102 is fixed, the male screw 102A of the tube is screwed into the screw hole 103A of the fixing member and fitted, and the outer peripheral surface of the male screw 102A and the inner peripheral surface of the screw hole 103A are bonded with an adhesive. I do. Then, the fixing member 1 formed on the back side of the screw hole 103A
03 is inserted into the mounting hole 101A formed in the tip structural member 101, and the fixing member 10B is inserted.
The screws 104A and 104B are screwed into the screw holes 103C and 103D formed in the third member 3 and the screw holes 101B and 101C formed in the distal end structural member 101, and the fixing member 103 is formed.
Is fixed to the distal end structural member 101 together with the end of the tube 102.

In addition to the above-described fixing method, the end of the tube for an endoscope is fitted to a projection formed on a fixing member, and a thread is wound around the outer peripheral surface of the end of the tube to fix the end of the tube. There is a fixing method to do. Also in this case, sufficient strength is secured in the fixed portion of the tube by using an adhesive in combination. In other words, stress (hereinafter referred to as “extraction force”) is easily applied to the fixing portion of the endoscope tube end in the direction in which the tube is extracted, but the tube fixing portion has sufficient resistance to the extraction force. Is to have.

[0005]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned prior art, in addition to the bonding between the endoscope tube and the fixing member with an adhesive, threading of the outer peripheral surface of the tube or threading on the outer peripheral surface of the tube is required. A complicated secondary operation such as a bobbin winding is necessary, and such a secondary operation and a tube assembling operation largely depend on the skill of an operator, so that the operation efficiency is poor and the cost is high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope capable of fixing an endoscope tube at low cost and with high efficiency. Is to provide.

[0007]

To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an insertion device which is inserted into a body cavity of a living body.
Part, a tip rigid part provided at the tip of the insertion part,
Forceps channel, air supply tube or water supply to the rigid part of the tip
For fixing the end of the endoscope tube as a tube
Endoscope comprising a fixing member for

The fixing member has a screw formed on an inner peripheral surface.
Screw hole having an inner diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the endoscope tube
Having an end of the endoscope tube in the screw hole.
It is formed on the outer peripheral surface by rotating insertion
The end surface of the endoscope tube and the
Adhesive filled in the gap between the inner peripheral surface of
It is characterized by

[0009]

In the endoscope of the present invention having the above configuration,
The end of the endoscope tube where no screw is formed is screwed into the screw hole of the fixing member in a self-tapping manner, and a gap formed between the outer peripheral surface of the tube and the inner peripheral surface of the screw hole is filled with an adhesive. Since the tube is fixed by a screw, complicated secondary operations such as threading and thread winding of the outer peripheral surface of the tube are not required, and the tube assembling operation is simplified. In addition, the threaded portion of the screw hole cuts into the end of the tube, and the gap between the outer peripheral surface of the tube and the inner peripheral surface of the screw hole is filled with an adhesive to generate an adhesive reservoir, so that the end of the tube is The part is securely fixed in the screw hole, and the fixing part of the tube provides high strength against withdrawal force.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an end portion of an endoscope tube and an end portion of a fixing member in an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the state attached to. In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes an endoscope tube such as a forceps channel or an air / water supply tube.
It is made of a flexible elastic material such as resin. on the other hand,
Reference numeral 2 denotes a fixing member to which the tube 1 is fixed, and a screw hole 2A is formed at an end of the fixing member.

When forming the screw hole 2A, the outer diameter d of the tube 1 is slightly smaller (about 0.05-0.
After forming a prepared hole having an inner diameter D (1 mm smaller) in the fixing member 2, a female screw is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the prepared hole by a tap that can be threaded into the prepared hole. Then, by rotating the tube 1 or the fixing member 2, the end of the tube 1 is screwed into the screw hole 2A in a self-tapping manner while rotating the end of the tube 1 with respect to the screw hole 2A. At this time, the screw portion of the screw hole 2A serves as a guide to guide the tube 1, so that the end of the tube 1 can be easily inserted into the screw hole 2A.

A gap 3 formed between the outer peripheral surface of the tube 1 and the inner peripheral surface of the screw hole 2 is filled with an adhesive 4.
The outer peripheral surface of the end of the tube 1 and the inner peripheral surface of the screw hole 2A are bonded. In the fixed portion of the tube 1, the screw portion of the screw hole 2 bites into the end of the tube 1 so that the end of the tube 1 is fixed, and the outer circumferential surface of the tube 1 and the inner circumferential surface of the screw hole 2A are fixed. Since the gap 3 with the surface becomes an adhesive pool and the end of the tube 1 is securely fixed in the screw hole 2A, a high strength against the pulling force can be obtained at the fixed portion of the tube 1.

The inside of the fixing member 2 is
A hole (not shown) for passing a fluid passing through the water supply tube or a treatment tool passing through the forceps channel is formed, and the end of the tube 1 screwed into the screw hole 2A and the air supply / discharge through the hole without any trouble. Water supply or insertion of a treatment tool is performed.

Endoscope tube 1 and fixing member 2
Is provided inside the endoscope 10 as shown in FIG. The endoscope 10 is connected to a main body 12 of an electronic endoscope apparatus by a universal cord 13 and has a tubular insertion portion 14 to be introduced into a body cavity of a subject (living body).
And an operation unit 15 connected to the base end of the insertion unit 14 for performing a scope operation.

An image pickup device (not shown) such as a CCD device is provided in a distal end rigid portion 14A provided at the distal end of the insertion portion 14.
Is provided, and an optical image of an inspection site inside the body cavity is converted into an electric signal by the image pickup device. This electric signal is sent to an information processing unit (not shown) in the apparatus main body 12, and this signal is converted into a video signal by the information processing unit and sent to a display unit 16 such as a CRT display. The display unit 16 displays an image of the surface state of the test part of the subject according to the video signal.

The insertion section 14 and the operation section 15 of the endoscope 10
Further, inside the universal cord 13, an air supply / water supply tube for supplying air / water into the body cavity is housed, and inside the insertion section 14 and the operation section 15, a treatment tool such as forceps is provided inside the body cavity. A tube-shaped forceps channel for inserting the forceps is housed.

These air supply / water supply tubes and forceps channels correspond to the endoscope tubes 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and in both cases, both ends thereof are shown in FIGS. 2, it is fixed to the fixing member 2. In the case of the air supply / water supply tube, the tip rigid portion 14
Each end of the tube is fixedly arranged together with a fixing member inside the A and the apparatus main body 12. In the case of the forceps channel, each end of the tube is fixedly arranged together with a fixing member inside the distal end rigid portion 14A and the operation portion 15.

As described above, in this embodiment, the end of the endoscope tube 1 where no screw is formed is screwed into the screw hole 2A of the fixing member in a self-tapping manner.
The gap 4 between the outer peripheral surface of the tube 1 and the inner peripheral surface of the screw hole 2A is filled with an adhesive 4 to fix the end of the tube 1, so that complicated secondary operations such as threading of the outer peripheral surface of the tube 1 and thread winding are performed. Is unnecessary, and the assembling work of the tube 1 is simple. Therefore,
The working time required for fixing the tube 1 is reduced, and the working efficiency is improved. As a result, the manufacturing process of the endoscope 10 is simplified, and the manufacturing efficiency is improved. Further, the present embodiment also has an advantage that the structure of the fixed portion of the tube 1 is simpler than the above-described method of fixing the tube by the thread winding.

Further, as described above, a high strength against the withdrawal force can be obtained at the fixed portion at the end of the tube 1, and in this embodiment, the work can be performed easily without depending on the skill of the worker.
Since the end of the tube 1 can be securely fixed,
Uniform and stable strength can be obtained as compared with the above-described method of threading a tube or the method of thread winding. Therefore, the quality and reliability of the endoscope 10 can be improved.

Further, in the method of threading a tube, it is necessary to accurately fit a male thread portion on the outer peripheral surface of the tube and a female thread portion of the threaded hole of the fixing member. And the size of the taps had to be strictly determined. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, if the inner diameter of the prepared hole of the screw hole 2A is made slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the tube 1, the tube 1 is self-tapped and the screw hole 2A is formed.
, The size of the screw is not limited to a specific size. That is, the dimension of the pilot hole is important for the insertion of the tube 1 into the screw hole 2A, and the size of the screw itself is not so important. Therefore, in the present embodiment, screw processing can be performed efficiently. In addition, any size tap can be used as long as the tap can be threaded into the pilot hole, and a standard size tap can be used, so that a special tool is not required. Also in this respect, cost can be reduced.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
The present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above embodiment, the endoscope of the electronic endoscope device is taken as an example, but the present invention is also applicable to a fiberscope or the like. In the above embodiment, the screw hole 2A
The inner diameter D of the prepared hole is about 0.05 more than the outer diameter d of the tube 1.
The relationship between the outer diameter of the tube and the inner diameter of the prepared hole is not limited to this, and the inner diameter of the prepared hole is smaller than the outer diameter of the tube. If the bite of the part is sufficient and the tube can be screwed into the screw hole in a self-tapping manner, the inner diameter of the pilot hole and the outer diameter of the tube should be adjusted according to the flexibility and outer diameter of the tube. The difference may be set to less than 0.05 mm or more than 0.1 mm.

[0023]

As described above, the endoscope of the present invention has the above-mentioned structure and operation. When the endoscope tube is fixed, complicated secondary operations such as threading and thread winding of the tube are not required.
The tube can be incorporated into the fixing member and fixed in a short time in a simple operation. Therefore, the working efficiency required for fixing the tube and the manufacturing efficiency of the endoscope can be improved. Further, the manufacturing cost of the endoscope can be reduced. Further, since a uniform and stable high strength can be obtained in the fixed portion of the endoscope tube, the quality and reliability of the endoscope can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an endoscope tube and a fixing member in an endoscope according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where an endoscope tube is attached to a fixing member in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the endoscope of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a method of fixing an endoscope tube in a conventional endoscope.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 endoscope tube 2 fixing member 2A screw hole 3 gap between outer peripheral surface of tube and inner peripheral surface of screw hole 4 adhesive 10 endoscope d outer diameter of tube D inner diameter of prepared hole

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] (1)An insertion portion to be inserted into a body cavity of a living body;
And a tip rigid portion provided at the tip of the insertion portion.
Forceps channel, air supply tube or water supply tube
To fix the end of the endoscope tube as
With membersIn the endoscope, the fixing memberHas a screw formed on the inner peripheral surface,
Has a screw hole with an inner diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the tube, The end of the endoscope tube is rotated with respect to the screw hole.
With screws formed on the outer peripheral surface by being inserted
And Outer peripheral surface of the endoscope tube end and inner periphery of the screw hole
Adhesive to be filled in the gap between the surface and To have Endoscope that features.