JP3145516B2 - Endoscope guide device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an elongated guide device used for guiding an endoscope, and more particularly to a direction display for confirming an actual direction of each part of an image obtained by the endoscope. The present invention relates to a guide device having a function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, an endoscope includes a body, an insertion portion extending from the body, and a hard tip provided at a distal end portion of the insertion portion. Is provided. And, the image entered from the observation window,
Observation is made from the eyepiece of the body via an optical transmission system passing through the insertion section. By the way, when the insertion portion of the endoscope is inserted into a tube having a complicated shape and the inner surface of the tube is observed, the actual position of each part of the image obtained by the endoscope due to the torsion of the insertion portion or the like. Direction is lost. For this reason, even if a defect or the like can be found on the inner surface of the tube by the endoscope, there is a disadvantage that it is not possible to confirm which direction the defect is in the upper, lower, left and right directions of the tube.

In order to solve such inconveniences, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 62-63910 and 2-68024, the actual direction of each part of the obtained image is checked. An endoscope incorporating a direction display mechanism for performing the operation has been developed. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 of the publication, a direction display mechanism described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-63910 is provided between an observation window and a tip of an image guide in a tip of an endoscope. And a sphere 12 whose movement in the axial direction is restricted by a pair of transparent plates 11 and which can move in the circumferential direction and the radial direction. Therefore, in the eyepiece provided on the body, a part of the sphere is observed as a part of the image. Since the sphere is always positioned below by gravity, the vertical direction of the image can be confirmed by observing the sphere. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a transparent disk 15 rotatably supported by an annular bearing 14 is used. The center of gravity of the disk 15 is deviated from the center of rotation, and a direction display mark 16 is attached to a portion that is always located below. The direction display mechanism described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-68024 includes a wire 26 attached to a distal end tip of an endoscope and extending forward, and a weight 28 attached to a distal end portion of the wire. The wire is elastically deformed by the weight. The direction in which the wire is deformed is the direction of gravity, whereby the vertical direction of the image can be confirmed. The basic structure of a guide device for an endoscope is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,649.

[0004]

However, in the direction display mechanism disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-63910, the sphere 12 and the mark 16 appear in the image, so that the field of view is narrowed accordingly.
There was a problem that it was difficult to observe. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-6
In the direction display mechanism disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8024, there is a problem that it is difficult to observe because the hanging wire rod crosses the visual field.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope guide capable of confirming the direction of an image obtained by an endoscope and preventing a field of view from being narrowed or difficult to observe. It is to provide a device.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above-mentioned object, and the gist of the invention is as follows. A guide body that guides the club, and (b)
An annular displacement member housed in an annular concave portion formed on the inner periphery of the distal end portion of the guide body and supported rotatably with respect to the guide body, the position of the center of gravity of which is offset from the center of rotation; (C) an annular base made of a thin plate of an elastic material and fixed to the displacement member so as to be located on a surface orthogonal to the axis of the guide body, an inner peripheral surface of the displacement member and an inner peripheral surface of a distal end portion of the guide body; A direction indicator plate having a direction indicator that projects radially and inwardly from the direction indicator to indicate a specific direction, and a guide device for an endoscope.

[0007]

The observation is performed by projecting the end of the endoscope from the end of the guide body, and the end of the endoscope is retracted from the direction display plate to confirm the direction. When observing, the direction indicator does not enter the field of view of the endoscope. Also, when checking the direction, the direction display portion of the direction display plate protrudes from the inner peripheral surface of the guide body, so that the direction display portion can be easily observed. The direction indicator plate is elastically deformed when passing through the end of the endoscope, so that it does not hinder the passage.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 3, the guide device A for an endoscope includes a tube 2
It has. The tube 2 is flexible in bending and relatively strong in tension and compression in the axial direction. The tube 2 is formed of a thin metal strip wound spirally, and the side edges of adjacent winding portions of the strip are engaged with each other. For example, the outer diameter of the tube 2 is 10 to 20 mm, and the length is several meters.

At the rear end of the tube 2, a rigid attachment 3 having a cylindrical shape is mounted, and is fixed by screws 4. The tapered opening 3a at the rear end of the attachment 3 is provided as an entrance for inserting an insertion portion of an endoscope described later into the tube 2. A rigid connecting cylinder 5 is attached to the distal end of the tube 2, and is fixed by screws 6. A ball 7 is attached to the outer periphery of the connecting cylinder 5. In addition, a tubular rigid attachment 10 is attached to the distal end of the connecting cylinder 5. As shown in FIG. 1, the attachment 10 includes a first half 11 and a second half 12. The first half 11 is screwed to the outer periphery of the distal end of the connecting cylinder 5 and fixed by screws 8. The second half 12 is screwed around the outer periphery of the first half 11. An opening 12a at the distal end of the second half 12 is provided as an outlet for the insertion portion of the endoscope. By the tube 2, the attachment 3, the connecting tube 5, and the attachment 10 described above,
A guide body 1 is configured.

[0010] As shown in FIG.
An annular accommodation recess 13 is formed on the inner periphery of the zero.
An annular direction display mechanism 20 is housed in the housing recess 13. The direction display mechanism 20 includes a pair of annular bearings 21 (holding means) attached to a pair of opposite side surfaces of the housing recess 13, and an annular displacement member 25 rotatably supported by the bearings 21. I have. Each bearing 21 is screwed into the housing recess 13 by a screw 22.
And a plurality of steel balls 24 supported by the retainer 23. The rotation center of the displacement member 25 is
It coincides with the axis L of the connecting cylinder 5.

The displacement member 25 is rotatably supported on both sides by the pair of bearings 21 with its axis aligned with the axis L of the attachment 10. The inner peripheral surface of the displacement member 25 is flush with the inner peripheral surfaces of the attachment 10 and the connecting cylinder. The displacement member 2
5 has a pair of rings 26 connected by screws (not shown) and a weight 27 made of a material having a higher specific gravity than the rings 26. A concave portion 26a is formed at a predetermined position on the outer peripheral surface of the pair of rings 26, and the weight 27 is housed in the concave portion 26a so as to partially protrude from the outer peripheral surface of the ring 26, and is fixed by screws (not shown). Have been. For this reason, the center of gravity G of the displacement member 25 is deviated toward the weight 27 from the rotation center L, and the weight 27 is always located below the rotation center L.

A direction display plate 28 is sandwiched between a pair of rings 26 of the displacement member 25. More specifically, the direction display plate 28 is formed of an annular thin plate formed of an elastic material such as rubber, and is disposed on a plane orthogonal to the axis L. The direction display plate 28 has an annular base 28a and three types of projections P, Q, and R (direction display sections) that protrude inward and radially from the base 28a. The base 28a of the direction display plate 28 is supported by being sandwiched by a pair of rings 26, and its inner periphery coincides with the inner peripheral surface of the ring 26, and only the projections P, Q, and R are inside the ring. It protrudes from the peripheral surface. The rotation center of the base 28 a coincides with the axis L of the attachment 10. One projection P of the direction display plate 28 is arranged at a position corresponding to the weight 27 and is always located below. The three projections Q are 90
°, 180 ° apart, that is, right, left, and up. The four projections R are arranged at positions 45 ° away from the projections P and Q, that is, diagonally above right, diagonally below right, diagonally above left, and diagonally below left, respectively.

The guide device A having the above structure is used to guide the endoscope B into the tube C as shown in FIG.
Tube C, for example, has a vertical portion C ₁ and a horizontal portion C ₂ extending horizontally from the lower end of the vertical portion C _1. The endoscope B has a body 50 and an insertion portion 51 extending from the body 50. The distal end of the insertion portion 51 is provided as a curved portion 52, and the distal end of the curved portion 52 has a hard tip 5.
3 is attached. Both the insertion portion 51 and the bending portion 52 are flexible with respect to bending. As is well known, the bending portion 52 is connected to an operation member 54 provided on the body 50 via a wire passing through the insertion portion 51 and the bending portion 52, and is bent by a remote operation of the operation member 54. Has become. An illumination window and an observation window (both not shown) are formed on the tip surface of the chip 53. As is well known, the illumination window is connected to a light source (not shown) by an optical fiber passing through the insertion portion 51, the body 50, and a cable 55 extending from the body 50, and light from the light source is emitted from the illumination window. The observation window is optically connected to an eyepiece 56 formed on the body 50 via an optical system including an optical fiber, so that the observation window can be observed from the eyepiece 56. The endoscope may be of a type connected to a television.

When the inside of the tube C is inspected by the endoscope B, the endoscope B is inserted into the tube C while being inserted into the guide device A, and the lower end thereof is connected to the lower end of the vertical portion C ₁ of the tube C. To reach. Next, in a state where the projecting curved portion 52 of the endoscope B from the lower end of the guide device A, by operating the operation member 54, is bent toward the bent portion 52 in the horizontal section C _2. In this state, when the guide device A is pushed downward, the guide device A is guided by the curved portion 52 of the endoscope B, and the horizontal portion C ₂
Sent to. At this time, the ball 7 is provided at the distal end of the guide device A, and the ball 7 moves while contacting the tube C, so that the guide device A can be smoothly fed. By such feeding of the guide device A, the distal end tip 53 of the endoscope B is hidden in the guide device A.

Next, the endoscope B is fed in while being guided by the guide device A, and the bending portion 52 and the tip 5 are fed.
3 is again projected from the tip of the guide device B. In this state, while bending the bending portion 52, to observe the inner surface of the horizontal portion C ₂ of the tube C, and checks whether there is a flaw or the like. As described above, when the direction display plate 28 is provided on the guide device A and the endoscope B is observing the inner surface of the tube C,
Since the direction indicator 28 is not in the field of view of the eyepiece 54, the direction indicator 28 does not narrow the field of view.

If the [0016] found the endoscopic wound of the observation window of the tube C ₂ through the inner surface of the distal tip 53 of the B is the distal tip 53 is pulled back the endoscope B to the rear of the direction display panel 28 By positioning and observing the protrusions P, Q and R,
Check the direction of the wound. Projection P, Q, R of direction display board 28
Protrudes from the inner peripheral surface of the attachment 10,
It can be easily observed from the endoscope. Since the inner peripheral surface of the displacement member 25 is flush with the inner peripheral surface of the attachment 10, the distal end tip 53 of the endoscope B, the bending portion 5
2. Smooth passage of the insertion portion 51 is guaranteed. Also,
Since the direction display plate 28 is made of an elastic resin such as rubber, the projections P, Q, and R are elastically deformed when the endoscope B passes, and do not hinder the passage.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be appropriately changed without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the attachment 10 may be directly connected to the distal end of the flexible tube 2 without interposing the connection tube 5. The inner diameter of the displacement member 25 may be larger than the inner diameter of the attachment 10. Thus, the inner peripheral surface of the displacement member 25 is arranged radially and outwardly from the inner peripheral surface of the attachment 10. Even in this case, the direction support plate 2
Eight protrusions P, Q, R protrude from the inner peripheral surface of the attachment 10. The inner diameter of the displacement member 25 may be smaller than the inner diameter of the attachment 10 as long as it does not hinder the insertion of the endoscope.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the direction display plate is provided at the distal end of the guide device, and when the inner surface of a tube or the like is observed with the endoscope, the direction display plate is invisible. Since it is not in the field of view of the mirror, the direction indicator does not narrow the field of view of the endoscope. Further, since the direction display section protrudes from the inner peripheral surface of the guide body, the direction display section can be easily observed by retracting the endoscope from the direction display plate. Further, since the direction display plate is formed of an elastic material, it can be elastically deformed when passing through the distal end portion of the endoscope, and does not hinder the passage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged sectional view of a distal end portion of a guide device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a direction display plate used in the guide device.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the entire endoscope guide device.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an endoscope guiding operation of the guide device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Guide body 13 ... Recess 25 ... Displacement member 28 ... Direction display plate 28a ... Base P ... Projection (direction display part)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G02B 23/24 G01N 21/88 G01N 21/90 G01N 21/954

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A guide body for guiding an insertion portion of an endoscope, wherein the guide body guides an insertion portion of an endoscope, and a ring formed on an inner periphery of a distal end portion of the guide body. An annular displacement member whose center of gravity is deviated from the center of rotation and which is accommodated in the recess of the guide body and which is rotatably supported by the guide body; An annular base fixed to the displacement member so as to be located on a plane perpendicular to the axis, and projecting radially and inwardly from the inner peripheral surface of the displacement member and the inner peripheral surface of the distal end of the guide body to represent a specific direction A guide device for an endoscope, comprising: a direction display plate having a direction display unit.