JP3229709B2 - Endoscope insertion section - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a blade used for an insertion portion of an endoscope.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A flexible insertion portion of a normal endoscope has a base portion which occupies most of the entire length, and a curved portion which extends from a distal end of the base portion and can be bent by remote control. The base part of the insertion part is a flex made by spirally winding a metal strip, a braid wrapped by a thin metal wire (strip) and covering the outer periphery of the flex, and a soft resin tube covering the outer periphery of the blade. And The curved portion of the insertion portion has a joint rotatably connected to each other, a braided braided metal thin wire covering the outer periphery of the joint, and a soft resin tube covering the outer periphery of the braid. . In addition, at the insertion portion of an industrial endoscope, for example, an endoscope used for observing pipes of water supply and sewerage, a cylindrical blade made of a thin metal wire is attached to the resin tube so that the resin tube is not damaged. Is covered.

[0003]

In the insertion portion of the endoscope, the blade disposed inside or outside the resin tube is formed by knitting a plurality of fine metal wires from one end to the other end. At both ends of the blade, both ends of the thin metal wire are arranged. Therefore, the blade must be assembled to the base end and the distal end of the insertion portion while preventing the metal thin wire from being unraveled at both ends, resulting in poor workability. Further, in the insertion portion of the endoscope, the curved portion is required to have lower bending rigidity than the base portion. In order to satisfy this requirement, it is necessary to use two blades having different knitting angles as inner or outer blades, arrange a blade having a large knitting angle on the base portion, and arrange a blade having a small knitting angle on the curved portion. was there. For this reason, a total of four ends of the two blades must be assembled to the insertion portion while preventing the metal wire from being unraveled, resulting in poor workability.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The invention of claim 1 has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the gist of the invention is that a ring and a plurality of strips whose intermediate portions are folded by the ring are provided. And a braided cylindrical blade, wherein the ring is incorporated together with the blade. The gist of the invention of claim 2 is:
A cylindrical blade formed by knitting a plurality of strips in an insertion portion of a flexible endoscope having a base portion occupying most of the entire length and a curved portion extending from the tip of the base portion and capable of being bent by remote control. The intermediate portion of the blade is fixed with a pair of inner and outer rings, and the pair of rings is arranged at the boundary between the curved portion and the base portion, and the knitting angle at the curved portion of the blade is set at the base portion. An insertion portion of an endoscope, wherein the insertion angle is smaller than a knitting angle.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the intermediate portion of the strip folded by the ring is located at one end of the blade, and the ring is assembled to the insertion portion, whereby the one end of the blade is assembled. Good workability. According to the invention of claim 2, by fixing the intermediate portion of one blade with a pair of rings, it is possible to change the knitting angle at the base portion and the curved portion, as compared with a case where two blades are assembled. The work of assembling the blade is simple.

[0006]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 2, the endoscope includes a body 1 and a flexible insertion portion 2 extending from a tip of the body 1. The insertion part 2 is a base part 2 occupying most of the entire length.
a and a curved portion 2 extending from the tip of the base portion 2a
b and a rigid portion 4 attached to the tip of the curved portion 2b. An operation member 5 is provided on a side surface of the body 1, and the operation member 5 allows a bending operation of the bending portion 2 b via a wire (not shown) passing through the insertion portion 2. An eyepiece 6 is provided at the rear end of the body 1, and a light guide tube 7 extends from the side. An observation window and an illumination window are formed in the hard portion 4. The observation window and the eyepiece 6 are optically connected by an image transmission optical system including an optical fiber bundle. The illumination window is connected to one end of another optical fiber bundle. The optical fiber bundle passes through the insertion section 2, the body 1, and the light guide tube 7, and the other end is held by a connector (not shown) attached to the tip of the light guide tube 7. This connector is connected to a light source device and receives light.

[0007] The insertion section 2 of the endoscope is inserted into water and sewage pipes. Light from a light source is emitted from the illumination window into the pipe via the optical fiber bundle. Light reflected from the inner wall of the pipe enters the observation window and enters the eyepiece 6 via the image transmission optical system.
Sent to Thereby, the inner wall of the pipe can be observed with the eyepiece 6.

As shown in FIG. 3, a base portion 2a of the insertion portion 2 includes a flex 21 formed by spirally winding a metal strip, and a blade 22 knitted by a thin metal wire and covered on the outer periphery of the flex 21. And a soft resin tube 23 that covers the outer periphery of the blade 22. The curved portion 2b of the insertion portion 2 includes a number of joints (not shown) rotatably connected to each other, a thin metal wire blade (not shown) covered on the outer periphery of the joint, and a soft wire covered on the blade. And a resin tube 23 '(FIG. 1).

The insertion portion 2 further includes the base portion 2
A single blade 25 is mounted on the outer circumference of the resin tube 23 of FIG. 1A and the resin tube 23 ′ of the curved portion 2b. The blade 25 is made of resin tubes 23, 2
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a plurality of, for example, five resin bands 25a (strips) having a smaller coefficient of friction than 3 'are formed into a cylindrical shape by knitting them.
As a material of the band 25a, for example, PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) or PA (polyamide) is preferable.

The method of manufacturing the blade 25 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 1, the middle part of the belt 25a is
It is folded back around the ring 26 and knitted with the ring 26 as a starting point. Knitting angle Θb at this time
(FIG. 4) is relatively small. When knitted to a length substantially equal to the length of the curved portion 2b, the end of the knitted portion opposite to the ring 26 is fixed between a pair of inner and outer rings 27 and 28 as shown in FIG. I do. That is, after the inner surface and the outer surface of the band 25a at the portion to be fixed are roughened with an etching solution, the band 25a is
7, 28 fixed. After the fixing work by these rings 27 and 28, the band 25a is again attached to the base portion 2
Knitting to a length approximately equivalent to a. Knitting angle Θa at this time
(FIG. 4) is relatively large. The braided blade 25 thus laid is placed over the resin tubes 23 and 23 'of the insertion section 2. At this time, as shown in FIG.
The ring 27, 28 is housed and fixed in an annular concave portion 4a formed on the outer periphery of the distal end of the distal end rigid portion 4.
Fixed to the outer periphery of the boundary between the
5 is fixed to the distal end of the body 1 by another ring 29 (FIG. 2).

As described above, by fixing the ring 26 to the distal end rigid portion 4 which is the distal end of the insertion portion 2, one end of the blade 25 can be assembled, and the end of the band 25a is not unraveled during this assembly. Since there is no need to pay attention to the above, the assembling work is simplified. Ring 2
By accommodating 6 in the annular concave portion 4a of the tip rigid portion 4, the blade 26 can be positioned.
Assembly work is further simplified. Further, by fixing the intermediate portion of one blade 25 with a pair of rings 27 and 28, the knitting angle between the base portion 2a and the curved portion 2b can be changed. The work of assembling the blades is simpler than when the blades are arranged and assembled.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various embodiments are possible. For example, the invention of claim 1 may be applied to two blades or one of them inside the resin tubes 23, 23 '. Further, the invention of claim 2 may be applied to one blade disposed inside the resin tubes 23 and 23 '. In this case, the present invention can be applied to a medical endoscope in which a blade is not mounted outside the resin tube. In applying the invention of claim 1, a ring for folding the intermediate portion of the strip may be arranged at the base end of the insertion portion.

[0013]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the intermediate portion of the strip folded by a ring is located at one end of the blade, and the assembly of this end of the blade allows the assembly of one end of the blade. Workability is good because it is performed.
According to the invention of claim 2, by fixing the intermediate portion of one blade with a pair of rings, it is possible to change the knitting angle at the base portion and the curved portion, as compared with a case where two blades are assembled. The work of assembling the blade is simple.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a part of a curved portion and a base portion of an insertion portion of an endoscope according to the present invention in which only a blade is sectioned.

FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing the entire endoscope.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a base portion of an insertion portion.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of a part of a blade in a curved portion and a base portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Insert part 2a Base part 2b Curved part 25 Blade 25a Band (strip) 26, 27, 28 Ring

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Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A flexible insertion portion of an endoscope, comprising: a ring; and a cylindrical blade formed by knitting a plurality of strips having an intermediate portion folded back by the ring, and incorporating the ring together with the blade. An insertion part for an endoscope, comprising: 2. A plurality of strips are knitted in a flexible endoscope insertion portion having a base portion occupying most of the entire length and a curved portion extending from a distal end of the base portion and capable of being bent by remote control. The intermediate part of this blade is fixed with a pair of inner and outer rings, and this pair of rings is arranged at the boundary between the curved part and the base part, and the knitting angle at the curved part of the blade Characterized in that the angle is smaller than the knitting angle at the base portion.