JP3340567B2 - Endoscope operation buttons - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operation button of an endoscope disposed on an operation section of the endoscope.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 shows a structure of a conventional operation button provided on an operation section of an electronic endoscope for performing a remote control operation such as image processing control.

Here, a cylinder body 51 that opens outward is fixed to an operating portion 50 by a fixing nut 52, and a piston body 53 that is inserted into and fitted into the cylinder body 51 from outside. A coil spring 5 that is provided so as to be able to advance and retreat in the axial direction and urges its piston body 53 outward.
4 are provided.

[0004] At the bottom of the cylinder body 51, a tact switch 55 pressed by the piston body 53 is arranged, and a switching operation is performed by pushing the piston body into the cylinder body 51 from outside.

[0005] An O-ring 56 is mounted in a circumferential groove formed on the outer peripheral surface of the piston body 53, and the fitting surface between the piston body 53 and the cylinder body 51 is sealed.

[0006] A holding nut 5 for restricting the piston body 53 from coming out of the cylinder body 51 to the outside.
7 is screwed and attached to the mouth of the cylinder body 51.

Reference numeral 58 denotes a switch cover made of a resilient member provided so as to cover the head of the piston body 53. A base 59 inserted into the opening edge of the switch cover is screwed to the outer surface of the holding nut 57. It is fixed.

[0008]

A large number of operation buttons as described above are provided on an operation section of an endoscope, especially on an operation section of an electronic endoscope. Therefore, the number of components of the operation button should be reduced as much as possible, and efforts have been made in the past to adopt the above-described structure.

However, in recent years, further reductions in the size and weight of the operation unit and a thorough reduction in component costs and assembly costs have been demanded, and it has become necessary to further reduce the number of components in the operation button having the above-described structure. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an operation button for an endoscope which can reduce the number of parts to the utmost and realize cost reduction.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, an operation button of an endoscope according to the present invention is provided by fixing a cylinder body that opens outward to an operation unit and externally inserting the cylinder body into the cylinder body. A piston body to be inserted and fitted from one side is provided so as to be able to advance and retreat in the axial direction, and a biasing means for biasing the piston body outward is provided, and the piston body is inserted into the cylinder body from outside. In the operation button of the endoscope in which the switching operation is performed by pressing the O-ring, an O-ring is mounted on a circumferential groove formed on the outer peripheral surface of the piston body, and the inside of the cylinder body with which the O-ring is in contact. By denting the peripheral part,
The O-ring seals a fitting surface between the piston body and the cylinder body, and restricts the piston body from coming out of the cylinder body.

[0012]

An embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG.
An operation unit 2 of an electronic endoscope in which an observation video signal imaged by a solid-state imaging device provided at the tip of the insertion unit 1 is processed by a video processor (not shown) so that the observation video is displayed on a television monitor. The vicinity is shown.

A bending operation knob 3 for remotely bending a bending portion connected to the distal end of the insertion portion 1 is disposed on a side surface of the operation portion 2. An air supply / water supply operation button 4 for performing an operation of selectively sending out air or water from the tip of the device, and a suction operation button 5 for performing a suction operation are arranged.

A freeze operation for stopping an observation image on a television monitor is provided near the upper end of the operation unit 2.
Three remote control operation buttons 10 for performing a copy operation for making a hard copy of an observation image, a VCR operation for video recording of an observation image, and the like on the operation unit.
Is arranged.

FIG. 1 shows the remote control operation button 10 in a standby state. The cylinder body 11 that opens outward is formed of an electrically insulating plastic and is fixed to the operation unit 2 by a fixing nut 12. Reference numeral 13 denotes an O-ring for sealing a gap between the cylinder body 11 and the operation unit 2.

In the cylinder body 11, a plastic piston body 14 inserted and fitted from outside is fitted.
It is provided to be able to advance and retreat in the axial direction. A tact switch 15 pressed by the piston body 14 is arranged at the bottom of the cylinder body 11, and an electrical switching operation is performed by pushing the piston body 14 into the cylinder body 11 from the outside.

An O-ring 20 made of a resilient rubber material is mounted on a circumferential groove formed on the outer peripheral surface of the piston body 14, and the O-ring 20 is mounted on an inner peripheral surface of the cylinder body 11. A circumferential recess 21 is formed at the contacting portion. The width L of the recess 21 is formed slightly longer than the range in which the O-ring 20 moves in the axial direction for the on / off operation of the tact switch 15.

As a result, when the O-ring 20 seals the fitting surface of the piston body 14 and the cylinder body 11 and the sealing of the button cover 17 becomes insufficient, Water is prevented from entering from outside.

Since the O-ring 20 needs to apply a slightly large force in order to get out of the recess 21, the O-ring 20 restricts the piston body 14 from coming out of the cylinder body 11 to the outside. Plays the role of stop stopper.

However, if the piston body 14 is pulled outward by applying a little great force, the O-ring 20 comes off from the recess 21 and the piston body 14 can be pulled out from the cylinder body 11.

A button cover 17 made of a resilient member is provided on the head of the piston body 14 protruding from the operation section 2.
Is mounted so as to cover the entire projecting portion of the remote control operation button 10, and a base 18 inserted into the opening edge thereof is screwed to the outer surface of the mouth of the cylinder body 11.

Since the button cover 17 is formed in a rounded umbrella shape by an elastic member, the button cover 17 is deformed when an external force is applied, and when the external force is removed, the button cover 17 returns to the natural state shown in FIG. Return.

Therefore, when the button cover 17 is pushed in from the outside so as to push the piston body 14 into the cylinder body 11, the tact switch 15 is pushed by the piston body 14 as shown in the right half of FIG. The switch is turned on when pressed, and when the finger is released, the display returns to the original standby state as shown in the left half of FIG. 2 and the switch is turned off.

At the time of such an operation, since the shoulder portion 19 of the button cover 17 is formed thin over the entire circumference, the click feeling of turning on / off the tact switch 15 can be felt with a fingertip.

Further, since the button cover 17 is rounded, the switching operation is performed by pushing the piston body 14 into the cylinder body 11 even when the button cover 17 is slightly pushed from a diagonal direction.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view for explaining the procedure for assembling the remote control operation button 10 of the above embodiment. When assembling the remote control operation button 10, the tact switch 15 is first placed in the bottom of the cylinder body 11, and the foot-shaped section 2 of the tact switch 15 is set.
3 is bent and fixed to the bottom of the cylinder body 11. FIG.
Is a plan sectional view in that state. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the lead wire 24 is soldered to the section 23, and the periphery thereof is filled with an electrically insulating adhesive 25 for reinforcement.

Next, O-rings 13 and 20 are mounted on the cylinder body 11 and the piston body 14, respectively, and the piston body 14 is fitted into the cylinder body 11. Thus, a main unit 30 is formed.

Then, the unit 30 assembled separately from the operation section 2 is fixed to the operation section 2 with the fixing nut 12, and finally the button cover 1 is attached to the piston body 14 from outside.
Then, the base 18 is screwed to the cylinder body 11.
An elastic silicone adhesive is applied to the threaded portion to waterproof the threaded portion. By using a silicon-based adhesive, it is easy to disassemble at a later date.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the structure of the present invention may be applied to the air / water supply operation button 4 or the suction operation button 5.

[0030]

According to the present invention, the O-ring seals the fitting surface between the piston body and the cylinder body and restricts the piston body from coming out of the cylinder body. No components are required to prevent the components from coming off, and component and assembly costs can be reduced to the last minute.

In particular, since many operation buttons to which the present invention is applied are often provided in an electronic endoscope or the like, a significant cost reduction can be realized even by reducing one or two components from each operation button. You.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a standby state of an operation button according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of an operation state of an operation button according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exploded longitudinal sectional view showing an operation button of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan sectional view of an operation button according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the electronic endoscope of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional operation button.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Cylinder 14 Piston 20 O-ring 21 Depression

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A cylinder body which opens outward is fixed to an operation portion, and a piston body which is inserted into the cylinder body from the outside and fitted therein is provided so as to be able to advance and retreat in the axial direction. An operation button of an endoscope in which an urging means for urging the piston body outward is provided, and a switching operation is performed by pushing the piston body from the outside into the cylinder body. An O-ring is attached to a circumferential groove formed on an outer peripheral surface, and an inner peripheral surface portion of the cylinder body which the O-ring contacts is formed to be concave, so that the O-ring is formed between the piston body and the cylinder. An operation button for an endoscope, which seals a fitting surface with a body and restricts the piston body from coming out of the cylinder body.