JPH04193252A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decrease abrasive resistance of an operational wire in a guide coil, change in the initial tension of the operational wire and catenary of the operational wire at an operational part by providing a path difference adjusting device adjusting the path difference between the guide coil and the operational wire. CONSTITUTION:On a guide coil 39 wherein an operational wire 17 is inserted through, a dense winding part 43 and a rough winding part 45 are alternately and integrally formed. The rough winding part 45 partly forms a path difference adjusting device 47. As the initial tension provided to the operational wire 17 by means of the path difference adjusting device 47 is adjusted thereby, it is possible to decrease abrasive resistance of the operational wire 17 in the guide coil 39. In addition, change in the initial tension of the operational wire 17 is decreased and fine adjustment of the initial tension of the operational wire 17 at assembling time becomes easy and catenary of the operational wire 17 at an operational part 19 can be decreased.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Purpose of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an endoscope for observing and treating the inside of a device or a body cavity. Regarding endoscopes.

(Prior Art) Currently, endoscopes are widely used to observe necessary parts inside devices and body cavities. This endoscope will be explained using FIGS. 4 to 10.

As shown in FIG. 4, the endoscope 1 includes a curved part 7 in which an observation window, an illumination window, a forceps port, etc. are formed at the distal end part 3, and this curved part 7 is connected to one end. flexible tube 5 and flexible tube 5
The operating section 9 is connected to the other end of the body cavity and is used to operate the curved section 7 inserted into the body cavity outside the body cavity.

As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of cylindrical joint rings 13 are arranged inside the cylinder 11 of the curved portion 7, and these joint rings 13 are connected to each other so as to be relatively rotatable. ing. These node rings 13 also have wire guides 15 on their inner walls.
(See FIG. 6) is formed. An operating wire 17 is inserted through these wire guides 15 . Further, the end of the operating wire 17 is fixed to a node ring 13 located at the tip of the curved portion 7 . This operation wire 17 is pulled and
By relaxing, the curved portion 7 is curved.

As shown in FIG. 6, a guide coil 19 formed by closely winding a wire is disposed within the flexible tube 5. As shown in FIG. This guide coil 19 has one end connected to the node ring 13 at the rear end of the curved portion 7, and the other end fixed to the terminal cap 25. The operating wire 17 drawn out from the curved portion 7 is inserted into the guide coil 19 .

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the terminal base 25
For example, there are those that are joined to the end of the guide coil 19 and fixed directly with the guide coil holder 27, and those that are assembled using a threaded part formed on the outer periphery of the terminal stopper 29, as shown in FIG. At the same time, guide coil holder 2
There was one that allowed fine adjustment of the assembly position of the guide coil 19 in No. 7.

FIG. 10 shows a longitudinal section of the terminal fixing portion 31 shown in FIG. 9. Here, left and right lock nuts 33 are used to securely fix the assembly position of the terminal stopper 29 to the guide coil presser 27.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the operating section 9 operates an angle pulley 21 around which the operating wire 17 pulled out from the terminal cap 25 at the end of the flexible tube 5 is wound. It is configured as an operation knob 23 for. By rotating the operating knob 23, the angle pulley 21 rotates, the operating wire 17 is pulled or relaxed, and the bending portion 7 is bent.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, since the conventional guide coil 19 having the above configuration is fixed to the terminal base 25, its length is fixed without expanding or contracting. Then, when the flexible tube 5 is bent in various directions such as when an endoscope is inserted into a body cavity, the operating wire 17 and guide coil 19 built in the flexible tube 5 are bent at the same time as the flexible tube 5 is bent. It also bends.

As described above, if the paths of the operating wire 17 and the guide coil 19 within the flexible tube 5 change from when they were assembled, there will be a difference in the paths of the operating wire 17 passing through the inside and the guide coil 19 passing outside. However, since the positional relationship between the end of the operating wire 17 and the end of the guide coil 19 on the side of the bending portion 7 is fixed, a tensile force is applied to the operating wire 17 and a compressive force is applied to the guide coil 19. A force is applied to the operating wire 17 so that it is pulled into the guide coil 19 relatively.

However, since the operating wire 17 is fixed on both the operating section 9 side and the bending section 7 side, it is not pulled into the guide coil 19, and as a result, the initial tension of the operating wire 17 increases, causing the operating knob 23 to tighten. Operability will be significantly reduced.

Furthermore, if the operating wire 17 is pulled in order to bend the bending portion 7 in a state where the flexible tube 5 is bent, the operating wire 17 Since the guide coil 19 and the guide coil 19 are pressed against each other with a strong force, the sliding friction increases, and the operation knob 2
This caused an increase in the operating force of the operating wire 17, and the operating wire 17 became frayed and disconnected.

Therefore, in order to avoid this, no matter how the path of the guide coil 19 changes due to bending of the flexible tube 5, the inside of the operating section 9 is set so that the operating wire 17 is not pulled and its initial tension does not increase. A possible method is to allow the operating wire 17 to have some slack. However, if this slack is allowed to be too large, the operating wire 17 will come off from the angle pulley 21 and become unusable.

Further, even if the operating wire 17 and the guide coil 19 are in a straight state as they were when assembled, if the operating wire 17 is pulled and relaxed in order to bend the bending portion 7, the operating wire 17 will move to the guide coil 19. In contrast, the guide coil 19 made of tightly wound coils cannot move at all, so the operating wire 17 and the guide coil 19
The viscous friction increases, and this also causes the operation knob 23 to
This caused the operability to deteriorate.

Furthermore, when adjusting the assembly of the operating section 9, if you try to adjust the initial tension of the operating wire 17 only by adjusting the assembly position of the terminal stopper 29 to the guide coil holder 27 while applying tension to the operating wire 17, the guide coil 1
Since the guide coil 9 is tightly wound, the compressive force of the guide coil 19 changes greatly due to a slight difference in the assembly position.

Therefore, the initial tension of the operating wire 17 changes greatly, making it very difficult to finely adjust the initial tension of the operating wire 17.

Therefore, the present invention can reduce the sliding resistance of the operating wire within the guide coil, reduce the change in the initial tension of the operating wire, and facilitate fine adjustment of the initial tension when assembling the operating wire. It is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope that can reduce the slack of the operating wire in the operating section.

[Structure of the invention] (Means for solving the problem) In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim (1) is as follows:
It is characterized by providing a path difference adjustment means for adjusting the path difference between the guide coil and the operating wire.

In the invention set forth in claim (2), the path difference adjusting means of the endoscope set forth in claim (1) is an extensible portion provided in a part of the guide coil.

(Function) By using the path difference adjustment means as described above, it is possible to reduce the sliding resistance of the operating wire within the guide coil, and the change in the initial tension of the operating wire is reduced, as well as when assembling the operating wire. Fine adjustment of the initial tension becomes easy, and slack in the operating wire at the operating section can be reduced.

(Example) Next, an example of the endoscope according to the present invention will be described. Note that the same components as those of the endoscope shown in FIG. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals in the drawing, and redundant explanation will be omitted.

First Embodiment FIG. 1 shows an endoscope 41 of a first embodiment. In the figure, the guide coil 39 through which the operating wire 17 is inserted is integrally formed with closely wound portions 43 and loosely wound portions 45 alternately formed. The coarse winding portion 45 forms a part of the path difference adjusting means 47.

Therefore, in the endoscope 41 of this embodiment, the initial tension applied to the operating wire 17 is adjusted by the path difference adjusting means 47, so that the sliding resistance of the operating wire 17 within the guide coil 39 is reduced. I can do it. Further, as the change in the initial tension of the operating wire 17 becomes smaller, the operating wire 1
It becomes easy to finely adjust the initial tension when assembling 7, and the slack of the operating wire 17 in the operating section 9 can be reduced.

Further, in order to cause the bending portion 7 to perform a bending operation, an operation knob 23 is provided.
When the operating wire 17 is pulled or relaxed by operating the operating wire 17, the operating wire 17 moves within the guide coil 39. At this time, the guide coil 39 is expanded and contracted by the coarse winding portion 45 of the path difference adjustment means 47, so that the operating wire 17 and guide coil 3
9 is reduced, and viscous friction can be reduced. This allows the operating force of the operating knob 23 to be reduced.

Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. Second
The figure shows a path difference adjusting means provided on the operating section 9 side, and the guide coil 39 of the first embodiment is connected to the terminal fixing section 4.
It is set to be fixed at 9. As shown in FIG. 2, the end of the guide coil 39 is inserted into a hole 29a provided inside the terminal stopper 29. A slider 51 is connected to an end of the guide coil 39.

The slider 51 can slide within the hole 29a, and a control spring 53 is disposed between it and the bottom wall of the hole 29a.

In this case, if a spring with low rigidity is used as the control spring 53 that expands and contracts, the end stopper 29 is moved so as to be compressed until the desired initial wire tension is generated, and the fixed position relative to the guide coil holder 27 is determined. do.

As a result, the flexible tube 5 is bent, the red path of the operating wire 17 is changed, and the operating wire 17 is pulled toward the inside of the guide coil 39, and at the same time, the slider 51 at the end of the guide coil 39 is moved into the operating mechanism. Even if the guide coil 39 moves to the side, the compressive force due to the change in the apparent length of the guide coil 39 does not change much, so the change in the initial tension of the operating wire 17 can be kept small.

Conversely, if a highly rigid spring is used as the control spring 53 that expands and contracts, when the operating wire 17 is pulled in order to bend the bending section 7, a large reaction force to the wire tension will also be exerted on the guide coil 39. A compressive force will be generated. However, since the sliding resistance of the operating wire 17 becomes considerably small due to the slight movement of the guide coil 39, the operating force does not increase and the control spring 53 moves small and is compressed, thereby receiving the tension of the operating wire 17. It is possible to generate such a large force on the slider 51 as to cause the slider to move.

Conversely, when the operating wire 17 becomes the extension side and the operating wire 17 is drawn into the three guide coils, the slider 51 separates from the control spring 53 and the guide coil 3
9 also moves together, so the operating wire 17 and guide coil 3
The sliding friction between 9 is reduced.

Third embodiment Next, a third embodiment will be described using FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, the guide coil 3 inside the operating section 9
Most of the guide coil 39 that guides the operating wire 17 inside the flexible tube 5 is a tightly wound coil 55, and only the part near the end fixing part of the operating part 9 is a normally wound coil 55. It consists of 57 springs. Normal coil spring 57
The end portions of are held down by the locking portions of the terminal stoppers 29, and the two terminal stoppers are firmly fixed to the guide coil presser 27 by tightening lock nuts 33 from both left and right sides.

When fixing the position of the terminal of the guide coil 17, since the end on the operation unit 9 side is fixed via a telescopic spring, the position of the terminal stopper 29 to be attached to the guide coil holder 27 must be adjusted slightly. Compared to the conventional method of directly adjusting the coil pressing position of a tightly wound spring, the operating wire 17
The initial tension can be easily fine-tuned.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the endoscope according to the present invention is provided with a path difference adjusting means for adjusting the path difference between the guide coil and the operating wire, so that the operation wire can be adjusted within the guide coil. Sliding resistance can be reduced, changes in the initial tension of the operating wire are reduced, and the initial tension can be easily fine-tuned when assembling the operating wire, reducing slack in the operating wire at the operating section. This excellent effect can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of an endoscope according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the second embodiment and showing a terminal fixing part,
FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the third embodiment and the terminal fixing part, and FIGS. 4 to 10 are a conventional endoscope and the terminal fixing part, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the endoscope. , Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the curved state of the bending part, Fig. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing the interior of the bending part, the flexible tube, and the operating part, Fig. 7 is a plan view showing the terminal fixing part, and Fig. 8 The figures are a side view of the terminal fixing section shown in FIG. 7, FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing another terminal fixing section, and FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing the terminal fixing section. 3... Tip part 5... Flexible tube 7... Curved part 9... Operation part 39... Guide coil
41... Endoscope 43... Closely wound part 45... Coarsely wound part 47... Path difference adjustment means 49... Terminal fixing part 51... Slider 53... Control spring 55... Closely wound Coiled spring 57... Normal coiled spring

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A curved portion in which a plurality of nodal rings are rotatably connected to each other, and one end is inserted through the plurality of nodal rings and fixed to an arbitrary nodal ring, and the nodal ring is pulled or loosened by pulling or relaxing. an operating wire that curves the curved portion by relatively rotating it;
In an endoscope that includes a guide coil through which the operating wire pulled out from the curved portion is inserted, and an operating section that pulls and relaxes the operating wire, the path difference between the guide coil and the operating wire is adjusted. An endoscope characterized by being provided with a path difference adjusting means. (2) The endoscope according to claim (1), wherein the path difference adjustment means is a telescopic section provided in a part of the guide coil.