JPH0542415Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] This invention relates to a connection structure for detachably connecting an endoscope eyepiece to a main body.

[Prior art] Endoscopes, which are inserted into body cavities such as the digestive, urinary, and respiratory organs, and are used to directly observe the insides thereof, are disposable from the perspective of preventing various infectious diseases. This is desirable. However, the endoscope's eyepiece (eyepiece) includes expensive and complicated elements such as lenses and a lens movement mechanism for diopter adjustment (focus adjustment), so it is not economical to dispose of the eyepiece. The waste will be huge.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
On the other hand, one of the applicants has already proposed that the main body 22 inserted into the body be removably connected using a connecting nut 23, and only the inexpensive main body 22 can be disposed of. (See No. 59-22410).

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

In the disposable main body system, a plurality of endoscope main bodies are connected to one eyepiece. Therefore, in this case, it is required that the focus of the endoscopic image does not change due to the combination of the eyepiece and the endoscope body (reproducibility of optical coupling).

However, in the conventional structure as shown in FIG. 4, since the surfaces 24 and 25 formed on the rigid member are used as the connection reference surfaces, the distance from the reference surfaces to the end surface of the image fiber 27 facing the lens 26 can be determined with high precision. There was a problem in that polishing of the end face of the image fiber was time-consuming.

[Means for solving problems]

The connection structure of this invention is characterized in that the connection reference surface of the main body side connector is variable in position in the optical axis direction.

That is, in this invention, as shown in FIG. 1, an eyepiece 1 and a main body 3 provided with a fiber guide 2 are separably connected via a pair of connectors 4 provided at their connecting portions, and the fiber guide In an endoscope in which the end face of the image fiber 5 inserted and fixed into the eyepiece 2 faces the lens 6 in the eyepiece, a rubber ring 8 is attached to at least one end face of the internal flange 7 provided at the connection part of the main body 3. 8 and the internal flange 7 are screwed into the outer periphery flange 9 of the fiber guide 2 and the tightening nut 1 in the middle of the outer periphery.
0 to fix the fiber guide 2 to the main body, and the end surface of the eyepiece side of the tightening nut 10 serves as the connection reference surface 12 of the main body side connector, which is brought into contact with the connection reference surface 11 of the eyepiece side connector. .

[Effect]

The axial thickness of the elastically deformable rubber ring 8 is
It changes depending on the amount of tightening of the tightening nut 10, and the reference surface 12 is displaced in the optical axis direction accordingly. Therefore, even if the end face of the image fiber 5 is polished too much, the necessary distance _L1 from the reference plane 12 to the end face of the image fiber can be secured by adjusting the tightening of the nut 10, so that the image fiber can be brought into focus. The distance L ₃ (=L ₂ −L ₁ ) can be optimally managed at all times.

〔Example〕

A specific embodiment of this invention is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. It should be noted that the same numbers as in FIG. 1 indicate the same parts, so a redundant explanation will be omitted.

Now, regarding connector 4, this connector is
A fitting member 14 provided in the socket 13 of the eyepiece 1, and at least two clamping plates 15 provided on the main body 3 side to elastically sandwich the member 14.
and a locking mechanism 16, which will be described later, that maintains the connected state of the connector.

The fitting member 14 has a collar 14b having a notch groove 14a that serves as an insertion guide for the clamping plate 15, and a collar 14b that is inserted into the cylindrical portion 1.
4c, and a projection 14d is further provided on the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 14c in front of the cutout groove 14a. The locking mechanism 16 includes a protrusion 14d and a corresponding hole 15a provided in the clamping plate 15.
(which may also be grooves), and the two engage as shown in FIG. 2 at the connecting position of the connector to generate a retaining force at the engagement point.

At this connection point, the connection reference surface 11 on the fitting member 14 side and the connection reference surface 12 on the connector side formed at the end of the tightening nut 10 come into contact with each other, and further entry of the end surface of the image fiber 5 is restricted. However,
Since the positional relationship between the surface 12 and the end face of the image fiber is adjusted to the optimum value in advance by adjusting the tightening of the nut 10, the value of L ₃ described in FIG.
Even after replacing the main unit, it will be restored as before.

Note that the rubber ring 8, which functions as a water stop ring and at the same time allows the position adjustment of the surface 12, may be provided between the flanges 7 and 9, and may be provided both between the flanges 7 and 9 and at the position shown in the figure. It cannot be prevented either.

Furthermore, although the illustrated connection uses a so-called one-touch-operable connector, this invention can also be applied to a connection using a connector as shown in FIG. 17 in the figure is a diopter adjustment mechanism that moves the lens 6 in the optical axis direction for focusing.

〔effect〕

As described above, according to the connection structure of this invention, the position of the connection reference surface of the connector on the main body side is variable in the optical axis direction. Errors in the position of the end face can be corrected by adjusting the tightening of the lock nut, which simplifies the manufacturing process and ensures sufficient reproducibility of optical coupling when replacing the main body. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the basic structure of this invention, Fig. 2 is a half-sectional view showing a more specific connection example in a disconnected state, and Fig. 3 is a half-sectional view of the connected state. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a conventional connection mechanism. 1...Eyepiece, 2...Fiber guide, 3
...Main body, 4...Connector, 5...Image fiber, 6...Lens, 7...Internal flange, 8...
...Rubber ring, 9...Outer flange, 10...Tightening nut, 11, 12...Connection reference surface, 17...
Diopter adjustment mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] An endoscope in which an eyepiece and a main body equipped with a fiber guide are separably connected via a pair of connectors provided at their connection parts, and the end face of an image fiber inserted and fixed in the fiber guide faces a lens in the eyepiece. In the mirror, a rubber ring is attached to at least one end surface of the internal flange provided at the connection part of the main body, and the rubber ring and the internal flange are connected between the outer periphery flange of the fiber guide and a tightening nut screwed in the middle of the outer periphery. The fiber guide is fixed to the main body by being clamped, and the end surface of the tightening nut on the eyepiece side is used as a connection reference surface of the main body side connector which is brought into contact with the connection reference surface of the eyepiece side connector. Connection structure between the eyepiece and the main body of the endoscope.