JPH0619701U - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] The present invention provides an endoscope in which a brazing wire does not flow into and out of a bending piece during brazing and fixing work of an operation wire. According to the present invention, a plurality of bending pieces 23 are pivotally connected in series to form a bending tube 20, and a distal end portion of a bending operation wire 34 for bending the bending tube 20 is fixed to the bending piece 23 by brazing. In the endoscope, a portion of the peripheral wall of the bending piece 20 adjacent to the portion of the bending piece 23 to which the tip of the bending operation wire 34 is fixed is cut out, so that there is excess brazing when the operation wire 34 is brazed and fixed. Are taken into the notch groove 36.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an endoscope in which the distal end of a bending operation wire is fixed to a most advanced bending piece.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 Conventionally, a bending operation wire of an endoscope is inserted inside a bending tube and is guided by a wire receiver provided on the inner wall surface of each bending piece forming the bending tube. Then, the tip end of the bending operation wire inserted into each wire receiver is brazed and fixed to the most advanced bending piece, and the bending tube is bent by pushing and pulling the wire.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, in the conventional case, the tip of the bending operation wire is brazed and fixed to the wire receiver of the most advanced bending piece, but at the time of this work, the wax flows into and out of the bending piece. Conventionally, the post-treatment for removing the flow-out wax has been troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an endoscope in which a brazing wire does not flow into and out of a bending piece during brazing and fixing work of an operation wire. Especially.

[0005]

[Means and Actions for Solving the Problems]

 The present invention relates to an endoscope in which a plurality of bending pieces are pivotally connected in series to form a bending tube, and a distal end portion of a bending operation wire for bending the bending tube is fixed to the bending piece by brazing. Following the part of the bending piece to which the tip of the wire is fixed, a part of the peripheral wall of the adjacent bending piece is cut out so that excess brazing material is taken into the inside of the cutout when the operation wire is brazed and fixed.

[0006]

Embodiments First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 shows the entire endoscope, which includes an operating portion 11, a long insertion portion 12 connected to the distal end of the operating portion 11 and inserted into a body cavity, and a base of the operating portion 11. It is composed of a long light guide cable 14 having a connector 13 connected to an end thereof and detachably connected to a light source device (not shown). The operation section 11 is provided with a bending operation lever 15 and an eyepiece section 16.

The insertion portion 12 is formed by connecting the flexible tube portion 17, the bending portion 18, and the distal end forming portion 19 in series from the base end side. As shown in FIG. 1, the bending portion 18 is configured by covering the outer peripheral surface of a bending tube 20 formed of a bending piece row with a blade 21 made of a metal wire and an outer tube 22. The distal end portion of the outer tube 22 reaches the outer peripheral portion of the distal end forming portion 19 excluding the front end portion and is fitted therein, and is fixed by a tightening thread 26 and an adhesive 27.

The bending tube 20 has a plurality of short cylindrical bending pieces 23 arranged in series, and adjacent bending pieces 23, for example, opposing portions are rotatably connected to each other via a pair of pivots 24. A pair of wire receivers 25 are integrally formed by cutting the wall portion inward in an arc shape at an axially intermediate portion of the inner wall surface of each bending piece 23, which is orthogonal to the pivot portion. . Further, the tip end of the most distal bending piece 23a is fitted on the base end outer peripheral portion of the tip forming portion 19 and is fixed by adhesive bonding, brazing or the like.

The tip portion of the image guide fiber 28 and the light guide fiber 29 inserted into the insertion portion 12 are fixed to the tip forming portion 19. The image guide fiber 28 is connected to the rear side of the objective lens 30 via an image guide base 31, and the light guide fiber 29 is connected to the light guide base 32 formed in a shape having a cylindrical inner vagina. . That is, the image guide fiber 28 is inserted in the light guide fiber 29.

It should be noted that the image guide fiber 28 is guided to the eyepiece portion 16 of the operation section 11 and the light guide fiber 29 is guided to the connector 13 of the light guide cable 14 through the operation section 11 and the light guide cable 14. The image guide fiber 28 and the light guide fiber 29 are housed together in the insertion section 12 by the covered tube 33, and in the operation section 11, the image guide fiber 28 and the light guide fiber 19 are separated and separated from each other. It is installed in a coating tube (not shown).

A bending operation wire 34 is inserted through the wire receiver 25 of each bending piece 23, and the tip end of each wire 34 is brazed 35 with respect to the wire receiver 25 a of the most advanced bending piece 23 a. Is stuck by. Here, the depth from the outer circumference of the bending piece 23a in the wire receiver 25a of the most distal bending piece 23a is approximately the same as the outer diameter of the bending operation wire 34, including the thickness of the bending piece 23a, as shown in FIG. equal. Further, in the wall portion of the curved portion 23a, adjacent to the wire receiver 25a, there are cut grooves 36 formed in the respective portions in the front and rear directions following the wire receiver 25a. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, when the depth from the inner peripheral surface of the bending piece of the wire receiver 25a is H, the outer diameter of the bending operation wire 34 is D, and the thickness of the bending piece 23a is t, H + t = D Is set to be Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, first, the distal end of the bending operation wire 34 is first exposed from the inside of the most distal bending piece 23a to the outside of the wire receiver 25a through the kerf 36a on the proximal end side. After that, the wire 34 is again inserted into the inside of the bending piece 23a through the cut groove 36b on the tip side, and the wire 34 is axially tensioned so that there is no gap between the bending piece 23a and the wire 34. Pour and fix by brazing. At this time, since the excess brazing material 35 flows into the kerf 36, it does not protrude to the inside or outside of the bending piece 23a. Therefore, in general, no post-treatment of this brazing work is necessary. After that, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the bending operation wire 34 is cut by using a file or the like, and the tip end surface of the wire 34 and the tip end surface of the wire receiver 25a are finished on the same surface.

The proximal end of the bending operation wire 34 is guided to the bending operation lever 15 of the operation section 11 through the insertion section 12 and the inside of the operation section 11. By rotating this lever 15, a pair of The wire 34 can be pushed and pulled to remotely bend the bending portion 18 of the insertion portion 12 in two directions such as an up and down direction.

In the endoscope having such a configuration, the depth of the wire receiving portion 25a of the most advanced bending piece 23a from the outer diameter of the bending piece 23a, including the wall thickness t of the bending piece 23a, is bent. Since the outer diameter of the wire 34 is formed to be substantially equal to the outer diameter D of the wire 34, the outermost surface of the wire 34 fixed to the outside of the wire receiver 25a and the outermost surface of the bending piece 23a are substantially the same surface. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, when the effective inner diameter Y of the bending piece 23a is obtained, as described above, H + t = D Therefore, H = D−t Y = d− (2 × H + 2t) = d−2D The special effect inner diameter Y of the bending piece 23a can be increased by at least the thickness 2t of the bending piece 23a.

Therefore, it is possible to secure a large effective area in the most advanced bending piece 23a without changing the outer diameter of the insertion portion 12, and to improve the endoscope performance by increasing the diameter of the observation optical system and the illumination optical system. If the outer diameters of the observation optical system and the illumination optical system are the same as the conventional ones, the outer diameter of the insertion portion 12 can be reduced.

Further, since the cut grooves 36 are formed on both sides of the wire receiver 25a in the front-rear direction, and the bending operation wire 34 is brazed through the cut grooves 36, this brazing work is easy. Will be things. Further, since the excess brazing material 35 flows into the cut groove 36, it does not protrude to the inside and outside of the bending piece 23a. Therefore, the post-treatment of the brazing work is generally unnecessary.

Further, the bending operation wire 34 is not straight to the wire receiver 25a, but is exposed from the inside of the bending piece 23a to the outside of the wire receiver 25a through the kerf 36a on the proximal end side, and is fixed in a bent state. Therefore, the fixing strength of the fixing portion can be improved, and the wire 34 can be reliably prevented from coming off.

FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 show a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, a wire receiver 25a is provided at an axially intermediate portion of the most advanced bending piece 23a. In addition to the provision, a kerf 36a is continuously provided from the wire receiver 25a to the base end (rear end) surface of the bending piece 23a, and the bending operation wire distal end is fixed to the wire receiver 25a by the brazing 35.

Therefore, in addition to the above-mentioned advantages when brazing and fixing, the following advantages can be obtained. In other words, when the bending portion 18 is bent, the wire receiver 25a is provided in the middle of the bending piece 23a in the axial direction, and the kerf 36a is continuously provided at the base end portion of the wire receiver 25a. Although the second bending piece 23b is not provided with a kerf, the bending operation wire 34 is not sandwiched between the bending piece 23a and the bending piece 23b. Since the wire receiver 25a is provided on the bending piece 23a and the kerf 36a is continuously provided at the base end portion of the wire receiver 25a, it is not necessary to provide the kerf on the second bending piece 23b. The processing to the bending piece 23 becomes easy.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, the bending portion 18 is not limited to bending in two directions, but may be applied to bending in four directions (up and down, left and right directions) provided with four wire receivers. Of course, various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0020]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, according to the endoscope of the present invention, when the bending operation wire is fixed to the bending piece wire receiver by brazing, the brazing does not leak inside and outside the bending piece. The work can be performed stably, and post-treatment of the leaked wax is not particularly necessary, and workability can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a distal end portion of an insertion portion of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view taken along the line − in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front cross-sectional view of the same portion as FIG.

FIG. 4 is a view on arrow A in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the most advanced bending piece of the first embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a view on arrow B of FIG. 7. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of the most advanced bending piece of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the entire endoscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow D in FIG. 10, showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a side sectional view of a part of the bending piece of the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

20 ... Bending tube, 23 ... Bending piece, 23a ... Cutting edge bending piece, 25 ... Wire receiving, 25a ... Cutting edge wire receiving,
34 ... Curving operation wire, 35 ... Wax, 36 ... Cut groove.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An endoscope in which a plurality of bending pieces are pivotally connected in series to form a bending tube, and a distal end portion of a bending operation wire for bending the bending tube is fixed to the bending piece by brazing.
An endoscope characterized in that a portion of a peripheral wall of a bending piece adjacent to a portion of the bending piece to which the tip of the bending operation wire is fixed is cut out.