JPH069602Y2 - Flexible tube for endoscope - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a flexible tube for an endoscope, and more particularly, to a flexible tube forming an insertion portion of the endoscope.

[Prior Art] As is well known, medical and industrial endoscopes are mainly composed of an operation section body, an insertion section connected to the operation section body, a light guide cable, and an eyepiece section. ing.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a conventional medical endoscope, in which the endoscope 1 includes an operating portion main body 2 and body cavity insertion portions 3, 3 connected to the operating portion main body 2, respectively. The eyepiece 8 and the light guide cable 9 are mainly included. The insertion portion 3 has a long flexible tube 4 having a proximal end attached to the operation portion main body 2, and a curved tube 5 connected to the distal end of the flexible tube 4.
And a tip forming portion 6 that is connected to the tip of the curved pipe 5. The tip forming section 6 is provided with an observation window, an observation optical system lens including an objective lens, an illumination optical system including an illumination window, a forceps channel opening portion, etc., and inside the curved tube 5 and the flexible tube 4. Internal components such as an image guide, a light guide, a forceps channel tube, and a bending operation wire are inserted through the. Further, on the operation portion main body 2, bending operation knobs 7a and 7b, an air / water feeding operation button 7c, a forceps insertion port 10 and the like are arranged.

In the endoscope 1 configured as described above, the insertion portion 3 is inserted into the body cavity, as is well known, and the affected portion in the body cavity is illuminated from the illumination window of the distal end forming portion 6, and the affected portion is observed through the observation window. Through the eyepiece section 8.

By the way, the long flexible tube 4 constituting the insertion portion 3 is
As shown in a partially enlarged cross-section in FIG. 6, a spiral tube 11 called a flex in which a strip-shaped elastic metal thin plate is spirally wound, and a net-like shape called a blade coated on the spiral tube 11 are formed. As shown in FIG. 7, the metal spiral tube 11 is formed of a tube 12 and an outer cover 13 made of synthetic resin or the like coated on the mesh tube 12. The metal spiral tube 11 is formed by spirally forming a strip plate material at a constant pitch. It is configured by winding in a shape.

In addition to this, as protective tubes for optical fibers and the like, those disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 59-7406 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-81923 are known.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, at the stage of manufacturing the flexible tube 4 configured as described above, the spiral tube 11 is covered with the mesh tube 12,
When the outer cover 13 made of synthetic resin is coated on this by extrusion molding, the gaps 11 in the pitch between the winding parts of the spiral tube 11 are formed.
Since the outer resin enters the inside of the spiral tube 11 from a (see FIG. 7), in order to prevent this entry, in the conventional one, a synthetic rubber core material is inserted into the inside of the spiral tube 11. It was

However, taking in and out of the core material not only increases the number of manufacturing steps by a very troublesome work, but also limits the length of the core material,
It has a drawback that a long flexible tube cannot be manufactured all at once.

Further, since the protective tube disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 59-7406 constitutes a flexible tube only by a protective tube having a continuous spiral groove on the outer periphery, the outer coat resin is inside the tube. In addition, the fiberscope described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-81923 uses an interlock tube formed by combining a plurality of short tubes without using a spiral tube. Therefore, it is different from the spiral tube shown in FIG.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a flexible tube including a spiral tube, a mesh tube, and an outer sheath, which can manufacture the flexible tube without inserting a core material for preventing outer resin penetration into the spiral tube. A flexible tube for a mirror is provided.

[Means and Actions for Solving Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a spiral tube in which a band-shaped elastic metal thin plate is spirally wound, and is coated on the spiral tube. A flexible tube for an endoscope comprising a mesh tube and an outer cover made of synthetic resin or the like coated on the mesh tube, wherein the strip-shaped elastic metal thin plate is bent at both side edges thereof at an acute angle. The bent portion is formed so as to have a Z-shaped cross section, and the bent portions of adjacent elastic metal thin plates are engaged with each other, and when the elastic metal thin plates are spirally wound, they are adjacent to each other. It is characterized in that no gap is formed between the winding parts.

[Examples] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to illustrated examples.

FIG. 1 is a partially enlarged sectional view of a flexible tube 14 which is a premise of the present invention. The spiral tube 15 of the flexible tube 14 is such that when the strip-shaped thin metal plate is spirally wound on both side edges of the strip-shaped elastic metal thin plate, no gap is generated between the adjacent winding portions. , Is composed of a strip-shaped thin plate on which bent engaging portions 15a and 15b for connecting the winding portions to each other flexibly are formed.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2 which is a partially enlarged view of the spiral tube 15 of the strip-shaped elastic metal thin plate, the left edge (in FIG. 2) of the strip-shaped thin metal plate is bent at a substantially right angle upward. A bent engaging portion 15a is formed, and a right side edge (in FIG. 2) is formed with a bent engaging portion 15b having a U-shaped cross section so that a channel groove is formed downward. ing. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when the strip-shaped thin plate thus formed is wound into a spiral tube shape, the bent engaging portion 15a at the left side edge portion is bent at the bent engaging portion 15b at the right side edge portion. It is wound so as to engage with the inside. Then, no pitch gap is formed between the winding portions.

Therefore, even if the mesh tube 16 is coated on the spiral tube 15 as shown in FIG. 1 and then the outer cover 17 made of synthetic resin is coated by extrusion molding, the spiral tube 15 has a gap of the pitch. Since it does not exist, the outer resin does not enter the inside of the spiral tube 15, and the conventional drawbacks can be solved.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view showing an embodiment of the present invention. The strip-shaped elastic metal thin plate forming the spiral tube 18 has a bent engagement portion 18a bent downward at an acute angle at the left edge portion of the strip thin plate, and the bent engagement portion 1 at the right edge portion.
8a is symmetrically bent upward and is bent to form an acute angle, and the bent engaging portions 18b are formed so as to have a transverse Z-shape in cross section. The bent engaging portions 18a, 18b between the adjacent winding portions.
Are engaged with each other and wound. Thus, no pitch gap is formed between the winding parts, and the winding parts are flexibly connected to each other.

The spiral tube 18 formed in this way is covered with a mesh tube, and the outer shell of the synthetic resin is covered therewith by extrusion molding. At this time, since there is no gap for the outer shell resin to enter into the spiral tube 18, the spiral tube 18 is There is no such thing as outer skin resin inside 18,
The conventional drawbacks can be solved.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to easily prevent the outer cover resin from infiltrating into the inside of the spiral tube, and to make the strip-shaped elastic metal thin plate into the Z-shaped cross section, it is enough to have two bent portions. Z
The shape can be easily obtained, and when a strip plate having a Z-shaped cross section is used as a spiral tube, the bent portion of the other winding side edge is wound along the bent portion of the one winding side edge. Since it is positioned, it can be processed accurately and easily. Further, since the outer periphery of the engaging portion of the spiral tube is pressed by the mesh tube, the spiral tube is less likely to be displaced in the axial direction, and the remarkable effects such as the extremely easy regulation of the length and the diameter are exhibited.

Further, since the atypical spiral tubes such as the above-mentioned spiral tubes 15 and 18 are made of a strip-shaped material formed in an atypical shape, they are not limited to the shapes of the above-mentioned embodiment, and the same operation as these, Any shape can be produced as long as it is effective.

Therefore, it goes without saying that the shape of the bent engaging portion of the spiral tube of the present invention is not limited to that of the above embodiment.

[Effect of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, since no gap is formed between the winding portions of the spiral tube, a core material for preventing the resin penetration of the outer shell is inserted into the spiral tube unlike the conventional one. Since the work process can be eliminated, the manufacturing time is not allowed to be shortened, and a long flexible tube can be manufactured at once in one manufacturing process, and this is cut into a fixed size. Thus, a large number of flexible tubes can be obtained.

The fact that a long flexible tube can be manufactured at once is very effective for an industrial endoscope that requires a very long flexible tube of about 10 m.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially enlarged sectional view of a flexible tube for an endoscope which is a premise of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is only an upper half of a spiral tube used in the flexible tube of FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the spiral tube used in the flexible tube of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a spiral tube in the flexible tube for an endoscope showing an embodiment. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of a medical endoscope, FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of a conventional flexible tube for an endoscope, and FIG. It is a perspective view of the spiral tube used for the flexible tube of FIG. 4, 14 ... Flexible tube 11, 15, 18 ... Spiral tube (flex) 12, 16 ... Reticulated tube (blade) 13, 17 ... Outer skin 15a, 15b, 18a, 18b ..

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A spiral tube in which a strip-shaped elastic metal thin plate is spirally wound, a mesh tube covered on the spiral tube, and an outer cover made of synthetic resin or the like covered on the mesh tube. In the configured flexible tube for an endoscope, the strip-shaped elastic metal thin plate is formed so as to have a Z-shaped cross section by providing bent portions bent at both side edges at acute angles, and adjacent to each other. The bent portions of the elastic metal thin plate are engaged with each other, and when the elastic metal thin plate is spirally wound, a gap is not formed between the adjacent wound portions. Flexible tube for endoscopes.