JPH0824212A - Production of soft part of endoscope and soft part member - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a soft part having sufficient flexibility and becoming uniform bending hardness. CONSTITUTION:In a manufacturing method constituting a flexible tube 12 in a soft part by engaging an engaging projection 15 with the protruding part 14 formed to a spiral member and forming a cover to the outer periphery of the flexible tube by an extrusion molding machine, the seam C of the protruding part 14 and engaging projection 15 of the flexible tube 12 is set so as to be turned in the opposite direction with respect to the extrusion direction 100 of a soft part member 10 to introduce the soft part member 10 into the extrusion molding machine. Even in the adhesive coating process before this extrusion molding process, the soft part member 10 is sent in the same direction. By this constitution, a molding material and an adhesive do not penetrate into the seam C and a predetermined flexibility can be kept. It is pref. to form a cotter 24 showing an introducing direction to the soft part member 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flexible portion of an endoscope, and more particularly to a method of manufacturing a flexible portion of an endoscope in which an outer cover is placed on an outer circumference of a flexible tube by an extrusion molding machine and a member of the flexible portion.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In endoscopes and electronic endoscopes, an insertion portion for inserting a distal end portion into a narrow body cavity of a patient is provided. The operation portion is inserted between the insertion portion and the operation portion. A flexible part having a flexible tube (spiral tube) is provided between the part and the light source device or the external processor device. In this soft portion, the image guide, the light guide, the signal cable, and the like are protected by the flexible tube, and the flexible tube can bend due to the flexibility of the flexible tube.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show the structure of a part of a conventional endoscope flexible portion, and a flexible tube 2 is provided in the flexible portion 1 of the drawings. The flexible tube 2 is formed by stacking spiral members at their ends. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the flexible tube 2 spirally protrudes on the outer circumference, and the convex portion 4 having the movable space inside has one end and the engagement projection 5 spirally protruding on the outer circumference. It is provided at the other end, and the engaging projection 5 is engaged with the inside of the convex portion 4 to be overlapped with each other to be coupled.
The engaging protrusion 5 is guided in the convex portion 4 and has a spiral interval t.
Therefore, the flexible tube 2 can be bent.

A jacket 7 made of a resin material is formed on the outer circumference of the flexible tube 2 by an extrusion molding machine. Therefore, according to the flexible portion 1, the flexible portion 1 can be freely bent by the bending of the flexible tube 2 while protecting the light guide, the image guide, the signal cable and the like arranged inside the flexible tube 2. As a result, good operability of the endoscope can be ensured.

[0005]

However, in the conventional flexible portion of the endoscope, the outer cover 7 is molded by the extrusion molding machine as described above, and the hardness of the flexible portion 1 depends on the molding method. There was a problem that there was variation in. That is, when the outer cover 7 is extrusion-molded, an adhesive is applied in order to adhere the resin material to the flexible tube 2 satisfactorily, and then the resin material is molded. In the adhesive applying step and the molding step, as a result of an experiment conducted by changing the feeding direction of the flexible tube 2 to the extrusion molding machine, as shown in the extrusion direction 100 of FIG. 5, the flexible tube 2 is moved to the right side of the figure. When it is sent into the extrusion molding machine in the opposite direction, the adhesive and the resin material flow as shown by the arrow 200 and enter the inside from the joint (engagement portion gap) between the convex portion 4 and the engaging protrusion 5. There was found. Therefore, depending on the feeding direction of the flexible tube 2, that is, the feeding direction is different from the spiral direction, the adhesive or the resin material may or may not flow into the engaging portions of the convex portion 4 and the engaging protrusion 5. However, in the former case, the soft part 1 becomes hard, and in the latter case, it becomes soft. For this reason, conventionally, it was not possible to make the bending hardness (flexibility) of the flexible tube 2 (soft portion 1) uniform.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a flexible portion of an endoscope capable of obtaining a flexible portion having sufficient flexibility and uniform bending hardness. It is to provide a manufacturing method and a flexible member.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to the first aspect of the present invention is a spiral flexible tube in which an engaging projection is engaged with and combined with a convex portion projecting to the outer periphery. In the method for manufacturing a flexible portion of an endoscope in which the outer portion of the flexible tube is formed by an extrusion molding machine with respect to the flexible portion, the joint between the convex portion and the engaging projection of the flexible tube is a flexible portion member. It is characterized in that the soft part member is introduced into an extrusion molding machine in a state in which it faces away from the extrusion direction. According to the second aspect of the invention, also in the adhesive applying step provided before the extrusion molding step, the joint between the convex portion and the engaging projection on the surface of the flexible tube is opposite to the extruding direction of the flexible portion member. It is characterized in that the flexible portion member is introduced into the adhesive application portion in a facing state. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the flexible portion member of the endoscope applied to the above manufacturing method, the joint between the convex portion of the flexible tube and the engaging protrusion faces in a direction opposite to the pushing direction of the flexible portion member. In order to do so, the end of the soft part member is marked with a mark indicating the introduction direction.

[0008]

According to the above construction, the seam, that is, the gap of the engaging portion, which appears on the side surface side of the convex portion of the flexible tube, is arranged so as to face the rear side with respect to the feeding (advancing) direction of the flexible portion member. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the adhesive and the molding material from entering through the joint of the flexible tube. Therefore, the soft portion can be formed softly and uniform quality can be obtained. Further, it is preferable to form, for example, a slit on the distal end side as a marking indicating the introduction direction on the soft part member, whereby the soft part member can be easily set on the extrusion molding machine.

[0009]

FIG. 1 shows an arrangement state of an endoscope flexible portion in an extrusion molding machine according to an embodiment, FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of a state in which an outer cover is formed, and FIG. Shows a state in which the flexible member is connected with a joint jig. The flexible portion member 10 in the figure has a flexible tube 12 as in the conventional case, and the flexible tube 12 has a convex portion 14 and an engaging projection 1 formed on a spiral member.
It is made by stacking 5 layers. That is, this flexible tube 1
As shown in FIG. 2, a convex portion 14 protruding to the outer periphery and an engaging protrusion 15 protruding to the outer periphery are provided in a spiral shape on the reference numeral 2, and the engaging protrusion 15 is arranged in a movable space in the convex portion 14. And
In this convex portion 14, a gap 16 having a spiral interval t is set, and the engaging projection 15 freely moves at this interval t, whereby the flexible tube 12 can be flexed as a whole.

A die 18 of the extrusion molding machine shown in FIG. 1 is provided with a circular hole 19 for determining the outer peripheral shape of the outer casing to be molded, and a molten resin material is fed into the molding material supply section 20. Be done. Then, in the embodiment, the flexible member 10 is fed in the extrusion direction 100 toward the right side in the drawing at the extrusion speed of, for example, about 1.5 m / min, so that the outer periphery of the flexible tube 12 is fed. The outer cover 22 of FIG.

Here, the flexible portion member 10 is set in a state in which the joint C (engagement portion gap) C between the convex portion 14 and the engaging protrusion 15 faces the opposite side (rear side) of the extrusion direction 100, It is introduced into the die 18. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the resin material flows as shown by the arrow 200 and adheres to the convex portion 14 of the flexible tube 12, and the resin material enters from the seam C located on the back side. There is no such thing. According to this, the soft part having a predetermined softness (flexibility) can be formed, and the soft part member 10 is always flown from the same direction, so that the molding state of the outer cover 22 is constant and the quality is uniform. It becomes possible. Although such a flexible portion is provided between the insertion portion and the operating portion, between the operating portion and the light source device or the external processor device, for example, the right end portion of the flexible portion member 10 in FIG. The left end is connected to the light source connector side of the operation unit.

Further, according to the above manufacturing method, the jacket 22
There is an advantage that the formation state of the surface of is uniform. That is, according to the extrusion molding, the thickness of the outer cover 22 is equal to that of the spiral member 1.
Since the front side portion P1 and the rear side portion P2 of the convex portion 14 of No. 3 are formed so as to be slightly different from each other, the bending of the flexible portion itself formed by the spiral flexible tube 12 is different. However, in the present invention, since the spiral direction of the flexible tube 12 and the molding direction of the jacket 22 always coincide with each other, the bending manner becomes constant, and the quality is improved in this respect as well.

Further, in the embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the flexible portion member 10 is provided with a slit 24 only on the leading end side as a marking indicating the direction of introduction into the extruder. To be In the actual manufacturing of the soft part, a plurality of soft part members 10 are connected and introduced into an extrusion molding machine. For example, the joint jig 25 shown in FIG.
Thus, the soft part members 10A and 10B are connected. The joint jig 25 is provided with connecting portions 26 and 27 at the front and rear, and a protrusion 28 that fits into the slot 24 is formed in one connecting portion 27.

According to this, the rear end portion of the flexible portion member 10A is connected to the connecting portion 26 of the joint jig 25, and
The tip portion of B is attached to the connection portion 27 by fitting the slit 24 and the protrusion 28. As a result, the convex portion 14
Since the plurality of soft part members 10 can be arranged such that the joint C of the engaging projection 15 always faces the opposite side to the pushing direction 100, there is an advantage that the soft part member 10 can be easily and surely set. Instead of the slit 24, a mark of a predetermined color may be attached, or the marking may be attached only to the rear end portion on the opposite side of the flexible portion member 10.

Further, in the extrusion molding machine of the above-mentioned embodiment, the adhesive applying step is provided before the above-mentioned forming step. In this step, the adhesive applying section has the same structure as that shown in FIG. Will be applied to the surface of the flexible portion 12. Therefore, also in this case, since the seam C on the surface of the spiral member 13 is arranged in the direction opposite to the extruding direction of the soft part member 10, the soft part member 10 is introduced into the application part,
Penetration of the adhesive into the seam C is reduced / prevented.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the method for manufacturing the flexible portion of the endoscope, when the flexible portion member is put into the extrusion molding machine, the joint between the convex portion of the flexible tube surface and the engaging projection (engagement portion gap) is aligned with the pushing direction of the flexible portion member. Since they are arranged so as to face in the opposite direction, it is possible to prevent the intrusion of the molding resin material into the spiral member seam, and to obtain a flexible portion of uniform quality with bending hardness that ensures sufficient flexibility. Become. In addition, since the adhesive applying step is performed in the same manner as the above-mentioned forming step, the intrusion of the adhesive into the joint is reduced or prevented.

Further, in the endoscope flexible portion member applied to the above-described manufacturing method, in order to set the joint so as to be in a state opposite to the pushing direction of the flexible portion member,
Since the end portion of the soft part member is marked with the marking indicating the introduction direction, the soft part member can be easily set in the extrusion molding machine, and the manufacturing efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a flexible member of an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention is set in an extrusion molding machine.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a state in which an outer cover is formed on the soft part member of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which the soft part members of the embodiment are connected.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a conventional endoscope flexible portion.

5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a connected state of the flexible tube of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2, 12 ... Flexible tube, 4, 14 ... Convex portion, 5, 15 ... Engagement protrusion, 7, 22 ... Envelope, 10 ... Soft part member, 18 ... Die, 24 ... Slot, 100 ... Extrusion direction, C ... seam (engagement portion gap).

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Naotake Mimori 1-324 Uetakecho, Omiya City, Saitama Prefecture Fuji Photo Optical Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A flexible part having a spiral flexible tube joined by engaging an engaging projection in a convex part projecting to the outer periphery,
In the method for manufacturing a flexible portion of an endoscope in which an outer cover is formed on the outer circumference of the flexible tube by an extrusion molding machine, the joint between the convex portion and the engaging projection of the flexible tube is opposite to the extrusion direction of the flexible portion member. A method of manufacturing a flexible portion of an endoscope, characterized in that the flexible portion member is introduced into an extrusion molding machine in a facing state. 2. Even in the adhesive applying step provided before the extrusion molding step, the joint between the convex portion of the flexible tube surface and the engaging projection is oriented in a direction opposite to the extruding direction of the flexible member. The method for manufacturing a flexible portion of an endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the flexible portion member is introduced into the adhesive application portion. 3. A flexible portion having a flexible tube in the shape of a spiral member, which is joined by engaging an engaging projection in a convex portion projecting to the outer periphery, and an outer cover is formed on the outer periphery of the flexible tube by an extrusion molding machine. In the flexible portion member of the endoscope to be formed, it is introduced into the end portion of the flexible portion member so that the joint between the convex portion of the flexible tube and the engaging projection faces the opposite direction to the pushing direction of the flexible portion member. A flexible member for an endoscope, which is provided with a marking indicating a direction.