JPH0829702A - Endoscope soft part with rubber cover - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent medicinal liquid, washing water, an unwanted bacteria, etc., from entering and being stored between a flexible tube outside casing and a rubber cover and to improve appearance. CONSTITUTION:A flexible tube 12 constituted in a state where a projecting part 14 and a helical member having an engaging projection 15 are superposed at an end part is provided on a soft part 10, an outside casing 17 is formed on the external periphery of the tube 12, and the rubber cover 18 covers the external periphery of the outside casing 17. Helical projecting and recessing parts S3 fitting a helical projecting and recessing parts S1 occurring on the surface of the outside casing 17 are formed on the internal periphery of the rubber cover 18. Thus, the cover 18 is brought into closely contact with the surface of the outside casing 17, and the medicinal liquid can be prevented from entering and being stored.

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 structure of a rubber cover of the flexible portion of the endoscope in which a flexible tube is provided inside and a rubber cover is covered on a part of the outer circumference.

[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. A rubber cover is provided at the base of the operation portion of the flexible portion in order to prevent the flexible portion from being excessively bent.

FIG. 3 shows the base portion of the operating portion of the flexible portion connecting the operating portion and the light source portion (or external processor device) in the conventional endoscope, and the left side of the flexible portion 1 in the drawing is operated. Section, and the right side is connected to the light source section. In the figure, a flexible tube 2 is provided in the flexible portion 1, and the flexible tube 2 is formed by stacking spiral members at their ends. That is,
The flexible tube 2 is provided with a convex (guide) portion 4 having a spirally protruding shape on the outer periphery and having a movable space inside, at one end, and an engagement protrusion 5 protruding spirally on the outer periphery at the other end. The engagement protrusions 5 are engaged with the inside of the convex portions 4 and overlapped to be coupled. The engagement protrusion 5 is guided into the convex portion 4,
It is configured so as to freely move in the gap 6 formed by the spiral interval t, whereby the flexible tube 2 can bend.

An outer cover 7 made of a resin material is formed on the outer periphery of the flexible tube 2 by extrusion molding, and a rubber cover 8 is placed on the outer periphery of the outer cover 7. According to such a flexible portion 1, it is possible to bend while protecting the light guide, the signal cable, etc. arranged inside the flexible tube 2, and thereby ensure good operability of the endoscope. It will be possible. The rubber cover 8 prevents the flexible portion 1 from being bent excessively and functions as a connection portion cover between the flexible portion 1 and the operating portion.

[0005]

However, in the flexible portion of the endoscope having the conventional rubber cover, as shown in FIG. 3, the corrugated unevenness S1 is formed on the outer cover 7 formed on the outer circumference of the flexible tube 2. There is a problem in that a gap 100 is formed between the rubber cover 8 and the rubber cover 8 due to the unevenness S1. That is, the outer cover 7 is formed on the flexible tube 2 by extrusion molding, but since the flexible tube 2 is made of a spiral member having the protruding portion 4 as described above, the protruding shape of the protruding portion 4 is formed. The outer cover 7 also has irregularities S1 according to the
A gap 100 is created between Since the endoscope is applied to the body cavity of the patient, disinfection and cleaning are regularly performed. When the disinfection and cleaning are performed, the gap 100 is used.
In addition, chemicals, washing water, germs, etc. may accumulate, resulting in an unsanitary condition.

Further, since the spiral unevenness S2 is generated on the outer peripheral tip side of the rubber cover 8 due to the unevenness S1 of the outer cover 7, there is a problem that the appearance of the endoscope is impaired and the quality is deteriorated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to prevent washing water, germs and the like from invading and accumulating between the flexible tube jacket and the rubber cover, Another object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope flexible section having a rubber cover capable of improving the appearance.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an endoscope in which a jacket is formed on the outer circumference of a flexible tube, and a rubber cover is provided on the outer circumference of the flexible tube jacket. In the soft part, spiral irregularities that fit into the irregularities spirally formed on the surface of the outer cover are formed on the inner circumference of the rubber cover.

[0009]

According to the above structure, since the spiral irregularities on the inner circumference of the rubber cover are formed in accordance with the spiral pitch of the irregularities on the outer surface of the outer cover, the irregularities on the inner periphery of the rubber cover and the irregularities on the outer surface of the outer cover are in close contact with each other. Will be done. Therefore, chemicals, washing water, bacteria, etc. do not accumulate between the rubber cover and the outer cover, and there is no unsanitary condition. Further, no unevenness is formed on the outer circumference of the rubber cover.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows the structure of an endoscope flexible portion having a rubber cover according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of portion A in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the flexible portion 10 of the drawing is provided with a flexible tube 12 as in the conventional case, and the flexible tube 12 overlaps a convex portion 14 formed on a spiral member and an engaging projection 15 as shown in FIG. Will be produced. That is, the flexible tube 1
The protrusion 2 protruding to the outer periphery and the engagement protrusion 15 protruding to the outer periphery are spirally provided on the second member 2, and the engagement protrusion 15 is arranged in a movable space inside the protrusion 14. And this convex portion 14
Inside, a gap 16 consisting of a spiral interval t is set, and the engagement protrusion 15 freely moves at this interval t,
The flexible tube 12 can be flexed as a whole.

An outer cover 17 made of a resin material is formed on the outer periphery of the flexible tube 12 by extrusion molding. The outer cover 17 has a wavy shape on the outer peripheral surface due to the raised shape of the convex portion 14 described above. Unevenness S1 has occurred. The outer circumference of the outer cover 17 is covered with a rubber cover 18. The rubber cover 18 is arranged at the base of the operation part 20 to which the flexible part 10 is attached. The flexible section 10 connects the operation section 20 and a light source section (or an external processor device) arranged on the right end side in the drawing, and a light guide, a signal cable, and the like are housed inside.

[0012] Then, a spiral unevenness S3 is provided on the inner circumference of the tip end side of the rubber cover 18, and the unevenness S3 is a spiral unevenness S formed on the surface of the outer cover 17.
They are formed with the same pitch so that they fit into 1. Therefore,
As shown in FIG. 2, when the rubber cover 18 is attached to the flexible portion 10, the unevenness S3 of the rubber cover 18 is in close contact with the unevenness S1 of the surface of the outer cover 17. As a result, it is possible to prevent chemicals, cleaning water, and the like from entering and storing between the outer cover 17 and the rubber cover 18. Further, since the unevenness S1 of the outer cover 17 does not partially press the rubber cover 18, the unevenness is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the rubber cover 18 (S2 in FIG. 3).
) Does not occur.

Further, the spiral unevenness S3 of the embodiment is
It is not formed on the entire inner circumference of the rubber cover 18, but is provided so as to be wound 2 to 4 times around the end portion on the tip end side. this is,
It is possible to prevent the invasion of chemicals, cleaning water, etc. by satisfactorily adhering the vicinity of the distal end portion of the rubber cover 18 serving as the inlet, and the inner diameter of the rubber cover 18 is formed larger toward the operation portion 20. Therefore, except for the tip, the jacket 17
This is because the unevenness S1 does not cause unevenness on the outer circumference of the rubber cover 18. Of course, rubber cover 18
The spiral irregularities S3 may be provided on the inner circumference of the entire area of
It is preferable that the forming range of the unevenness S3 is appropriately selected as necessary.

In the above embodiment, an example in which it is used as the flexible portion provided between the operating portion 20 and the light source device (or the external processor device) has been shown. However, the present invention comprises the operating portion 20 and the insertion portion. It can be applied to the flexible part provided between.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the flexible portion of the endoscope in which the flexible tube jacket is covered with the rubber cover, the spiral irregularities of the rubber cover are formed so that the flexible tube jacket is fitted into the irregular shape spirally formed on the surface of the flexible tube jacket. Since it is formed on the inner circumference, the rubber cover closely adheres to the wavy flexible tube outer cover, preventing chemicals, cleaning water, bacteria, etc. from entering between the outer cover and the rubber cover and accumulating inside. You can In addition, it is possible to improve the appearance without causing irregularities on the outer peripheral surface of the rubber cover.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of an endoscope flexible portion having a rubber cover according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion A of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a conventional endoscope flexible portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,10 ... Soft part, 2,12 ... Flexible tube, 4,14 ... Convex part, 5,15 ... Engaging protrusion, 7,17 ... Outer cover, 8,18 ... Rubber cover, S1 to S3 ... Spiral shape Unevenness.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --- Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Naotake Mimori 1-324 Uetakecho, Omiya City, Saitama Prefecture Fuji Photo Optical Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A flexible portion of an endoscope in which an outer cover is formed on the outer circumference of a flexible tube, and a rubber cover is provided on the outer circumference of the outer cover of the flexible tube. A flexible portion for an endoscope having a rubber cover, characterized in that a spiral concavo-convex to be fitted is formed on an inner circumference of the rubber cover.