JPS61256085A - Flexible pipe - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a flexible tube used, for example, in an insertion section of an endoscope.

[Prior Art] In general, the insertion section of an endoscope consists of a long flexible tube, and a distal end member is connected to the distal end of the flexible tube via a curved tube or directly. By the way, the above-mentioned flexible tube has a braid made of metal wires fitted around the outer periphery of a flex made of a spirally wound metal band plate, and the outer surface of the flexible tube is covered with a tube-shaped outer skin. When the outer skin is attached to the outer surface of the blade, an adhesive is applied to the outer surface of the blade to adhesively fix the outer skin and the blade.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, according to the above structure, the synthetic resin outer skin is simply adhered to the outer surface of the blade.

That is, the welded portion of the blade has a simple surface condition, and the wire of the blade is made of metal. Therefore, the adhesive bonding force is weak, and peeling easily occurs between the outer skin and the blade. If peeling occurs, the flexible tube may buckle and become unusable. Furthermore, since adhesive had to be applied to the outer surface of the blade, the process was time-consuming.

The object of the present invention is to increase the bonding force between the outer skin and the blade with a relatively simple structure, and to improve workability.

[Means and effects for solving the problems] This invention has the following features:
Fibers 8 made of thermoplastic resin are attached to at least one wire 6 of the metal wire set 7 forming the braid 4.
are wound together to form the blade 4. Then, the fibers 8 are melted to bond the blade 4 and the outer skin 5 together.

[Example] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a part of the insertion section of an endoscope, and in the figure, 1 is a flexible tube, and a curved tube (not shown) is connected to the tip of the flexible tube 1 via an inner mouthpiece 2. There is. Further, the tip member of the insertion section is connected to the tip of the curved tube.

The above-mentioned flexible tube 1 is made of metal made of a plurality of blades (mesh tube), for example, 8, 10, 12, 16, etc., around the outer periphery of a flex 3 made of a band-shaped metal plate wound spirally. Using the wire 6 as one set, and using this wire set 7,
As shown in the figure, it is knitted into a tubular shape. Furthermore, one or more fibers 8 made of thermoplastic synthetic resin such as urethane, polyester, or nylon are wound around one or more of the wires 6 of each wire set. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, one fiber 8 is wrapped around a bundle of wires 6. In this case, it is preferable to wrap the fibers 8 while keeping the wires 6 in a horizontally flat state without bundling them into a circle. The other wires 6 and wire sets 7 are arranged in that flat direction.

4 shows a fiber 8 wrapped around one wire 6 of the wires 6 of the wire set 7, and FIG. 5 shows a fiber 8 wrapped around a plurality of wires 6 among the wires 6 of the wire set 7. It is wrapped.

Further, in FIG. 6, a plurality of fibers 8 are wound around each one of the wires 6.

It should be noted that the wire 6 may be wound around the fiber 8, contrary to the above embodiments.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7, wires 6 and fibers 8 may be twisted together.

After a tube-shaped outer skin 5 extruded, for example, by an extrusion molding machine is formed on the outer periphery of the blade 4, this outer skin 5 is hot pressed. Then, the portions of the fibers 8 made of thermoplastic resin that are in contact with the inner surface of the outer skin 5 are melted, so that the outer skin 5 is welded to the blade 4.

Therefore, the blade 4 and the outer skin 5 are connected to the wire set 7.
Since the fibers 8 are wound around at least one of the wires 6, the fibers 8 firmly connect the blade 4 and the outer skin 5. Moreover, since it is not necessary to apply adhesive to the outer surface of the blade 4 during this connection, workability is improved. Roughly speaking, if wires 6 are bundled with fibers 8 to form a wire set 7 as shown in FIG.
The braid 4 can be knitted without the wire 6 breaking or popping out.

A similar effect can be obtained by twisting them together as shown in FIG.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention involves winding thermoplastic resin fibers around at least one wire of the metal wire set forming the blade, and melting the fibers to weld the blade and the outer skin. Therefore, the bonding strength between the blade and the outer skin can be increased by the fibers. Furthermore, since there is no need to apply adhesive to the outer surface of the blade, workability can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of the insertion section of an endoscope showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a part of the blade of the flexible tube, and FIGS. 3 to 7 are respectively, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a state in which wires and fibers are wound together. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Flexible tube, 3...Flex, 4...Blade, 5...Outer skin, 6...Wire, 7...Wire set, 8...Fiber.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a flexible tube formed by fitting a resin jacket around the outer periphery of the blade, fibers made of a thermoplastic resin are wound around at least one metal wire of the metal wire set forming the blade. A flexible tube characterized in that the above-mentioned braid is knitted, and the above-mentioned outer skin is bonded to the above-mentioned braid by melting the above-mentioned fibers.