JPS62114526A - Outer skin of curved 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 curved tube outer skin provided on the outer periphery of a curved tube of an endoscope.

[Conventional technology]

It is known that an endoscope is provided with a curved tube section between the distal end section and the flexible tube section, and the distal end section can be guided to a desired position by bending the curved tube section. ing.

By the way, in the curved pipe section, there is a
A curved tube outer skin made of rubber (11S) is used to cover the curved tube outer skin. Conventionally, the curved tube outer skin has the same thickness throughout, and both ends of the curved tube outer skin are used as the distal end and the flexible tube section. It is fixed by thread tightening (fixing by wrapping a thread around it). However, in a curved tube outer skin whose thickness is the same throughout, the thread-wound part protrudes to the outer periphery and becomes thicker than other parts. In particular, with endoscopes, thin There is a need to make the diameter smaller, and this is a big problem.

Therefore, in order to improve these points, conventionally,
As seen in Japanese Patent No. 19201, there is a curved pipe in which both ends of the outer skin are formed thin.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, according to the conventional technology, although it is true that the thinner part prevents the bobbin winding part from protruding from the outer periphery and reduces the diameter, on the other hand, when both ends (thin part) are curved, other parts (thick part) It is particularly easy to bend compared to other materials, and fatigue due to repeated elongation (due to bending) is likely to occur. When such fatigue occurs, the outer skin of the curved pipe may break, stretch abnormally, or crack. In particular, if it is cut or cracked, the waterproofness of the endoscope will be compromised, causing serious problems such as the fibers breaking due to moisture entering.

The present invention was made to address these problems, and an object of the present invention is to prevent fatigue from occurring in thin-walled portions.

[Means and actions for solving the problem] Pre-curved skin 1
The hardness of the thin wall portions 14°14 formed at both ends of the 0 is made higher than the hardness of the other portions 15, thereby making the thin wall portions 14.14 difficult to bend and preventing fatigue from occurring in the thin wall portions 14.14. .

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below based on a first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. 2 shows an endoscope, in which 1 is an operating section, 2 is a flexible tube section connected to the operating section 1, 3 is a curved tube section, and 4 is a distal end section.

The flexible tube section 2 includes, for example, a spiral tube 5 as shown in FIG.
The outer peripheral side of the tube is covered with a flexible tube outer skin 7 via a reticular tube 6. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the curved tube section 3 is connected to the outer circumferential side of a freely curveable curved tube 8 (in this embodiment, a plurality of curved pieces are rotatably connected) via a mesh tube 9. It is constructed by covering the anterior skin 1o. A curved tube 8 is connected to the tip of the spiral tube 5, and a tip main body forming the tip r is connected to the tip of the curved tube 8. Further, both ends of the pre-curved outer skin 10 are at the rear of the tip main body.

It is fitted onto the outer periphery of the tip of the spiral tube 5 of the flexible tube section 2 .

Then, the adjacent tip main body, the end of the curved outer skin 10, the end of the pre-curved outer skin 10, and the end of the flexible tube outer skin 7 are connected to the thread 11.
It is fixed by tightening the thread by wrapping the flexible tube part 2.
Curved part 3. The tip portions 4 are connected in series. The present invention is applied to this pre-curved outer skin 1°, and the pre-curved outer skin 1o is shown in FIG.

That is, if the pre-curved skin 10 is explained here,
The pre-curving outer skin 10 is made of a rubber material such as silicone rubber and has thin portions 14, 14 formed at both ends. Specifically, the thin wall portion 14.14 is formed by enlarging the inner diameter of both ends where the thread is tightened, and prevents the thread wound portion from protruding to the outer periphery at the thin wall portion 14.14. Further, the thin wall portions 14,14 of the pre-curving outer skin 1() are formed with a rubber hardness higher than that of the central thick wall portion 15. Ingredients (1.
Specifically, the thick part 15 is made of soft rubber, as in the past, and the thin part 14.14 is made of harder rubber.
This improves the hardness of only the thin wall portions 14.14.

In addition, in FIG. 2, 16 is a knob for bending the curved tube section 3 provided on the operation section 1, 17 is a universal cord connected to the operation section 1 for guiding illumination light to the tip section 4, 18 is an eyepiece.

Therefore, in the above-described configuration, when the distal end portion 4 is inserted into the body cavity and the knob 16 is rotated, the curved tube portion 3 bends in the vertical and horizontal directions to move the distal end portion 4.

Here, it is pointed out that conventionally, fatigue easily occurs in the thin wall portion 14° 14 of the pre-curved outer skin 1o.

However, according to this invention, as described above, the thin wall portion 1
The rubber hardness of 4.14 is higher than that of the thick wall portion 15. This means that by increasing the hardness, the thin wall portion 14.1
You can see that 4 is harder to bend. Therefore, it is possible to prevent fatigue from occurring in the thin-walled portions 14, 14 due to their ease of bending.

As a result, it is possible to prevent the front skin 1o from being cut or cracked due to fatigue.

In addition, in the first embodiment, the inner diameter is increased to form the thin portion 14.
．． This invention was applied to the pre-curved skin 1o, which was 14.
In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the third embodiment shown in FIG. 5, and the fourth embodiment shown in FIG.
4.14 may be applied to the pre-curved skin 10.

That is, in Fig. 4, the inner diameter is tapered and there are thin parts 1 at both ends.
The present invention is applied to a curved outer skin 1o having a thickness of 4.14, and as in the first embodiment, the rubber hardness of the thin walled portions 14.14 at both ends is higher than that of the other thick walled portions 15.

Figure 5 shows thin walled parts 14.14 at both ends with the outer diameter tapered.
The rubber hardness of the thin wall portions 14 and 14 of the curved outer skin 1o is made higher than that of the other thick wall portions 15.

FIG. 6 shows a curved outer skin 1o with a reduced outer diameter and thinner parts 14°14 formed at both ends, with the rubber hardness of the thinner parts 14°l4 being higher than that of the other thick inner parts 15.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the thin wall portion becomes difficult to bend.

As a result, it is possible to prevent fatigue from occurring in the thin-walled portion.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 3 show a first embodiment of this invention,
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the curved tube outer skin of the main part of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an endoscope to which the curved tube outer skin is applied.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the fixing structure of the curved pipe outer skin, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the curved pipe outer skin of the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the curved pipe outer skin of the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a curved pipe skin according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. 10... Curved pipe outer skin, 14... Thin wall part, 15...
Thick part. Applicant's representative Patent attorney Atsushi Tsuboi Figure 1 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] What is claimed is: 1. A curved pipe outer skin having thin-walled portions at both ends, wherein the thin-walled portions have a higher hardness than other portions.