JPH0622321Y2 - Endoscope - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to an endoscope in which a bending operation wire is inserted into an insertion portion to bend a distal end portion.

[Prior Art] In the endoscope, the bending portion on the distal end side of the insertion portion is bent in the front-back and left-right directions by using a bending operation wire.

Specifically, as shown in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 56-97706, the outer peripheral surface of a spiral tube made of resin or metal is sequentially covered with a mesh tube made of metal or resin fiber and an outer skin made of resin member. A plurality of bending operation wires are inserted into the flexible tube portion thus formed. The tip of the bending operation wire is attached to the frontmost bending piece that constitutes the bending portion on the distal end side of the insertion portion, or the tip end portion of the bending portion, and the rear end of the bending operation wire is attached. A structure in which the part is connected to the base end of the insertion part is used, and the bending operation wire is pushed and pulled by the turning operation of the bending lever connected to the bending operation mechanism, so that the bending part is bent in the front-back and left-right directions. There is.

By the way, in addition to the bending operation wire, the light guide fiber, the image guide fiber, the channel tube, and the like are inserted in the insertion portion. Therefore, the bending of the insertion portion may cause damage to each other due to interference of the internal components. There is.

Therefore, as shown in the above-mentioned Japanese Utility Model Application No. 56-97706, a wire guide body consisting of a long close-wound coil having both ends fixed is inserted into the flexible tube portion between the bending portion and the operating portion. However, a bending operation wire is inserted through this, or a coil or the like is used to guide the built-in components such as a light guide fiber, an image guide fiber, and a channel tube.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, the endoscope is required to have a smaller diameter in order to reduce the pain of the patient.

However, looking at the occupancy rate in the insertion part, since the entire wire guide body is housed in the flexible tube part, the occupancy rate of the wire guide body in the inner cavity of the insertion part body is considerably large.

For this reason, when trying to reduce the outer diameter of the flexible tube portion of the insertion portion, the outer shape of the image guide fiber becomes thin,
It is inevitable to reduce the number of light guide fibers and the outer diameter of the channel, and the optical system deteriorates as the diameter of the insertion part becomes smaller, and the amount of air / water and suction is reduced. It causes a problem that causes

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and provides an endoscope in which the wire guide body can reduce the occupation rate of the space in the spiral tube forming the flexible tube portion. The purpose is to

[Means and Actions for Solving Problems] In this endoscope, a part of the outer shape of the wire guide body is engaged between the pitches of the spiral tubes forming the flexible tube portion, Since the inner surface is brought close to the inner surface of the spiral tube, the wire guide body tends to reduce the occupation ratio of the space inside the spiral tube.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on a first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 3 shows an endoscope, 1 is a bending lever 2, an eyepiece 3
And an operation section provided with the light guide cable 4,
Reference numeral 5 is an insertion portion connected to the front portion of the operation portion 1.

The insertion portion 5 has a structure in which a bending portion 7 formed by rotatably connecting a plurality of bending pieces to the tip end side of a flexible tube portion 6 serving as the insertion portion main body, and a tip forming portion 8 are sequentially connected. Then, the image guide fiber is inserted into the insertion portion 5 so as to extend over the tip forming portion 8 and the eyepiece portion 3. Further, a light guide fiber (none of which is shown) is inserted into the insertion portion 5 so as to extend over the tip forming portion 8 and the connector 4a at the tip of the light guide cable 4.

Further, in the insertion portion 5, a plurality of, for example, two bending portions are connected by connecting a bending portion 7 and a bending operation mechanism (which is built in the operation portion 1 and is not shown) connected to the bending lever 2. When the operation wires 9, 9 are inserted and the bending lever 2 is rotated, the bending portion 7 can be bent in the vertical direction by pushing and pulling the operation wires 9, 9.

Further, the flexible tube portion 6 of the insertion portion 5 is provided with the bending operation wire 9 and two wire guide bodies 10 for guiding the wire 9. The structure around the curved portion 7 side of the one wire guide body 10 is shown in FIG.

Here, before describing the structure of the wire guide body 10, the flexible tube portion 6 serving as the insertion portion main body will be described. This means that the outer circumference of the spiral tube 11 formed by spirally molding a flat plate of resin or metal is
It has a structure covered with an outer skin 13 made of a resin member (outer shell). Of course, the image guide fiber, the light guide fiber, and the bending operation wires 9, 9 are inserted into this lumen. Reference numeral 14 denotes a joint for connecting the tip of the flexible tube portion 6 and the curved portion 7.

Next, the wire guide body 10 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the wire guide body 10 is made of resin or metal, for example, on the peripheral wall of the cylindrical member 15 having a long length and a small diameter. It has a structure in which a plurality of notches 16 having the same pitch as the pitch of the spiral tube 11 are provided along the axial direction. The wire guide body 10 is provided with the cutout portions 16, 16
The convex portion 17 between them is engaged with the gap 18 of the spiral tube 11, and is arranged on the inner surface of the spiral tube 11 over the entire length of the spiral tube 11. As a result, the inner surface of the wire guide body 10 is brought close to the inner surface of the spiral tube 11.

And at least some places of this wire guide body 10,
For example, the front end side and the rear end side are fixed. Specifically, the tip end side of the wire guide body 10 is fixed to the joint portion 14 with an adhesive or solder, and the rear end side is similarly fixed to a guide fixing member (not shown) in the operation portion 1. . In addition,
The length of the convex portion 17 is formed smaller than the size of the gap 18.

That is, the wire guiding lumen 19 includes the peripheral wall of the wire guide body 10 engaged with a part of the spiral tube 11 and the cutout portion 16.
It is composed of the entire space portion surrounded by the flat plate of the spiral tube 11 facing the.

Two lumens 19 (only one of which is not shown) are formed in the flexible tube portion 6. Then, the bending operation wire 9 is inserted into each of the lumens 19, 19.

In the thus-configured endoscope, when the bending lever 2 is pivotally operated, for example, to the up side, the bending operation wire 9 corresponding thereto is pulled, and the bending portion 7 is bent upward.

Here, it is pointed out that it is difficult to reduce the diameter of the insertion portion 5 in the endoscope because the occupation rate of the wire guide body 10 in the flexible tube portion 6 is considerably large.

However, according to the structure in which a part of the outer shape is engaged between the pitches of the spiral tube 11 and the inner surface of the wire guide body 10 is brought close to the inner surface of the spiral tube 11, the wire guide body 10 is arranged in the space inside the spiral tube 11. Occupancy rate can be reduced.

As a result, the required number can be secured without changing the optical system, that is, without reducing the number of image guide fibers or light guide fibers, and the outer diameter of the built-in object can be secured.

In an endoscope having an air / water supply system, the channel system does not have to be changed, so there is no decrease in the amount of air / water supply or suction.

That is, it contributes to the reduction of the diameter of the flexible tube portion 6, and the insertion portion 5 can be reduced in diameter.

Further, the wire guide body 10 can be made small by the cutout portion 16 provided in the wire guide body 10.

Moreover, the structure in which the cutout portion 16 and the convex portion 17 are combined with the spiral tube 11 has a spiral shape even if a force in the contracting direction is applied to the flexible tube portion 6 by pulling the bending operation wire 9 during the previous bending. Since the flat plate of the tube 11 and the cylindrical member 15 resist it, the flexible tube portion 6 does not need to be inadvertently contracted.

The present invention is not limited to the first embodiment described above, but the fourth embodiment.
The second embodiment shown in the drawing, the third embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 7 may be used.

The second embodiment is a modification of the first embodiment.

That is, in the first embodiment, the cylindrical member 15 having the cutouts 16 provided exactly like the pitch of the spiral pipe 11 is adopted, but in the second embodiment, the cutouts 16 are provided in the spiral pipe 11.
It has been enlarged to several pitches.

Such a wire guide body 10 has an advantage that the flexible tube portion 6 is softer than that of the first embodiment, because the convex portions 17 which impair the flexibility of the spiral tube 11 are considerably reduced.

In the third embodiment, the cylindrical member 20 is straddled between the adjacent flat plates of the spiral tube 11.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the wire guide body 10 is provided with notches corresponding to the adjacent flat plates on both sides of the small-diameter cylindrical member 20 having a length that straddles the adjacent flat plates.
Make up. Then, similarly to the first embodiment, the convex portion 22 of the cylindrical member 20 is fixed to the flat plate while engaging with the gap 18 of the spiral tube 11 to form the wire guiding lumen 19.

In the fourth embodiment, the spiral tube 25 has the same pitch as the spiral tube 11 and the inner diameter is slightly larger than the diameter of the bending operation wire 9.
The wire guide body 10 having the notch 16 is formed, and the spiral tube 11 is formed with the wire guide lumen 19 using a flat plate. More specifically, the spiral tube 25 is engaged with the spiral tube 11 and arranged along the axial direction, and at least some points of the entire length are fixed with an adhesive or solder.

[Advantage of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the occupation ratio of the wire guide body occupying the space in the spiral tube can be reduced.

Therefore, the required number can be secured without reducing the number of image guide fibers or light guide fibers, and the outer diameter of the built-in object can be secured.

Therefore, it is possible to contribute to the thinning of the flexible tube portion.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing an insertion portion to which a wire guide body made of a tubular member is attached, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the wire guide body, and FIG. 3 is a view showing the wire guide body applied. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an endoscope, FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view showing an essential part of a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing an essential part of a third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the wire guide body, and FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view showing an essential part of a fourth embodiment of the present invention. 6 ... Flexible tube part, 9 ... Bending operation wire, 15 ... Cylindrical member, 16 ... Notch part.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An endoscope in which a wire guide body is provided on an inner peripheral wall of a spiral tube forming a flexible tube portion, and a bending operation wire is inserted into the wire guide body. An endoscope characterized in that a part thereof is engaged between pitches of the spiral tube, and an inner surface of the wire guide body is brought close to an inner surface of the spiral tube.