JPH0871035A - Cable of endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable the twisted condition of a cable to be visually viewed and prevent a twist more than necessary from occurring. CONSTITUTION: In an endoscope cables 16, 18 and 19 having an outer cover formed on a spiral flexible pipe respectively, straight marks 23, 24 and 25 are attached to the outer covers 22 respectively by printing or the like to provide indices of twisted condition of these cables In place of the straight mark, dotted marks may be attached continuously only to concaved surface parts of irregularities produced on the outer covers. Thus, the twist of the cables 16, 18 and 19 can be judged by observing the twisted condition of the straight marks 23, 24 and 25, so that various members in the cable are prevented from an unnecessary load and the satisfactory operability of the endoscope is ensured. Also, prinded marks can be prevented from peeling off by applying the dotted marks.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cable for an endoscope, and more particularly to the structure of a cable arranged between an operating portion and a light source device or a processor device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in an electronic endoscope, an operating portion is provided so as to communicate with an inserting portion to be inserted into a body cavity of a patient, and a connecting cable is provided between the operating portion and a light source device and an external processor device. (Or also referred to as a flexible portion) is provided. This cable is a flexible cable having a flexible tube (spiral tube), and image guides, light guides, signal cables, etc. disposed inside the cable are protected by the flexible tube, and the flexible tube is flexible. It is designed to bend due to its flexibility.

FIG. 3 shows a partial structure of a conventional endoscope cable. The cable 1 in the figure is provided with a flexible tube 2 for arranging various members therein. The flexible tube 2 is manufactured by spirally winding the strip-shaped members so that the end portions overlap each other. That is, the flexible tube 2 is provided with a convex portion 3 that spirally protrudes on the outer periphery and has a movable space inside at one end, and an engaging protrusion 4 that spirally protrudes at the outer periphery at the other end. It is assembled by engaging the mating protrusion 4 with the inside of the convex portion 3 and overlapping them. Therefore,
The engagement protrusion 4 can freely move in the gap 5 having the spiral interval t set in the convex portion 3, and thus the flexible tube 2 is bent.

An outer cover 6 made of a resin material is formed on the outer periphery of the flexible tube 2 by extrusion molding or the like. Therefore, according to such a cable 1, the flexibility of the flexible tube 2 protects the cable 1 itself while protecting the light guide, the image guide, the signal cable and the like arranged inside the flexible tube 2. It can be bent freely, which ensures good operability of the endoscope.

[0005]

However, in the conventional endoscope cable, the connector is connected to the light source device or the processor device in a state where the cable is twisted when the endoscope is operated or the cable is twisted and rotated once. In this case, however, there is a problem in that various internal members are unnecessarily loaded and the operability of the endoscope is impaired. In particular, in the cable 1 having the flexible tube 2 described above,
Since the flexible tube 2 is assembled in a spiral shape, the flexible tube 2 is largely twisted in the direction in which the inner diameter of the flexible tube 2 is reduced. Here, the fact that the jacket 6 is formed on the outer circumference of the flexible tube 2 without interposing a net or the like is also one of the factors that promote the twisting. Such twisting is required to some extent in order to maintain the softness of the cable 1, but if it is twisted further, the above-mentioned inconvenience will occur.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cable for an endoscope which allows the twisted state of the cable to be visually checked and prevents the twisting more than necessary. It is in.

[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. And a cable for an endoscope or an electronic endoscope including a jacket formed on the flexible tube, a linear mark is attached to the jacket so as to be an indicator of a twisted state of the cable. Is characterized by. The invention according to a second aspect is characterized in that the linear mark is provided by continuously applying a dot-like mark only to the concave surface portion of the unevenness formed on the outer cover.

[0008]

According to the above construction, a straight line mark is printed along the axial direction on the upper surface side of the jacket of the cable. One straight line mark may be provided at an appropriate position on the upper surface side, or two straight line marks may be provided at a vertical position or a horizontal position. According to this straight line mark, the twist of the cable can be determined by observing the twisted state of the straight line mark.
The twisted state can be easily released, and the connector is not connected to the light source device or the processor device in a state of being rotated once.

Further, a linear mark may be provided by continuously printing dot marks on the concave and convex portions formed by the flexible tube. In this case, peeling of the print marks can be prevented. There is.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows the entire electronic endoscope showing a cable according to a first embodiment. As shown,
The electronic endoscope has a distal end portion 1 on which a CCD (imaging device) is arranged.
0, a bendable insertion part 11, an operation part 12 and the like. The operation part 12 is provided with an angle knob 13 for bending the insertion part 11, operations such as air / water supply, suction or freeze. An operation button 14 for operating is provided. This operation unit 1
2, a cable 16 is connected as shown in the drawing, and the cable 16 is branched from the branch portion 17 to the branch cables 18 and 1.
The light source side connector 20 is attached to one branch cable 18, and the processor side connector 21 is attached to the other branch cable 19.

That is, in the cable 16 and the branch cable 18, a light guide, an air / water supply pipe, a suction pipe, etc., which are arranged up to the tip portion 10, are passed, and these various members are connected to the connector 20. It is connected to each connecting member on the light source device side via. On the other hand, a signal line connected to the CCD of the tip portion 10 is passed through the cable 16 and the branch cable 19, and this signal line is connected to the processor device side via the connector 21. The cables 16, 18, and 19 are provided with the above-described spiral flexible tube shown in FIG. 3 inside the jacket, and the flexible tubes impart flexibility to the cables 16, 18, and 19. ing. The cable 16 in FIG. 1 is actually formed longer than the branch cables 18 and 19.

Such a cable 16 and a branch cable 1
8 and 19, in the embodiment, as shown in the drawing, the linear marks 23, 24 and 25 as indexes are attached to the outer cover 22 by printing a predetermined color (any color). 25 is a straight line when the cables 16, 18, and 19 are in a normal state without being twisted. Further, the straight line marks 23, 24, 25 of the embodiment are arranged so as to be located on the upper surface side of the respective cables 16, 18, 19 when the connectors 20, 21 are attached to the respective devices. It is easy to check the marks 23, 24, 25.

The straight line marks 23, 24, 25 allow the twisted state of the cables 16, 18, 19 to be visually confirmed, and connect the connector 20 to the light source device side and the connector 21 to the processor device side. In this case, the connectors 20 and 21 can be attached accurately and easily without rotating the connectors 20 and 21 once from the normal position. Further, it is possible to prevent the operation of the electronic endoscope from being started in the twisted state of the cable 16, and the operability is also kept excellent.

Cable 1 having the flexible tube of the above embodiment
6. In the branch cables 18 and 19, the flexible tube is directly covered with the jacket without interposing a net or the like, and the cable itself is easily bent and twisted. Moreover, since the flexible tube is formed by assembling the spiral members while partially overlapping each other, the cables 16, 18, and 19 are easily twisted in the direction in which the radius of the flexible tube is reduced. Therefore, in such twistable cables 16, 18 and 19, in order to judge the twisted state, the above-mentioned straight line marks 23, 24 and 25 are used.
Will be useful.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, a plurality of dot marks are added to form a linear mark. That is, in the cable 16 and the cables 27 as the branch cables 18 and 19, as in the case of FIG.
The surface of 2 becomes uneven. Therefore, the concave and convex concave portion 29
The dot marks 30 having an elliptical shape (other shapes such as a circular shape and a rectangular shape may be continuously printed) are continuously printed to replace the linear marks. According to the dot mark 30,
Since the concave surface 29 is provided, there is an advantage that even if the cable 27 is rubbed, the point mark 30 is not thinned or peeled off, and a clear index can be maintained for a long time.

In the above embodiment, the marks 23, 24, 25
Although the marks 30 and 30 are printed, these marks may be added by partial coloring of the resin material at the time of forming the outer cover, or can be applied by various other methods. Further, the marks 23, 24, 25, 30 may be attached by using fluorescent paint, and in this case, the twisted state of the cables 16, 18, 19 can be surely confirmed even in a dark operating room or the like. There is an advantage.

[0017]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, in a cable for an endoscope having a flexible tube and a jacket, a linear shape is used as an index of the twisted state of the cable. Since the mark is attached to the outer cover, the twisted state of the cable can be visually confirmed, and the twisting more than necessary can be prevented. Therefore, unnecessary load is not applied to various members inside the cable, and good operability of the endoscope is ensured.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, instead of the linear mark, the dot mark is continuously applied only to the concave and convex concave portions formed on the outer cover, so that the mark is peeled off. It is possible to prevent and maintain clear indicators for a long time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view showing a configuration of a cable of an electronic endoscope according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view showing the configuration of marks in the second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a conventional flexible tube of a cable.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 ... Flexible tube, 12 ... Operation part, 16, 27 ... Cable, 18, 19 ... Branch cable, 20, 21 ... Connector, 22 ... Envelope, 23, 24, 25 ... Straight line mark, 29 ... Recessed surface part, 30 ... dotted marks.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A cable for an endoscope, comprising: a spiral flexible tube, which is joined by engaging an engaging projection in a convex portion projecting to the outer periphery, and an outer cover formed on the flexible tube. A cable for an endoscope characterized in that a linear mark is attached to the jacket so as to be an indicator of a twisted state of the cable. 2. The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the linear mark is provided by continuously providing a dot-like mark only on the concave and convex concave portions formed on the outer cover. cable.