Patent Application
20090227842
The disclosure of Japanese Patent Applications Nos. 2,008-057146 and 2008-057147, filed on Mar. 7, 2008, including its specification, claims and drawings, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an angle wire fixing structure for fixing an angle wire that effects a bending operation of a distal end portion and an angle portion of an endoscope to an angle ring at a distal end side of an endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
The endoscope comprises a distal end portion in which an objective optical system is arranged, an angle portion (bending portion) including an angle ring in an exterior body, and an operation portion having a bending operation knob and the like, and a plurality of wires are disposed from a wire winding-up portion coupled to the bending operation knob to a distal-end ring of the angle ring. By executing a pulling operation of the plurality of wires with the bending operation knob, the distal end portion and the angle portion can be bent vertically and horizontally.
However, in the conventional endoscope, as described in
Paying attention to these problems, conventional arts in the following Patent Literature 1 to 3 are proposed. Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-78504) is configured such that a locking hole and a slit are provided at a locking tube arranged between a distal end portion and a distal end portion of a bending portion constituting ring, and a fixing member of a wire is inserted through the slit up to the locking hole so as to fit and lock the fixing member at the locking hole. However, with Patent Literature 1, there is a possibility that the wire fixing member is moved in an outer circumferential direction, for example, and is removed from the locking hole.
Patent Literature 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-186836) has a configuration in which a groove is formed on an outer circumference of a distal-end portion main body of an endoscope, a stopper portion at a distal end of a wire is fitted in this groove, and the outside thereof is covered by a sheath tube. Since a lens assembly, a CCD and the like for an observation optical system are arranged at the distal-end portion main body in general, there is no allowance of space in the inner circumference portion, and it is difficult to fix the wire on the inner circumference side of the distal-end portion main body. Also, the distal-end portion main body is constituted by solid portions, and a hole for arranging the observation optical system, a light guide and the like is worked afterwards. Thus, if the wire is fixed on the inner circumference, a hole for the wire needs to be worked, and a structure for fixing is further made complicated. Therefore, in order to fix the wire distal end to the distal-end portion main body, a structure to fix it to the outer circumference is generally used as in Patent Literature 2.
However, since in Patent Literature 2, a groove is formed on the outer circumference of the distal-end portion main body, a thickness for the groove is needed and the diameter of the distal-end portion main body can not be reduced, and narrowing of the diameter of the endoscope is prevented. On the other hand, since the inside of the angle ring is hollow for the entirety, a space other than the space for arranging the contents such as light guide, electric cables and the like becomes a dead space, which has some allowances as compared with the distal-end portion main body, and if the wire is fixed on the angle ring side, it can be fixed on the inner circumference side and that does not enlarge the outer circumference. Thus, the wire is preferably fixed on the angle ring side.
Patent Literature 3 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-228620) is configured such that an emboss portion using a shape memory metal is provided at a nodal ring constituting a bending portion, and a wire is attached at the time of transition of a high-temperature phase of the shape memory metal while the wire is removed at the time of transition of a low-temperature phase. However, in Patent Literature 3, since the shape memory metal is used, transition work of the high-temperature phase and the low-temperature phase is complicated, and a manufacturing costs and a repair cost are high.
The present invention was made in view of the above problems and has an object to provide an angle wire fixing structure of an endoscope in which fixing in attaching a wire is surely carried out if the wire is detachable with respect to an angle ring and moreover, the wire is not largely moved at an attaching and fixing portion in a distal-end direction, wire replacement is facilitated, a repair cost can be reduced, and narrowing of the diameter of the endoscope is not prevented.
In order to achieve the above object, an angle wire fixing structure of an endoscope according to the present invention comprises a fixing member (stopper) to which a wire for bending an angle portion is attached and in which a groove is formed on a side face thereof and an attaching hole (opening) formed on a side face of an angle ring and having a locking portion (notched portion) by which the groove of the fixing member is locked in a state where the wire is arranged on an inner circumferential face side of the angle ring, characterized in that the fixing member is detachably attached and fixed to the attaching hole.
The attaching hole is formed as a T-shaped hole with a T-shaped perpendicular portion serving as the locking portion, and the grooves formed on both side faces of the fixing member can be locked by the T-shaped perpendicular portion.
According to the above configuration, the grooves are formed on both sides of the fixing member, for example, and the T-shaped attaching hole with the T-shaped perpendicular portion serving as the locking portion is provided in the angle ring, and by inserting the fixing member from a T-shaped horizontal portion to the T-shaped perpendicular locking portion of the attaching hole and by locking the grooves on the both sides by the locking portion, the fixing member is fixed to the attaching hole.
According to the present invention as above, even if the wire is made detachable with respect to the angle ring, there is an effect that fixing in attaching of the wire can be surely carried out, and thus, wire replacement is facilitated, and the repair cost can be lowered. Also, since the wire is not attached on the distal-end portion main body of the endoscope, there is an advantage that narrowing of the diameter of the endoscope is not prevented.
In the fixing member, a screw hole is formed, and a screw can be inserted through the screw hole and the attaching hole so as to screw the fixing member into the distal-end portion main body. According to this, the fixed state can be made firmer by the screwing.
In the locking portion by which the groove of the fixing member is locked, a projection portion projecting in the perpendicular direction from the side face of the angle ring may be provided. This has an advantage that the locking portion at the attaching hole provided at the angle ring can be prevented from being widened by a frequent pulling operation of the wire.
Also, a portion of the attaching hole may be recessed on the inward side of the angle ring so that the outer circumference of the fixing member attached to the attaching hole substantially matches an outer circumferential circle of the angle ring. According to this, there are advantages that increase in the outer circumference of the attaching portion of the fixing member in the angle ring can be prevented, and the narrowing of the diameter of the endoscope is not obstructed.
Also, the angle wire fixing structure of the endoscope of another invention is provided with a wire having a small body (small mass) for locking formed at a distal end and arranged on an inner circumferential face side of an angle ring for bending an angle portion, a wire fixing portion provided for attaching a wire on the angle ring and having a locking hole for detachably locking the small body for locking formed, and a distal-end portion main body fitted and connected to the angle ring of the angle portion and having a rear end in contact with or in proximate to a distal end portion of the small body for locking, the small body for locking being arranged in a locking hole of the wire fixing portion, wherein the small body for locking is detachably attached on the locking hole of the wire fixing portion, and an operation of the small body for locking is regulated by the rear end of the distal-end portion main body.
According to the configuration of the above another invention, the wire fixing portion is integrally or detachably attached to a side face of the angle ring, the small body of the wire distal end is inserted into and locked by the locking hole (two-staged hole) of the wire fixing portion, and then, the distal-end portion main body is fitted with the angle ring and arranged so that the rear end of the distal-end portion main body is in contact with or in proximate to the distal end portion of the small body and the wire is attached and fixed to the angle ring.
The wire fixing portion may be constituted by the fixing member to which wire is attached and in which the locking hole is formed and the groove is formed on the side face and by the attaching hole formed on the side face of the angle ring and having the locking portion by which the groove of the fixing member is locked in a state where the wire is arranged on the inner circumferential face side of the angle ring, and the wire fixing portion may be constructed so that the fixing member is detachably attached to the attaching hole.
According to the above another invention, even if the wire is made detachable with respect to the angle ring, not only that the fixing at wire attachment is carried out surely but also there is an effect that the wire is not removed from the attaching and fixing portion or the wire is not elongated or cut off, either since the wire is not largely moved in the distal-end direction at the fixing portion. Therefore, the wire replacement is facilitated, and the repair cost can be reduced.
In the first embodiment, as shown in
On the other hand, on the side face of the angle ring 12 at the most distal end, a T-shaped attaching hole (attachment/detachment hole) 18 is provided at four spots at every 90 degrees on the outer circumferential circle, and the attaching hole 18 has such a size that a T-shaped horizontal portion (front side portion) 18a can accommodate insertion of the fixing member 14, and a T-shaped perpendicular portion cut on the rear side thereof serves as a locking portion 18b by which the groove 16 for fixing is locked.
According to the first embodiment with the above configuration, in a state where the wire 13 is inserted into the angle ring 12, the fixing member 14 is inserted into the T-shaped horizontal portion 18a of the attaching hole 18 as shown in
Moreover, in the first embodiment, since the groove 16 of the fixing member 14 is fitted in the locking portion 18b (wall body of the angle ring 12) of the attaching hole 18, a firmly fixed state can be obtained. Also, as shown in
According to the configuration of the second embodiment, as shown in
According to the configuration of the third embodiment, as shown in
According to the fourth embodiment, as shown in
In the fifth embodiment, as shown in
A length L1 [
According to the fifth embodiment with the above configuration, as shown in
As mentioned above in the fifth embodiment, since the small body 54 is not brazed or soldered to the locking hole 57 of the fixing portion 56, by removing the distal-end portion main body 50 from the angle ring 52, the wire 53 is made detachable with respect to the angle ring 52, and replacement of only the wire 53 is made possible. Also, since the small body 54 is held by the rear end of the fitting portion 50K (distal-end portion main body 50) having substantially the same length as the length from the distal end of the angle ring 52 to the wire fixing portion 56 (L1≈L2), removal of the wire 53 from the fixing portion 56 or elongation or cut-off in the wire 53 is not caused.
On the other hand, on the side face of the angle ring 52 at the most distal end, a T-shaped attaching hole (attachment/detachment hole) 63 is provided at four spots at every 90 degrees on the outer circumferential circle, and in the attaching hole 63, a T-shaped horizontal portion (front side portion) 63a is of the size through which the fixing member 60 can be inserted, and a T-shaped perpendicular portion cut-in on the rear side serves as a locking portion 63b for locking the groove 61 for fixing. The configurations of the distal-end portion main body 50, the lengths L1, L2 of the angle ring 52 and the like are the same as those in the fifth embodiment.
According to the sixth embodiment with the above configuration, as shown in
In this case, too, by removing the distal-end portion main body 50 from the angle ring 52, the wire 53 is made detachable with respect to the angle ring 52, and replacement of only the wire 53 is made possible. Also, since the movement of the small body 54 is regulated by the rear end of the distal-end portion main body 50, removal, elongation or cut-off of the wire 53 is not caused. Moreover, there is an advantage that, even in the case where the fixing member 60 is broken, repair is possible by replacing only the fixing member 60.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-057146 | Mar 2008 | JP | national |
| 2008-057147 | Mar 2008 | JP | national |
