Flexible tube of endoscope and endoscope
AssigneeOlympus Corporation
InventorTakehiro Nishiie
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An endoscope of the present invention includes an inserting portion having a mesh tube formed of at least two metal wires in the shape of a mesh, wound with an angle so that the metal wires are not disposed in the direction orthogonal to or parallel to the longitudinal direction of the inserting portion, and a contraction member for generating the force causing contraction of the inserting portion in the longitudinal direction thereof generally with the same magnitude as the extension force of the inserting portion in the longitudinal direction thereof generated due to the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the endoscope.
Claims13
A flexible tube of an endoscope comprising:
- a mesh tube, which is provided to an inserting portion of the endoscope, formed of at least two metal wires in the shape of a mesh, wound with an angle so that the metal wires are not disposed in the direction orthogonal to or parallel to the longitudinal direction of the inserting portion;
- and
- a contracting member for generating contraction force in the longitudinal direction of the inserting portion generally with the same magnitude as the extension force in the longitudinal direction of the inserting portion, generated due to the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the endoscope.
An endoscope comprising a flexible tube comprising:
- a spiral tube formed of metal strips wound in the shape of a spiral;
- a mesh tube formed of at least two metal wires in the shape of a mesh, wound with an angle so that the metal wires are not disposed in the direction orthogonal to or parallel to the longitudinal direction, for covering the outer circumference of the spiral tube;
- and
- a covering tube for covering the outer circumference of the mesh tube;
- wherein the contraction force is generated generally with the same magnitude as the extension force of the flexible tube, generated due to the pressure difference in the event that the pressure in the inside of the endoscope becomes smaller than the pressure in the outside thereof, thereby suppressing the change in the length of the flexible tube.
An endoscope comprising:
- a flexible tube including
- a mesh tube formed of at least two metal wires in the shape of a mesh, wound with an angle so that the metal wires are not disposed in the direction orthogonal to or parallel to the longitudinal direction, and
- a covering tube for covering the outer circumference of the mesh tube;
- a pressure regulating valve for maintaining the pressure in the inside of the endoscope within a predetermined value by releasing the pressure regulating valve in the event that the pressure in the inside of the endoscope exceeds the predetermined value as compared with the pressure in the outside thereof;
- and
- contraction force generating means for generating the contraction force of the flexible tube generally with the same magnitude as the extension force of the flexible tube generated due to the pressure difference in the event that the pressure in the inside of the endoscope becomes smaller than the pressure in the outside thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.