Tubular medical instrument having a flexible sheath with cuffs
AssigneeOlympus Optical Co., Ltd.
InventorMikio Utsugi
Life of this patent
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AssigneeOlympus Optical Co., Ltd.
InventorMikio Utsugi
Estimating the term…
Main and auxiliary cuffs made of an elastic material such as rubber, etc., are mounted in close proximity to each other on the forward end portion of a flexible sheath of a tubular medical instrument. The flexible sheath is inserted into a body cavity of a human being and with further insertion of the flexible tube the main cuff is contacted, while at the expanded state, with the wall surface of the body cavity and when the flexible sheath is forwardly pushed the portion of the main cuff is rearwardly deformed, while effecting a rolling contact with the wall surface of the body cavity, to permit it to ride on the auxiliary cuff. When the auxiliary cuff is then expanded to cause the corresponding wall surface of the body cavity to be expanded, the main cuff is separated away from the wall surface of the body cavity to cause the portion of the main cuff to be forwardly pushed ahead into an original position. Such a step is cyclically repeated so that the sheath can be intermittently advanced into the body cavity of the human being.
A tubular medical instrument comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.