Endoscope capable of varying hardness of flexible part of insertion unit thereof
AssigneeOlympus Optical Co., Ltd.
InventorHiroki Moriyama
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Abstract
An endoscope capable of varying the hardness of a soft part of an insertion unit thereof includes a hardness adjustment unit and a location changing mechanism. The hardness adjustment unit includes an elongated coil and a wire lying through the coil, and adjusts the hardness of the soft part of the insertion unit. The location changing mechanism changes relatively the location of the coil and wire in a longitudinal direction of the insertion unit to maintain the hardness adjustment unit such that the insertion unit is hardened most greatly.
Claims17
An endoscope capable of varying the hardness of a flexible part of an insertion unit thereof, comprising:
- a hardness adjusting means, comprising an elongated coil and a wire disposed within the coil, for adjusting the hardness of the flexible part of the insertion unit;
- and
- a location changing means for changing the location of the coil and the wire in a longitudinal direction of the insertion unit, such that the hardness adjusting means will maintain the insertion unit hardness despite deterioration of the coil or the wire of the hardness adjusting means.
An endoscope enabling variation of the hardness of a flexible part of an insertion unit thereof, comprising:
- a hardness adjusting means, composed of an elongated coil and a wire disposed within the coil, for adjusting the hardness of the flexible part of the insertion unit;
- and
- a unit mounting means for mounting the hardness adjusting means in the flexible part of the insertion unit so that the hardness adjusting means can be freely dismounted from the flexible part of the insertion unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.