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US 6,206,824 B1Granted
Flexible tube for endoscope and method of producing the flexible tube
AssigneeAsahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsKenichi Ohara, Yoshinori Shibata, Hiromichi Shibuya, Hitoshi Hirose, Kikuo Iwasaka, Tatsuo Kubota, Masaya Sato, Tadashi Kasai
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flexible tube for an endoscope includes a spiral coil 11 as the innermost layer and a jacket 13 that is formed by applying a melt of a jacket material 1 and then curing it, in which the jacket material 1 has been allowed to penetrate through the gaps between adjacent turns of the innermost spiral coil 11 to reach the portion of its inner surface.
Claims12
A flexible tube for an endoscope comprising:
- a spiral coil defining gaps between adjacent turns of said spiral coil;
- and
- a jacket formed by a jacket material and covering at least an outer surface of said spiral coil;
- wherein said jacket material penetrates through said gaps to cover at least edges of said spiral coil, and
- wherein said spiral coil includes one or more superimposed layers which are covered with one or more layers of a reticulate tube, said reticulate tube being embedded in said jacket material.
2 more elements
A method of producing a flexible tube for an endoscope comprising:
- setting a spiral coil as an innermost layer on a mandrel with a clearance between an outer surface of said mandrel and an inner surface of said spiral coil;
- applying a melt of a jacket material onto said spiral coil to penetrate through gaps between adjacent turns of said spiral coil into said clearance;
- curing said jacket material;
- and
- removing said mandrel.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.