Back to results
US 6,656,111 B2Granted
Control device for an endoscope
AssigneePENTAX Corporation
InventorsYoshinori Fujii, Akira Sugiyama, Hiroyuki Katsurada
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An endoscope includes a hollow operational body, a hollow shaft provided on the hollow operational body, at least one hollow rotational control knob which is rotatably supported on the hollow shaft; and an air passage via which an inner space of the hollow operational body and an inner space of the at hollow rotational control knob have a communicative connection with each other, wherein the hollow shaft includes a portion of the passage.
Claims26
An endoscope comprising:
- a hollow operational body;
- a hollow shaft provided on said hollow operational body;
- at least one hollow rotational control knob which is rotatably supported on said hollow shaft;
- and
- an air passage via which an inner space of said hollow operational body and an inner space of said hollow rotational control knob have a communicative connection with each other, wherein said hollow shaft comprises a portion of said passage;
- wherein said hollow rotational control knob is positioned about an axis of said hollow shaft at an intermediate position between opposite ends of said axis, and wherein said air passage comprises:
- at least one radial path formed on said hollow shaft to extend in a radial direction of aid hollow shaft to said inner space of said hollow rotational control knob;
- and
- at least one axial path formed in said hollow shaft so as to have a communicative connection with said radial path, and to extend in a direction of said axis of said hollow shaft to said inner space of said hollow operational body.
6 more elements
An endoscope comprising:
- a hollow operational body;
- a hollow shaft provided on said hollow operational body;
- at least one hollow rotational control knob which is rotatably supported on said hollow shaft;
- an air passage via which an inner space of said hollow operational body and an inner space of said hollow rotational control knob have a communicative connection with each other, wherein said hollow shaft comprises a portion of said passage;
- and
- at least one cylindrical member which is fitted on said hollow shaft,
- wherein said hollow rotational control knob is positioned about an axis of said hollow shaft at an intermediate position between opposite ends of said axis, and
- wherein said air passage comprises:
- at least one axial path formed in said hollow shaft to extend in a direction of said axis of said hollow shaft to said inner space of said hollow operational body;
- at least one first radial path formed on said hollow shaft to extend in a radial direction of said hollow shaft from said axial path to an outer peripheral surface of said hollow shaft;
- at least one second radial path formed on said cylindrical member to extend in said direction of said axis of said hollow shaft so as to provide a communicative connection with said axial path and said inner space of said hollow rotational control via said second radial path regardless of a relative rotational position between said cylindrical member and said hollow shaft.
8 more elements
An endoscope comprising:
- a hollow operational body;
- at least one hollow rotational control knob provided on said hollow operational body;
- and
- a communicative connection device which provides a communicative connection with an inner space of said hollow operational body and an inner space of said hollow rotational control knob;
- wherein said communicative connection device comprises a stationary hollow shaft about which said at least one hollow rotational control knob is turned, at least one radial path provided in said hollow shaft extending in a radial direction of said hollow shaft to the inner space of said at least one hollow rotational control knob, and at least one axial path provided in said hollow shaft and having a communicative connection with the radial path and extending in a direction of the axis of said hollow shaft to the inner space of the hollow operational body.
2 more elements
The endoscope according to claim 11, wherein said at least one hollow rotational control knob comprises:
- a first angle knob for bending a distal end of an insertion portion of said endoscope in a first direction;
- a second angle knob for bending said distal end in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction;
- and
- a lock knob, positioned at one end of said hollow shaft, for locking said first knob.
1 more element
An endoscope comprising:
- an insertion portion provided at a distal end thereof with a steerable bendable portion;
- and
- at least one rotational steering knob which is controlled manually to bend said steerable bendable portion so as to direct a tip of said steerable bendable portion toward a target;
- wherein said rotational steering knob is made of a resin material and comprises:
- a pair of walls which are separate from each other in a direction of a rotational axis of said rotational steering knob, an aperture being formed on each of said pair of walls;
- and
- an outer peripheral wall which extends to connect said pair of walls so as to form said rotational steering knob as a hollow knob;
- wherein said pair of walls and said outer peripheral wall comprise a molded single-piece construction.
5 more elements
An endoscope comprising:
- an operational body having an insertion portion extending therefrom;
- at least one elongated groove provided in an external surface of a grip portion of said operational body;
- and
- non-slip rubber member fixed to an external surface of said operational body, said non-slip rubber member comprising a rubber strip fixed in said at least one elongated groove in the external surface of the grip portion of said operational body, said non-slip rubber strip projecting outwardly from said elongated groove above the external surface of the grip portion of said operational body.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.