Endoscope shaft comprising a movable end portion
AssigneeSTM Medizintechnik Starnberg GmbH
InventorsThomas Viebach, Fritz Pauker
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Abstract
The present invention relates to an endoscope shaft comprising a movable distal end portion which is bendable by means of an operating device, the distal end portion having at least one decentralized hose member extending along the distal end portion, said hose member being integrally formed of a plurality of directly superimposed expansion bellows and forming a continuous pressure chamber so as to expand in the longitudinal direction when pressure is applied.
Claims26
An endoscope shaft comprising a distal cylindrical end portion which is bendable by means of an operating device and which has a plurality of hose members disposed in a decentralized manner and extending along said end portion, each of said hose members forming a continuous pressure chamber so as to extend in a longitudinal direction when pressure is applied, for which purpose each of said hose members forms at least one bellows consisting of a synthetic material non-elastic at least in a predetermined pressure-application range wherein said hose members are disposed such that folds formed by the bellows define continuous circumferential grooves aligned toward each other on a circumferential surface of said end portion, and wherein said circumferential grooves are aligned at an acute angle to a central axis of said end portion such that a helical shape is formed.
An endoscope shaft comprising a distal cylindrical end portion which is bendable by means of an operating device and which has a plurality of hose members disposed in a decentralized manner and extending along said end portion, each of said hose members forming a continuous pressure chamber so as to extend in a longitudinal direction when pressure is applied, for which purpose each of said hose members forms at least one bellows consisting of a synthetic material non-elastic at least in a predetermined pressure-application range wherein said hose members are disposed such that folds formed by the bellows define continuous circumferential grooves aligned toward each other on a circumferential surface of said end portion, and wherein each hose member forms, in its cross-section, a segment of a circle with a radial outer side and relatively straight inner sides or flanks and wherein a plurality of said hose members having the shape of a circle segment are adjacent to each other at the flanks.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.