JPH03128026A - Angle for curving operation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To install a guide mechanism for an operating wire in simple manner by constituting an angle body from a number of annular bodies which are arranged in one row, separated each other in the axis line direction. CONSTITUTION:The angle body of an angle 1 is constituted of a number of annular bodies 2, and each annular body 2 has a thin plate shape, and the outer shape is a nearly perfect circular form, and the inside forms a vacant part 3 having a nearly circular form. A number of annular bodies 2 are connected by a regulating member 7, and the regulating member 7 is arranged on the whole length of the angle 1 and set so as to be freely curved for the longitudinal direction, and the engaging recessed part 5 of the annular body 2 is fitted into each recessed part 7a formed on the both edge parts of the regulating member 7, and the annular body 2 is installed so as not to be shifted relatively in the longitudinal direction for the regulating member 7. Further, operating wires 8 and 8 are inserted into the through holes 6 and 6 of each annular body 2, and the top edge of each operating wire 8 is connected with a frame 10 of each top edge constitution part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an angle used in a bending operation device such as an endoscope.

[Prior Art] Generally, an endoscope has a flexible insertion section extending from its operating section, and a curved section is provided at the distal end of the insertion section. A tip component is provided at the tip of the curved portion, and the tip component is provided with an observation window, an illumination window, and the like. The operation part is equipped with an operation dial, and by operating this operation dial,
By pulling the operating wire inserted inside, the bending portion connected to the operating wire is bent. This allows the tip component to be directed in the direction desired for observation.

An angle for a bending operation device is used in the bending portion of the endoscope. For this kind of angle, there is a
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 74, there is one in which the angle main body is made of a fill. In this angle, an operating wire is inserted into a cavity inside the coil, and the coil is bent by pulling the operating wire toward the proximal end.

In addition, in this angle, a regulating member is provided in the cavity inside the coil so that the direction of bending of the coil can be specified.

The regulating member generally has a thin and elongated flat plate shape, and is bendable in the elongated direction. The width direction of the regulating member is aligned with the radial direction of the fill, both ends in the width direction are hooked on the inner surface of the coil, and the longitudinal direction is aligned with the axial direction of the coil, so that it covers almost the entire length of the coil. It is installed across. By arranging the regulating member in the above-described attitude relative to the coil, the coil cannot curve in the width direction of the regulating member, but can curve only in the direction intersecting the width direction.

In addition, in the cavities on both sides partitioned by the above-mentioned regulating member,
One operation wire is inserted through each, and optical fiber bundles for the observation system and illumination system, forceps channels, and the like are also inserted.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] In the conventional angle for a bending operation device having the above configuration,
Since each operating wire can freely move within each cavity partitioned by the regulating member, when the coil is curved, the operating wire located on the outside of the curve moves to the inside of the curve to take the shortest path. During this movement, the operating wire may rub against other objects such as forceps channels housed in the cavity, damaging these objects, or may put pressure on these objects as a result of the movement. .

In order to prevent this, it would be best to provide a guide mechanism for the operating wire so that it does not move to the inside of the curve even when it is pulled, but it is extremely difficult to provide that guide mechanism inside the coil. there were.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art described above, and its object is to provide an angle for a bending operation device in which a guide mechanism for the operation wire can be easily provided. be.

[Means for solving the problem] This invention was made to achieve the above object,
The gist of this is that it has a bendable angle body that has a hollow section with a substantially circular cross section inside, and a bendable angle body that is placed in the hollow part of the angle body and spans in the radial direction of the angle body to engage with the angle body and bend the angle body. An angle for a bending operation device comprising a bendable regulating member that regulates the direction, and at least one operating wire that bends the angle body by pulling it toward the proximal end, wherein the angle body is bent in its axial direction. The angle for a bending operation device is characterized in that it consists of a large number of rings arranged in a line and spaced apart from each other.

[Function j: Since the angle main body is composed of a large number of rings, a guide mechanism for the operating wire can be easily provided by providing a guide hole through which the operating wire is inserted in each of the rings. Can be done.

[Embodiment 7] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings from FIG. 1 to FIG. 11. Incidentally, the angle for the bending operation device in this embodiment is a mode used for the bending part of an endoscope.

1 to 4 show an angle for a bending operation device according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 1 is an assembled external perspective view of an angle 1 for a bending operation device (hereinafter abbreviated as angle 1). be. The angle main body of the angle 1 is composed of a large number of rings 2. The annular body 2 has a thin plate shape, and as shown in FIG. 2, its outer shape is approximately a perfect circle and has a generally circular cavity 3 inside. A pair of protrusions 4 are formed at the portions of the ring body 2 facing the cavity 3 that face each other in the radial direction across the center of the ring body 2, and an engagement recess is formed between the protrusions 4. It is 5. Further, the ring body 2 has the above-mentioned engagement recess 5.
Through holes 6, 6 are formed at positions spaced 90' from each other in the circumferential direction.

The plurality of ring bodies 2 are connected by a regulating member 7. The regulating member 7 is arranged along the entire length of the angle 1, and as shown in FIG. 3, has a thin and elongated flat plate shape, and is bendable in its longitudinal direction. Further, both edges of the regulating member 7 in the width direction have a sawtooth shape. This regulating member 7 has its width direction along the radial direction of the ring body,
It is inserted into the cavity 3 of the ring body 2 with its elongated direction along the axis of the ring body 2, and the engaging recess of the ring body 2 is inserted into the recess 7a formed on both edges of the regulating member 7. 5, the ring body 2 is attached to the regulating member 7 so as to be immovable relative to the regulating member 7 in its longitudinal direction.

When attaching the ring body 2 to the regulating member 7, as shown in FIG. The regulating member 7 is deformed into an elliptical shape to widen the space between the opposing engagement recesses 55.
You can easily install it by inserting the .

The distal end of the regulating member 7 is connected to the frame 10 of the distal end component of the endoscope, and the proximal end of the regulating member 7 is coupled to the distal end (not shown) of the insertion section of the endoscope.

Further, operating wires 8.8 are inserted into the through holes 6, 6 of each ring body 2.
are inserted therethrough, and the tip of each operating wire 8 is connected to the frame 10 of the tip component.

Further, in the cavity 3 of each ring body 2 partitioned into two by the regulating member 7, there is an optical fiber bundle for observation, an optical fiber bundle for illumination, a forceps channel, etc., all of which are not shown. ) is inserted.

In the angle 1 configured as described above, the regulating member 7 specifies the bending direction of the angle 1. That is, due to the presence of the regulating member 7, the angle 1 cannot be bent in the X direction in FIG. 1, and can only be bent in the Y direction. The direction is specified by pulling one of the operating wires 8 located on the side to be bent.

In this angle 1, since the operating wire 8 is inserted and guided through the through hole 6 of the ring body 2, the operating wire 8 does not move into the cavity 3 during the above-mentioned bending operation. Therefore, the operating wire 8 will not rub against or press against the optical fiber, forceps channel, etc. inserted into the cavity 3, and will not damage them.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of another embodiment of the ring body 2. FIG.

This ring body 2 differs from that of the first embodiment in that the protrusion 4 and the engagement recess 5 are located close to one of the through holes 6. As a result of locating the engagement recess 5 in this manner, the regulating member 7 is positioned eccentrically by a predetermined dimension from the center of the ring body 2, and one cavity of the cavity 3 partitioned by the regulating member 7 is enlarged. can do. By doing so, the thickness of the members such as the forceps channel inserted into the cavity 3 can be made thicker than in the first embodiment. Note that the other configurations, operations, and effects are the same as those of the first embodiment, so their explanations will be omitted.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the angle 1 is a so-called two-way angle that can be curved on one plane.
FIGS. 11 to 11 show the case where the present invention is applied to a so-called omnidirectional angle in which the angle 1 can be curved three-dimensionally in all directions.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the ring 2 used for omnidirectional angles. This ring body 2 differs from the ring body 2 in the first embodiment in that four through holes 6 are provided along the circumferential direction of the ring body 2 at intervals of 90'. In the case of this embodiment, a total of two through holes 6 are added to each side of the engagement recess 5 of the ring body 2 in the first embodiment.

Moreover, FIG. 7 is an external perspective view of a regulating member used for omnidirectional angles. Although the regulating member 7 in the first embodiment was composed of one part over the entire length of the angle 1,
In the case of omnidirectional angles, a large number of short regulating members 7 are used. Both longitudinal ends of each regulating member 7 are curved and recessed.

This is the same as in the first and second embodiments in that both edges of the regulating member 7 are serrated and have a recess 7a. When the regulating members 7 are assembled to the ring body 2, they are arranged so that adjacent regulating members 7 are orthogonal to each other in plan view, as shown in FIG. The structure of the assembly of the ring body 2 and the regulating member 7 is the same as in the first and second embodiments described above, except that the recess 7a located at the top of the - regulating member 7 and the - regulating member 7 are assembled. The same ring body 2 is attached to the recess 7a located at the lowermost part of the regulating member 7 located directly above.

By doing so, adjacent regulating members 7 are connected to each other via this ring body 2. In addition, this connection part has a circumferential direction of 9.
An annular body 2 (not shown) is used which is provided with two engaging recesses 5 at intervals of 0'. Furthermore, by recessing both longitudinal ends of each regulating member 7 into a curved shape, the regulating member 7
Even if they are connected in this way, interference between adjacent regulating members 7 can be avoided.

Each through hole 6 of each ring body 2 assembled to the regulation member 7
One operating wire 8 is inserted through each of the holes, and the angle can be bent by the operating wire 8 of the plan. At this angle, the parts where the first and third regulating members 7 from the top in Fig. 7 are arranged can only be bent in the Y direction, and the parts where the second and fourth regulating members 7 from the top are arranged. In this case, it is possible to bend only in the X direction, so by combining these, it becomes possible to bend in all directions.

FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of the pond of the ring 2 used for omnidirectional angles. The only difference between the ring body 2 of this embodiment and the embodiment shown in FIG. It is.

FIG. 10 shows yet another embodiment of the ring 2 used for omnidirectional angles. The ring body 2 of this embodiment differs from that of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 in that the projection 4 and the engagement recess 5 are located close to one through hole 6. This corresponds to the second embodiment in the case of a two-way angle, and as shown in FIG. 11, the regulating member 7 can be positioned eccentrically from the center of the annular body 2 in plan view. As a result, one of the four cavities 3 divided by the regulating member 7 can be enlarged, and the sixth cavity can be enlarged.
The thickness of members such as the forceps channel inserted into the cavity 3 can be made thicker than in the illustrated embodiment.

This invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various embodiments can be adopted.

For example, the present invention is also applicable to a so-called one-way angle in which the angle can be bent only to one side from a straight state. In that case, only one operating wire is required.

Further, in each of the embodiments described above, the angle is used in the curved portion of the endoscope, but the angle of the present invention may be applied to a catheter.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, since the angle main body is composed of a large number of ring bodies, it is very easy to drill a guide hole for the operating wire in the ring bodies. It can be carried out.

If the operating wire is inserted through the guide hole, the operating wire will not move during the bending operation and rub against or press against objects housed in the cavity. Excellent effects are achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings from FIG. 1 to FIG. 11 show embodiments of the present invention. Figures 1 to 4 show the first embodiment, where Figure 1 is an external perspective view of an angle for a bending operation device adopted as a two-way angle, and Figure 2 is an annular body forming a part of the angle body. 3 is an external perspective view of the regulating member,
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a method of assembling the ring body and the regulating member, and FIG. 5 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the ring body used for a two-way angle. In addition, the drawings from Fig. 6 to Fig. 11 show the case where the angle is adopted in all directions.
6, 9, and 10 are respectively plan views of the ring body for omnidirectional angles, FIG. 7 is an external perspective view of the regulating member for omnidirectional angles, and FIG. 8 is the embodiment shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 11 is a plan view corresponding to FIG. 8 when the ring body of the embodiment shown in FIG. 10 is used. ■... Angle for bending operation device, 2... Annular body (angle body), 3... Hollow part, 7
...Restriction member, 8...Operation wire.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A bendable angle main body having a hollow section with a substantially circular cross section inside, and an angle main body arranged in the hollow part of the angle main body, spanned in the radial direction of the angle main body, and engaged with the angle main body to regulate the bending direction of the angle main body. A freely bendable regulating member,
and at least one operating wire that bends the angle body by pulling it toward the proximal end, wherein the angle body is arranged in a row spaced apart from each other in the axial direction thereof. An angle for a bending operation device characterized by consisting of a ring body.