Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Olympus Optical

Yoshihiro Iida

Hisao Yabe

Osamu Tamada

Minoru Yamazaki

Yoshio Tashiro

Akira Suzuki

Hideo Ito

Hideo Itoh

Hiroshi Ishii

Masaaki Nakazawa

Koji Yamaya

Keiichi Arai

Jin Kira

Yasuhito Kura

Takeshi Yokoi

Takahiro Kishi

Shigeru Nakajima

Ichiro Nakamura

Tatsuya Furukawa

Yoshinao Oaki

Yosuke Yoshimoto

Tsugio Okazaki

Koji Koda

Daisaku Negoro

Takeaki Nakamura

Hiroki Moriyama

Hiroki Hibino

Akio Ogawa

Koji Takamura

Hiroyuki Sasa

Hidetoshi Saito

Motokazu Nakamura

Yoshisada Aoki

Yasuyuki Futatsugi

Yutaka Ohshima

Jun Hiroya

Naruto Shinkai

Koji Nakamoto

Toshiyuki Takara

Tsutomu Ishiguro

Ryouji Masubuchi

Manabu Yajima

Nobuyuki Nakanishi

Osamu Tamda

Toshiyuki Kubonoya

Yoshio Tashibo

An endoscope system having a cover type endoscope provided with an elongate inserting section having therein an observation device and an illuminating device and bulge portions formed on the outer periphery at the side of a forwardmost end of the inserting section; and an endoscope cover having an endoscope inserting passage for covering and protecting the inserting section. The endoscope inserting passage receives the inserting section using the bulge portions as a guide. The bulge portions project more than the outer periphery of the inserting section.

Endoscope system having an endoscope capable of being guided into an

In an endoscope system including an endoscope having an insertion section to be inserted into a cavity under inspection, a bending portion which is provided in said insertion section near a distal end thereof and is bendable in at least two different directions and an operation section to which a proximal end of the insertion section is connected and a disposable protection cover having an insertion section cover for covering said insertion section of the endoscope and having formed therein an insertion section inserting channel into which said insertion section of the endoscope is insertable and at least one conduit channel, said insertion section and bending portion of the endoscope are formed to have a non-circular lateral cross section, a direction in which said non-circular cross section has a larger size is aligned with a direction in which said bending portion is bent by a maximum bending angle or a direction in which said non-circular cross section has a smaller size is aligned with a direction in which said bending portion is bent by a minimum bending angle.

Endoscope system including endoscope and protection cover

In an endoscope system including an endoscope having an insertion section insertable into a cavity under inspection and an operation section having at least one operation switch, the operation section being connected to a proximal end of the insertion section and a disposable protection cover having an insertion section cover for covering said insertion section of the endoscope and an operation section cover for covering the operation section of the endoscope, the insertion section cover includes a forceps channel through which existing forceps for use in ordinary coverless endoscopes can be inserted. An inner diameter of the forceps channel is determined to be slightly larger than an outer diameter of most frequently used forceps or standard forceps whose number is maximized in the outer diameter series of the forceps.

Endoscope system including endoscope and disposable protection cover

An endoscope system provided with an electronic or optical endoscope is provided therein with an illuminating optical system, an observation optical system, a flow passage system and a forceps channel. Cleaning and disinfection operations are performed on the endoscope so that the endoscope is reusable. An electronic or optical cover type endoscope is provided therein with an illuminating optical system and an observation optical system. The cover type endoscope is used with an endoscope cover having a flow passage system and a forceps channel mounted on the cover type endoscope. The endoscope cover is discarded and replaced whereby the cover type endoscope is reused. Peripheral equipment for endoscope inspection used in combination with the endoscopes is capable of being selectively connected to any of the endoscopes.

Endoscope system including both reusable-type and cover-type endoscopes

In an endoscope system including an endoscope having an insertion section and an operation section and a disposable protection cover having an insertion section cover having formed therein a forceps channel and a forceps inlet opening through which a forceps can be inserted into the forceps channel, the forceps inlet opening is selectively closed by a forceps plug which is made of resilient material and separately formed from the insertion section cover. The forceps plug is preferably formed such that it can be detachably secured to a forceps inlet opening of an ordinary coverless (without-cover} endoscope.

An endoscope system including an endoscope having an insertion section which extends from a proximal end to a distal end and is inserted into a cavity under inspection and an operation section connected to the proximal end of the insertion section, and a protection cover including an insertion section inserting channel which extends from a proximal end to a distal end and into which said insertion section of the endoscope is insertable and a conduit channel which extends from the proximal end to the distal end, the improvement being characterized in that a distal end portion of the insertion section has a non-circular cross section such as a semicircular or oval cross section and a proximal end portion of the insertion section has a substantially circular cross section. A distal end member of the insertion section inserting channel has an accommodating portion which is a corresponding non-circular cross section.

A cover system endoscope apparatus in which an insert part cover sheath for isolating the insert part of a cover endoscope is airtightly connected to a distal end constructive part of a tip part of an insert part cover. The insert part cover sheath is composed of a soft resin such as polyurethane exhibiting an excellent chemical resistance and a relatively high flexibility. The tip side of the cover sheath is connectively covered on an outer peripheral edge of the rear end of the distal end constructive part. The insert part cover sheath is formed with a forceps inlet on its near-at-hand side. Connected airtightly thereto is an endoscope manipulation part fixing mouth part having an expansion tube mouth for connecting an expansion tube and further a connecting part connected to a cover holding tool. An opening of an endoscope insert channel provided in an interior of the insert part cover sheath is formed on the near-at-hand side of the endoscope manipulation part fixing mouth part. The tip of the endoscope manipulation part fixing mouth part is connected to the distal end constructive part of the cover. Protruded are conduits such as air and water supply conduits and a channel communicating with a forceps outlet. These conduits are each formed of a soft resin such as PTFE exhibiting a low flexibility but a relatively high rigidity. A flexural rigidity when combining these conduits is larger than a flexural rigidity of the insert part cover sheath.

Endoscope apparatus of an endoscope cover system for preventing buckling

A tip ring 18 for forming a lock mechanism for locking a tip cover 51 is formed in a circumferential part with a lock projection 22 for forming a lock groove 26 which becomes a recess of the lock mechanism on the endoscope tip side between the lock projection and curved rubber 19. A lock piece which becomes a projection of the lock mechanism of the tip cover 51 is locked into the lock groove 26 made by disposing the tip ring 18 and the curved rubber 19. To enhance the attachment property of the lock piece 52 to the lock groove 26, the lock projection 22 is formed with a slant projection 27 which becomes a slope for guiding the lock piece 52 to the lock groove 26. The slant projection 27 is formed as a slope projecting to the tip side from the lock projection 22 and rising from the tip bottom face to the top face of the lock projection 22.

Endoscope

A cover-fit endoscope can be used while being covered with a cover so that it is watertight. An appliance channel is extended through the cover and an appliance insertion inlet of the channel is open. This opening of the appliance insertion inlet is provided with an integral appliance plug. It is therefore possible to prevent the contaminated appliance plug from being fitted to the sterilized cover by mistake, and also to prevent leakage of the body fluids. Thus, the cover-fit endoscope is kept from contamination. The cover and the appliance plug are both discarded after use. The need for washing and disinfecting the cover-fit endoscope is eliminated, and use of the sterilized appliance plug is always ensured to reduce a fear of infection.

Channeled endoscope cover fitted type endoscope

In an endoscope system including an endoscope having an insertion section and an operation section and a disposable protection cover having an insertion section cover having formed therein a forceps channel and a forceps inlet opening through which a forceps can be inserted into the forceps channel, said forceps inlet opening is selectively closed by a forceps plug which is made of resilient material and separately formed from the insertion section cover. The forceps plug is preferably formed such that it can be detachably secured to a forceps inlet opening of an ordinary coverless (without-cover) endoscope.

An endoscope cover apparatus including a joint portion for fixing a control portion of an endoscope disposed adjacent to an operator, and extending insertion-portion cover disposed in front of the joint portion, a cover leading member disposed in the leading portion of the insertion-portion cover, a first tubular passage member passing through the cover-type endoscope from the joint portion to the cover leading member to continuously connect opening portions respectively formed in the cover leading member and the joint portion, and a second tubular passage member for continuously connecting the tubular passage of the joint portion to an external device.

Endoscope cover apparatus for use with cover-type endoscope and

A cover-type endoscope apparatus comprises a cover and a covering endoscope used by being inserted into the cover. At least one hand-side tube line of tube lines forming a plurality of channels provided in the cover has a thickness larger than a thickness of an inserting-side tube line.

Cover-type endoscope apparatus

In an endoscope system including an endoscope having an insertion section to be inserted into a cavity under inspection, a bending portion which is provided in the insertion section near a distal end thereof and is bent in at least up and down directions and an operation section to which a proximal end of the insertion section is connected and a disposable protection cover having an insertion section dover for covering the insertion section of the endoscope and having formed therein an insertion section inserting channel into which the insertion section of the endoscope is insertable and conduit channels, the insertion section inserting channel and conduit channels are both crossed by a line which is parallel with the up and down directions, so that the distal end of the insertion section can be correctly bent in the up and down directions without being influenced by the conduit channels.

An endoscope cover according to the present invention has an arrangement that at least a portion of a control-portion cover for covering the control portion of a cover-type endoscope that corresponds to a soft portion of the cover-type endoscope has uniform flexibility that does not deteriorate the flexibility of said soft portion so that the insertion facility at the time of an inspection with the endoscope is maintained. An endoscope system of a type having an endoscope cover according to the present invention has a warp control knob disposed away from the body of a control portion also serving as a holding portion of the cover-type endoscope, the system having an arrangement that a warping mechanism included in the body of the control portion and the warp control knob are connected to each other by a connection member.

Endoscope cover for endoscope system having uniform flexibility

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Tama, Japan

Yoshihiro Iida