The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 07, 1982
Filed:
Sep. 16, 1980
Saburo Hosono, Hachioji, JP;
Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A structure for preventing the breakage of both end portions of a protective covering for an adjustable bend section of an endoscope consists of annular elastic members retaining elasticity and adhesivity even at high temperature. Each of the elastic members of the structure comprises a first section which is fixed by thread to the respective end portions of a protective covering which is made of elastic material and surrounds a core assembly, and the respective end portions of which are fastened to the respective end portions of the core assembly by the thread; and a second section which is made of the same material as that of the first section and extends from the first section toward the intermediate part of the protective covering to be fixed to the respective end portion of the protective covering. With the above-mentioned structure, the annular elastic members are not deteriorated even at high temperature. If, therefore, the protective covering loses elasticity upon exposure to high temperature, a stress resulting from the flexing of the adjustable bend section of the endoscope is uniformly adsorbed by the whole length of the second portion of the annular elastic member. Consequently, a stress is not concentrated at particular regions of both end portions of the protective covering. As a result, both end portions of the protective covering are resistant to cracking or any other form of damage, thereby prolonging the effective life of the protective covering.