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:
Oct. 16, 2001
Filed:
Sep. 17, 1999
Tsuruo Hatori, Sagamihara, JP;
Hideki Tsujiya, Hachioji, JP;
Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In a bendable tube of an endoscope, a plurality of joint rings each having a rotational axis perpendicular to a direction of bending of an insertion section of the endoscope are arranged in a longitudinal direction of the insertion section. A pair of connection tongue portions provided to project in a longitudinal direction of the joint rings are rotatably connected by means of a shaft member. An end face of a small-diameter portion of the shaft member, which comprises the small-diameter portion and a large-diameter portion, is welded to one of the tongue portions through a rotary shaft hole, which is formed in the other tongue portion and has a diameter slightly greater than a diameter of the small-diameter portion.