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:
Jul. 01, 2003
Filed:
Jun. 22, 2001
Tatsuya Ishizuka, Hachioji, JP;
Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An endoscope where problems due to a difference of deformation amount in the longitudinal direction generated between the flexible tube and the integrated object during autoclave sterilization are prevented, wherein the insertion part is comprised of a hard tip part and a flexible tube which is linked to the base of the hard tip part via a curving part, the tip of a treatment instrument tube is secured to a metal pipe disposed in a through hole of the hard tip part, the base part is secured to a branch pipe, and the treatment instrument tube has a shrinkage factor x having a characteristic x<1, that is, shrinking after a predetermined thermal load is applied, whereas the flexible tube has shrinkage a factor y having a characteristic y<1, that is, shrinking after a predetermined thermal load is applied, in other words, the deforming directions of the flexible tube and the treatment instrument tube are set to the same direction with respect to the longitudinal direction, so that the flexible tube and the treatment instrument tube shrink in the same direction when the endoscope is exposed to such a thermal load environment as autoclave sterilization.