Endoscope with direction indication mechanism
First Claim
1. An endoscope comprising:
- (a) a body;
(b) a flexible insertion portion extending from a front end of said body;
(c) a rigid tip member mounted on a front end of said insertion portion, said tip member having an inspection window and an illumination window formed at a front end face thereof; and
(d) a direction indication mechanism detachably mounted on said tip member, said direction indication mechanism comprising annular holder means which is held in contact with the front end face of said tip member and is arranged along a peripheral edge of said inspection window, and a displacement member which is supported by said holder means for displacement circumferentially of said holder means under the influence of gravity, and said displacement member having a direction indication portion disposed radially inwardly of an inner peripheral edge of said holder means and the peripheral edge of said inspection window.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In order to confirm the direction of each portion of an image picked up by an endoscope, the endoscope includes a direction indication mechanism detachably mounted on a tip member. This direction indication mechanism includes an annular holder member which is held in contact with a front end face of the tip member and is arranged along a peripheral edge of an inspection window, and a displacement member supported by the holder member for displacement circumferentially of the holder member under the influence of gravity. The displacement member has a direction indication portion disposed radially inwardly of the inner peripheral edge of the holder member and the peripheral edge of the inspection widow. The direction indication portion is observed from the inspection window. When the direction indication function is not needed, the direction indication mechanism is detached from the tip member.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. An endoscope comprising:
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(a) a body; (b) a flexible insertion portion extending from a front end of said body; (c) a rigid tip member mounted on a front end of said insertion portion, said tip member having an inspection window and an illumination window formed at a front end face thereof; and (d) a direction indication mechanism detachably mounted on said tip member, said direction indication mechanism comprising annular holder means which is held in contact with the front end face of said tip member and is arranged along a peripheral edge of said inspection window, and a displacement member which is supported by said holder means for displacement circumferentially of said holder means under the influence of gravity, and said displacement member having a direction indication portion disposed radially inwardly of an inner peripheral edge of said holder means and the peripheral edge of said inspection window. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification