Focusable optical instrument with a sealed optical system having no internal optical moving parts
First Claim
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1. An endoscope comprising:
- a replaceable sealed optical assembly without moveable parts having a distal end, a proximal end, and an image plane located outside of said replaceable sealed optical assembly;
a focusing device connected on one side to said proximal end and on the opposite side to an external image receiving device, said external image receiving device having an image receiving plane such that focusing of said endoscope is achieved when said image plane coincides with said image receiving plane;
said focusing device having means for relative motion with respect to said replaceable sealed optical assembly, said means for relative motion comprising an internal driver in the form of a first tubular body slidingly fit onto said distal end of said replaceable sealed optical assembly, said internal driver having an external thread on its outer surface;
an adapter made in the form of a second tubular body having an inner thread engaged with said external thread, said adapter having a proximal end and a distal end and being rigidly connected to said image receiving device on said proximal end;
a focus driver in the form of a third tubular body which is rigidly connected to said sealed optical assembly and to said internal driver, so that rotation of said focus driver relative to said adapter will cause relative displacement of said image plane with respect to said image receiving plane.
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Abstract
An endoscope having an autoclavable replaceable sealed optical assembly without moveable parts. The sealed optical assembly is placed into an insertion tube of the endoscope. A focusing device is attached to the proximal end of the sealed optical assembly. The opposite end of the focusing device may be connected to an appropriate image-receiving device such as a CCD camera. The endoscope differs from conventional optical devices of this type in that its focusing is performed by shifting the image-receiving plane of the CCD camera with respect to an immobile plane of a image produced by optical elements of the sealed optical assembly.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. An endoscope comprising:
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a replaceable sealed optical assembly without moveable parts having a distal end, a proximal end, and an image plane located outside of said replaceable sealed optical assembly;
a focusing device connected on one side to said proximal end and on the opposite side to an external image receiving device, said external image receiving device having an image receiving plane such that focusing of said endoscope is achieved when said image plane coincides with said image receiving plane;
said focusing device having means for relative motion with respect to said replaceable sealed optical assembly, said means for relative motion comprising an internal driver in the form of a first tubular body slidingly fit onto said distal end of said replaceable sealed optical assembly, said internal driver having an external thread on its outer surface;
an adapter made in the form of a second tubular body having an inner thread engaged with said external thread, said adapter having a proximal end and a distal end and being rigidly connected to said image receiving device on said proximal end;
a focus driver in the form of a third tubular body which is rigidly connected to said sealed optical assembly and to said internal driver, so that rotation of said focus driver relative to said adapter will cause relative displacement of said image plane with respect to said image receiving plane. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An endoscope for observation of an object in an enclosed area, comprising:
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a sealed encapsulated optical assembly without movable parts having a distal end and a proximal end;
an objective on said distal end;
an ocular on said proximal end;
a focusing assembly on said proximal end having means for relative motion with respect to said sealed encapsulated optical assembly;
an external image receiving device attached to said focusing assembly for moving therewith; and
illuminating means for illuminating the object;
said sealed optical assembly having an image plane located outside of said sealed encapsulated optical assembly;
said external image receiving device having an image receiving plane, so that focusing of said endoscope is achieved when said image plane coincides with said image receiving plane;
wherein said means for relative motion comprises;
an internal driver in the form of a first tubular body slidingly fit onto said distal end of said replaceable sealed optical assembly, said internal driver having an external thread on its outer surface;
an adapter made in the form of a second tubular body having an inner thread engaged with said external thread, said adapter having a proximal end and a distal end and being rigidly connected to said image receiving device on said proximal end;
a focus driver in the form of a third tubular body which is rigidly connected to said sealed optical assembly and to said internal driver, so that rotation of said focus driver relative to said adapter will cause relative displacement of said image plane with respect to said image receiving plane. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of focusing an optical instrument, comprising the steps of:
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providing said optical instrument with a replaceable sealed optical assembly without moveable parts and with a focusing device connected on one side to said replaceable sealed optical assembly and on the opposite side to an image receiving means, said replaceable sealed optical assembly having an image plane and said image-receiving means having an image-receiving plane;
wherein said focusing device having means for relative motion with respect to the replaceable sealed optical assembly, said means for relative motion comprising;
an internal driver in the form of a first tubular body slidingly fit onto said distal end of said sealed optical assembly, said internal driver having an external thread on its outer surface;
an adapter made in the form of a second tubular body having an inner thread engaged with said external thread, said adapter having a proximal end and a distal end and being rigidly connected to said image receiving device on said proximal end;
a focus driver in the form of a third tubular body which is rigidly connected to said sealed optical assembly and to said internal driver, so that rotation of said focus driver relative to said adapter will cause relative displacement of said optical plane with respect to said image-receiving plane;
changing a distance between said image plane and said image receiving plane while maintaining said replaceable sealed optical assembly immobile and moving said image-receiving means; and
superposing said image plane onto said image-receiving plane thus focusing said optical instrument. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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Specification