Flexible Tubing and Insertion Devices

Abstract

The flexible tube has: a densely wound region; a sparsely wound region, which is arranged continuously along the longitudinal axis with the base end side of the densely wound region, and is formed to be easier to bend than the densely wound portion; and a first outer layer that covers the densely wound region. The outer side cooperates with the densely rolled region to form a first flexible portion; the second outer layer cooperates with the densely rolled region to form a second flexible portion that is more difficult to bend than the first flexible portion; the third outer layer, It wraps the outside of the open-rolled area and cooperates with the open-rolled area to form a third flexible portion that is more difficult to bend than the first flexible portion, the same degree as the second flexible portion, or less flexible than the second flexible portion. The flexible part is difficult to bend; and the fourth outer layer is continuously arranged between the second outer layer and the third outer layer, wrapping the outside of the boundary position between the densely rolled area and the sparsely rolled area, reducing the The difference between bending difficulty / bending ease at the boundary position.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a flexible tube used for an insertion device such as an endoscope and an insertion device having the flexible tube. Background technique [0002] For example, JP 2007-236472 A describes an example of forming a catheter by combining a plurality of tubes having different degrees of bending difficulty (hardness) along the longitudinal axis. The catheter is formed such that the distal end side is continuously softer than the proximal end side. [0003] For example, when the catheter disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-236472 is formed so that the distal end side becomes softer gradually than the proximal end side, press the hard position to the inner side of the tortuous pipeline. When inserted, it is sometimes difficult to transfer force from this harder position to the softer position. Therefore, it may be difficult to apply force to the distal end of the catheter when the catheter is pushed into...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0003] For example, when the catheter disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-236472 is formed so that the distal end side becomes softer gradually than the proximal end side, press the hard position to the inner side of the tortuous pipeline. It is sometimes difficult to transfer force from this harder position to the softer position when inserted

Therefore, when the catheter is pushed into the inner side (deep part) of the pipeline, it may be difficult to apply force to the distal end of the catheter.

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