Endoscope Elevator Attachment Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing endoscopes require significant time and effort to connect and disconnect the distal end portion of the wire to the treatment tool-elevator due to the small size of the wire tip, making the process cumbersome and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
An endoscope design featuring a treatment tool-elevator that is rotationally movable between elevated and fallen positions, with an engaging portion on the wire and a housing portion on the elevator, facilitated by a guide passage and contact portion, allowing for easy attachment and detachment of the wire, and a cap member for position regulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the wire tip is made small to fit in the reduced-size distal end member, then the endoscope can be miniaturized, but the time and effort required to manually house the wire tip in the elevator increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The elevator is pre-positioned at the attachment/detachment position beyond the fallen position before wire connection is needed. This preliminary positioning allows the wire tip to be housed in the elevator more quickly and easily, reducing the time and effort required for wire connection while maintaining the miniaturized distal end member design
2Ease of operation
If the elevator is positioned beyond the fallen position (attachment/detachment position), then wire connection becomes easier and faster, but the structural complexity of the rotational movement mechanism increases
Solution Approach 1:
The elevator is designed to be rotationally movable beyond the traditional fallen position to reach an attachment/detachment position. This dynamic extension of the rotational range enables easier wire connection operations while the rotational mechanism itself remains relatively simple, avoiding excessive structural complexity
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided an endoscope that allows the distal end portion of a wire and a treatment tool-elevator to be easily connected to each other. An engaging portion (100) is provided at the distal end portion of a wire (60). An elevator (30) is provided with a contact portion (101) that applies a rotational moving force acting in a fallen direction to the elevator (30) in a case where the engaging portion (100) is in contact with the contact portion. The elevator (30) is provided with a housing portion (102) in which an opening (104) is formed. A wall portion (81) is provided at a position that faces the movement trajectory of the engaging portion (100) in a case where the elevator (30) is moved between an elevated position and a fallen position in a state where the engaging portion (100) is in contact with the contact portion (101). In a state where the engaging portion (100) is in contact with the contact portion (101), the wall portion (81) regulates the movement of the engaging portion (100) in a direction where the engaging portion (100) enters the opening (104) in a case where the elevator (30) is present between the elevated position and the fallen position and allows the movement of the engaging portion (100) in the direction where the engaging portion (100) enters the opening (104) in a case where the elevator (30) is present between the fallen position and an attachment/detachment position.