CA1225555A

CA1225555A - Endoscope

Info

Publication number: CA1225555A
Application number: CA000472777A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Ian P. Collins
Original assignee: Warner Lambert Technologies Inc
Current assignee: Warner Lambert Technologies Inc
Priority date: 1984-02-09
Filing date: 1985-01-24
Publication date: 1987-08-18
Also published as: DE3504364C2; GB2153957A; GB2153957B; DE3504364A1; GB8403431D0; US4593679A

Abstract

Docket No. ID-1139 ABSTRACT

Title: Endoscope An endoscope has a handle portion and a separate shaft portion which can be joined to the handle portion. The shaft portion has a flexible shaft flexing movement of which is controlled by knobs on the handle portion, and this motion is transmitted across the handle/shaft interface by meshing gearwheels. Each tooth of each gearwheel has a crown shaped so as to have a central ridge between sloping sides which facilitate interengagement of the gearwheels when the latter are brought into crown-to-crown engagement in a non-rotating condition.

Description

i~25~55 Field of the invention.

This invention relates to endoscopes, which are medical instruments for inspecting the cavities of internal organs.

Background of the invention.
Our U.K. Patent Application No. 8319980 (published May 31, 1984 and issued as Patent No. 2,130,091B) discloses an endoscope with a separable handle and shaft. Control knobs on the handle move the distal end of the shaft, and movement is transmitted across the handle/shaft interface by meshing gearwheels. Since neither gearwheel is rotating when the gearwheels are brought together it is possible for the teeth to abut crown-to-crown and in consequence to fail to mesh. The invention aims to provide an endoscope avoiding this problem.

_ mmary of the invention.
According to the invention an endoscope has a shaft and a separable handle and a mechanism for transmitting motion from the handle to the shaft, the mechanism comprising two rotatable gearwheels which are respectively rotatably mounted in the handle and shaft and which are capable of being taken into and out of engagement by relative movement of the handle and shaft, wherein each gearwheel has teeth each of which has a crown shaped so as to have a central ridge positioned between sloping sides which extend from the ridge to the corresponding face of the tooth, the sloping sides of the crowns facilitating interengagement of the gearwheels when the latter are brought into crown-to-crown engagement in a non-rotating condition.

Hence, in the invention the sides of each tooth crown are shaped so that when they come into contact the interaction of one side upon the other effects sufficient rotation of one or other (or both) gearwheels that the teeth mesh smoothly with one another, without there being any risk of the crowns abutting and preventing interengagement of the gearwheels.

Preferably the sides are planar, the minimum angle of inclination (to a notional planar crown) being a function of the coefficient of friction of the material (or materials) of the gearwheels. To a first approximation, the tangent of the angle of inclination of each side is equal to the coefficient of friction of the two gearwheels. For plactics materials, the angle is preferably between 20 and 30, and for acetal 25 has been found to be suitable.

The mechanism preferably transmits from the handle to the shaft motion which causes flexing of the remote or distal end of the shaft under the control of movement applied to adjusting members such as control knobs on the endoscope handle. Preferably the handle has a pair of gearwheels and the shaft has a pair of gearwheels respectively engaged with the pair of gearwheels of the handle, the two pairs of gearwheels providing for controlled flexing of the shaft in two mutually orthogonal planes.

3 1225S5~

The invention will now be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 and 2 respectively show a handle and part of a shaft of an endoscope according to the invention, and Figure 3 shows the shape of a tooth of a gearwheel of a mechanism for transmitting motion across the handle/shaft interface.

Figure 1 shows a handle portion 10 which has two rotatable knobs 11,12 for transmitting movement to respective gear-wheels 13,14. When the handle portion 10 and the shaft portion 15 are brought together, the gearwheels 13,14 respectively mesh with gearwheels 17,18 on the shaft por-tion 15. The shaft portion 15 has a flexible shaft 16, and flexing movement of the distal end of the shaft 16 is effected by controlled rotation of the knobs 11,12, as disclosed in U.K. Patent No. 2,130,091B. The handle portion 10 and the shaft portion 15 are separable and the 20 movement imparted to the knobs 11,12 is transmitted across the handle/shaft interface by means of the meshing gear-wheels. The meshing gearwheels transmit movement to respec-tive tension elements 19,20 which provide for flexing of the distal end of the shaft 16 in the two mutually ortho-gonal planes.

Since the gearwheels 13,14; 17,18 are brought into mesh with the gearwheels in a non-rotating condition, it is possible for teeth on the two gearwheels to abut in crown-to-crown relationship. If this happens, the teeth are not 30 brought into mesh.

~225~;SS

By recourse to the invention the gearwheels are provided with teeth having the profile shown in Figure 3. Each tooth has opposed, curved faces 22, 24 which converge towards the tooth crown. The crown has a central ridge 26 positioned between sloping sides 28 which extend from the ridge 26 to the corresponding face 22 or 24. Each side 28 of the crown is planar and is inclined at an angle of about 65 to the central axis 30 of the tooth.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:-

1. An endoscope having a shaft, a handle separable from the shaft and a mechanism for transmitting motion from the handle to the shaft, the mechanism comprising two rotatable gearwheels which are respectively rotatably mounted in the handle and shaft and which are capable of being taken into and out of engagement by relative movement of the handle and shaft, wherein each gearwheel has teeth each of which has a crown shaped so as to have a central ridge positioned between sloping sides which extend from the ridge to the corresponding face of the tooth, the sloping sides of the crowns facilitating interengagement of the gearwheels when the latter are brought into crown-to-crown engagement in a non-rotating condition.

2. An endoscope according to claim 1, wherein said crown sides are planar, the minimum angle of inclination (to a notional planar crown) being a function of the coefficient of friction of the material (or materials) of the gearwheels.

3. An endoscope according to claim 2, wherein the angle is between 20° and 30°.

4. An endoscope according to claim 3, wherein the gearwheels are of acetal and said angle is 25°.

5. An endoscope according to claim 1 wherein the mechanism transmits from the handle to the shaft motion which causes flexing of the remote or distal end of the shaft under the control of movement applied to adjusting members on the endoscope handle.

6. An endoscope according to claim 5, wherein the handle has a pair of gearwheels and the shaft has a pair of gear-wheels respectively engaged with the pair of gearwheels of the handle, the two pairs of gearwheels providing for controlled flexing of the shaft in two mutually orthogonal planes.

7. An endoscope according to any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the mechanism transmits from the handle to the shaft motion which causes flexing of the remote or distal end of the shaft under the control of movement applied to adjusting members on the endoscope handle.