Improvements in Photographic Probes for Surgical Use.

Abstract

Abstract 1,153,334. Surgical optical devices. OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO., Inc. 27 May, 1966, No. 23769/66. Heading A5R. [Also in Division G2] A photographic surgical probe comprises a camera head 5 attached to a flexible tube assembly, the fore-portion of which has a greater degree of flexibility than the remainder and includes flexible cords or wires 14, 21 extending the length of the tube assembly to a controller (Figs. 1, 15 and 16) at the rear end for flexing the tube assembly. The fore portion of the tube assembly includes a connecting member 13 which is attached to a flexible tube 18 and which supports a pin 11 on which the camera head 5 is pivotally adjustable on pulling a cord 14 against a controlling spring 12. The cord extends through the flexible tube 18 and is operated by a knob 101 of the controller. The flexible rube 18, which may comprise a coiled elastic element, is enclosed in metallic braiding 19 and a vinyl chloride sheath 22 and is flexed by wires 21 which are sheathed in coiled or flexible tubes 21 and are operated by the controller. Alternatively, the fore portion of the tube assembly may comprise annular links (30, Figure 8), the opposite sides 'of each link having apices which abut apices on adjacent links. Cords (21a, 21b) extend through bores in the links and are operated by the controller to flex the tube. An optical fibre bundle (24, Figure 7) may extend from an objective lens behind a window (27) to the rear end of the probe for viewing the cavity, in which the heat 5 is located, through an eyepiece (28, Figure 15). The camera head 5 includes light sources 3 for photographing and illumination and a film 7 which is pulled out of a cassette 4 by a cord 17 operated at the controller.

Inventors

• 👤 Rikizo Murata
• 👤 Yuzo Sakurai
• 👤 Shigeru Ramaki

Bibliographic Details