Patent ID: 11931001
Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  B | IPC A  B

Claim 0:
1. A method for manufacturing an endoscope insertion tube having a proximal passive flexible section and a distal angled section,
the method comprising:
integrally forming the passive flexible section and the angled section;
making individual cuts along a longitudinal direction of the flexible section, provided as a tubular element, in such a way that adjacent individual cuts are equidistant from one another;
making a plurality of first transverse cuts along the longitudinal direction of the flexible section such that each first transverse cut of the plurality of first transverse cuts is made after a same predetermined number of consecutive individual cuts, each said first transverse cut being shorter than the individual cuts in a width direction of the flexible section;
making a plurality of second transverse cuts along the longitudinal direction of the flexible section such that each second transverse cut of the plurality of second transverse cuts is made after the same predetermined number of the consecutive individual cuts, wherein a said first transverse cut and a respective said second transverse cut are on opposite sides of a circumference of the flexible section, and are coplanar with each other along a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the flexible section;
providing a first strip section of the material of the flexible section between a said first transverse cut and an adjacent individual cut of the predetermined number of consecutive individual cuts to form a first cable guide lug when the first strip section is bent toward a center of the insertion tube; and
providing a second strip section of the material of the flexible section between a said second transverse cut and another adjacent individual cut of the predetermined number of consecutive individual cuts to form a second cable guide lug when the second strip section is bent toward the center of the insertion tube, wherein the first cable guide lug and the second cable guide lug are on opposite sides of an inner circumference of the flexible section.