Spring type firing mechanism applied to endoscope accessory

A spring type firing mechanism applied to an endoscope accessory includes a housing, a cap, a bottom cover, a driving module, a buffering module and a spring pipeline, and the spring pipeline includes a push-rod coupled to the sensor, and the driving module includes a firing spring and a restoring spring, and the two springs have different rigidities so as to form a reciprocating structure of the firing mechanism. After the sensor of the firing mechanism is triggered, the resilience of the restoring spring compresses the firing spring back to its firing length, so as to restore its position by a single driving point and allow users to complete the firing operation by one hand and simplify the operation of doctors to improve convenience and efficiency.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a spring type firing mechanism, in particular to a firing mechanism applied to an endoscope accessory and provided for measuring tissue hardness of a living body.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, tumors are found through touching or naked-eye observation, and the observation is usually assisted by instruments such as ultrasonic instruments or endoscopes. The endoscope primarily extends a soft tube with a camera and a light source device into a living body, and an external display device is provided for obtaining the information of the surfaces of organs and tissues in vivo. Further, a tissue section is cut and collected in order to perform a pathological test. However, the endoscope just can provide the information of the surface of tissues only, but it is difficult to determine the existence of a tumor in subcutaneous tissues through the observation by the endoscope.

A change of tissue hardness is usually accompanied with a pathological change. For example, a subcutaneous tumor causes abnormal tissue hardness, and the test still requires ultrasonic endoscope to obtain tumor information accurately. However, the ultrasonic endoscope is expensive and thus it is not popular among general medical institutions. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a simple and easy way of measuring the flexibility of tissues in a living body in order to examine whether there is a subcutaneous tumor and assist the diagnosis of diseases.

As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,328,730 entitled “Living body measurement apparatus”, the living body measurement apparatus includes a contact section which includes a first contact surface contacting a living body and which applies pressure to the living body, an auxiliary section disposed on an external side of the contact section and including a second contact surface contacting the living body, and supporting the second contact surface, so that the second contact surface performs reciprocating movement between coplanar positions and drives the second contact surface to retract to the position of the first contact surface, and the first contact surface and the second contact surface are disposed on the same plane, and a first pressure sensor is installed for measuring pressure applied to both of the contact section and the auxiliary section. The measurement apparatus includes a support section for supporting the auxiliary section, a first elongated groove formed between the auxiliary section and the support section and extended in a reciprocating direction of the reciprocating movement of the second contact surface, a second elongated groove which is formed in the one of the auxiliary section and the support section and which extends in a direction perpendicular to the reciprocating direction, a protruding portion which is formed in the other of the auxiliary section and the support section and which is disposed at either one of the first elongated groove, so that the locking mechanism is configured to lock the auxiliary section in a state in which the second contact surface is disposed at the retracted position, such that the hardness of muscular tissues and the pain of a patient can be measured by a single instrument.

As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,640 entitled “Apparatus for measuring the consistency or hardness of a material”, the apparatus includes a cylindrical housing enclosing a spring with the degree of pre-straining of which, in compression, is adjustable by means of screw, and the spring pushes a piston towards the material, and the end of the piston fixedly carries a feeler, and the displacement of the piston in the cylindrical housing is registered by means of a conventional type of displacement sensor which delivers a continuous voltage output proportional to the displacement of the feller from a reference position, and the housing includes stops for limiting the travel of the piston, thereby defining the aforementioned reference position. Therefore, this apparatus can be used for testing a material having variable pressures and measuring the hardness of elastic material (such as skin) accurately.

As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,137 entitled “Frequency deviation detecting circuit and measuring apparatus using the frequency deviation detecting circuit”, the apparatus includes an oscillator for generating a mechanical oscillation, and a detecting element for detecting the oscillation information, and a feedback circuit for feeding back a feedback signal of the oscillator based on the oscillation information, and driving the oscillator into a first resonant state, and the oscillator has a central frequency of the first oscillator, a gain variation compensating circuit installed to the feedback circuit, and the central frequency of the gain is different from the frequency of the oscillator applicable for increasing the gain in response to a change of frequency. If the frequency changes, the oscillator shifts from the first resonant state to a second resonant state, and the oscillator has a second oscillation central frequency, and the apparatus detects the deviation between the central frequencies of the first and second oscillators, and this apparatus is applied to the apparatus for measuring hardness and detecting the hardness of biological tissue (such as skin or internal organ).

In addition, the inventor of the present invention also filed a sensor related patent as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/116,092 entitled “Apparatus and method for identifying a tissue in a living body”, and the apparatus comprises a sensing element for sensing tissue parameters, a manipulating device for manipulating the sensing element, and an analyzing element for analyzing the meaning of the parameters. The sensing element is placed near an object to be tested and forces are applied to both of the top and bottom ends of the sensing element, so that a contact force is produced between soft tissues and the sensing element to cause deformation, and the deformation is measured and its corresponsive voltage value is read, so that a ratio of voltage values or a reflected stress ratio may be used to estimate the tissue to be tested and the material property related to hardness.

However, the aforementioned patent primarily aims at the aspect of sensor, and the application of the sensor still requires a firing device with a restoring structure to trigger the sensor and touch the object to be tested in order to continue the measurement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the drawback of the conventional endoscope that can provide the information of the surfaces of organs and tissues only, and the drawbacks of the aforementioned patents that focus on the sensor only and seldom have any improvement to the sensor firing mechanism and affect major components for operating the sensor or even affect the measurement data and diagnosis results, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a spring type firing mechanism used in an endoscope, and the firing mechanism uses two springs of different rigidities to constitute a reciprocating structure of the firing mechanism, so that after the sensor of the firing mechanism is triggered, the position restoration can be achieved by a by a single driving point, and the operation can be completed by one hand to simplify the operation and improve the convenience and efficiency.

To achieve the aforementioned objective, the present invention provides a spring type firing mechanism applied to an endoscope accessory, and the firing mechanism comprises a housing, a cap, a bottom cover, a driving module, a buffering module and a spring pipeline, wherein the housing is a hollow tube and the housing has an outer embedding wall formed around the periphery of the housing, an inner embedding wall formed inside the housing, and a fixed base formed in a tube body of the housing; the cap is embedded into the outer embedding wall of the housing and has an opening; the bottom cover is coupled to the housing, and having a pipeline formed therein; and the driving module comprises: a pressing device which is in form of a hollow tube and has a triggering rod extended separately from both sides of the pressing device; a pull-rod ins tailed in the hollow tube of the pressing device; a restoring spring, installed between the pressing device and the fixed base of the housing; a trigger, fixed to the pull-rod, and having an elastic brace formed on both sides of the trigger, such that the elastic brace supports and abuts the inner embedding wall of the housing; and a firing spring, installed between the fixed base of the housing and the trigger; and the buffering module comprises: a seat body, disposed at an end of the housing, and having a penetrating hole; and a buffer spring, sheathed on the seat body; and a spring pipeline, including a push-rod with a front end fixed to the trigger and a rear end coupled to a metal conductive wire, and a sensor combined with the metal conductive wire.

By pressing down the pressing device, the pressing device compresses the restoring spring, while driving the triggering rod of the pressing device to inwardly push the elastic brace of the trigger and allow the trigger and the pull-rod to fall, so as to release the compressed state of the firing spring. While the trigger is falling, the push-rod is linked and pushed out, so that a metal conductive wire combined with an end of the push-rod to push the sensor on the metal conductive wire to touch a testing tissue. When the trigger falls to the seat body, a buffer spring of the seat body provides a buffer to the downward pulling force. Till the sensor detects a signal and transmits the signal to a back-end system, the pressing device may be released, so that the restoring spring is released from the compressed state to push the pressing device back to its original position, and the pull-rod pulls back the trigger, so that the elastic brace of the trigger abuts the inner embedding wall of the housing to set the firing spring to the compressed state, while pulling and stretching the push-rod automatically to restore its original position and prepare for the next measurement.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will become clearer in light of the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of this invention described in connection with the drawings. It is intended that the embodiments and drawings disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.

With reference toFIGS. 1 and 2for a spring type firing mechanism applied to an endoscope accessory, the firing mechanism1comprises a housing2, a cap3, a bottom cover4, a driving module5, a buffering module6and a spring pipeline7. The housing2is a hollow tube and comprises an outer embedding wall21formed around the external periphery of the housing2, an inner embedding wall22formed inside the housing2, and a fixed base23formed in the hollow tube of the housing2. The cap3is embedded into the outer embedding wall21of the housing2and has an opening31. The bottom cover4has a groove41corresponsive to the housing2and combined with the housing2, and a pipeline42formed therein. The driving module5comprises a pressing device51, a pull-rod52, a restoring spring53, a trigger54and a firing spring55. The pressing device51is in form of a hollow tube passing through the opening31of the cap3, and a triggering rod511is extended separately from both sides of the pressing device51, and a convex wall512is formed at the center of the pressing device51, and a bump521is formed at the front end of the pull-rod52for embedding into the hollow tube of the pressing device51, and the restoring spring53is installed between the convex wall512of the pressing device51and the fixed base23of the housing2. The trigger54has a groove for receiving and fixing an end of the pull-rod52, and an elastic brace541formed separately on both sides of the trigger54, such that the trigger54abuts the inner embedding wall22of the housing2through the elastic brace541, and the firing spring55is installed between the fixed base23of the housing2and the trigger54. The buffering module6comprises a seat body61and a buffer spring62, and the seat body61is disposed at an end of the hollow tube of the housing2and has a penetrating hole611. A bump612is formed at the top of the seat body61and provided for sheathing and fixing the buffer spring62. The spring pipeline7comprises a push-rod71with a front end fixed to the trigger54and a rear end coupled to a metal conductive wire8, and a sensor9is combined with the metal conductive wire8.

Referring toFIGS. 1 and 2for an assembling process, the housing2is placed into a groove41of the bottom cover4, and a seat body61is placed onto an end of the housing2, and a buffer spring62is sheathed on the top of the seat body61, and the trigger54is fixed to a push-rod71. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a nut57is secured at an end of the trigger54, so that the push-rod71is securely fixed to the trigger54, and a firing spring55is installed between the trigger54and the fixed base23of the housing2, and then the pressing device51is installed at the front end of the housing2, and a restoring spring53is installed between the convex wall512of the pressing device51and the fixed base23of the housing2. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the hollow tube of the pressing device51has a plug56, and a handle cover24is sheathed on the external periphery of the housing2to provide users a comfortable grip for the operation. In addition, the pressing device51is installed to the cap3through the opening31and the cap is embedded between the housing2and the handle cover24, so as to form a firing mechanism1(as shown inFIG. 3).

With reference toFIG. 4for a schematic view of pressing down a pressing device of the present invention, when the firing mechanism1is not in use, the restoring spring53is situated at a non-compressed state, and the firing spring55is situated at a compressed state. When the pressing device51is pressed, the triggering rods511on both sides of the pressing device travel for a certain distance and push the elastic braces541on both sides of the trigger54respectively to compress the restoring spring53, so that the elastic brace541originally abutting at the inner embedding wall22is retracted and falls down. In the meantime, the compressed state of the firing spring55is released (also seeFIG. 5), and the trigger54is triggered by the resilience of the firing spring55and fired to the seat body61, and the buffer spring62of the seat body61provides a buffering effect for the downward pulling force and links the pull-rod52and the push-rod71in the firing process, so that the push-rod71pushes out the spring pipeline7, and the push-rod71is provided for pushing a sensor9installed on the metal conductive wire8to touch a testing tissue (as shown inFIG. 6). The feedback signal of the sensor9is read by a back-end system. If the detected tissues of a living body include any subcutaneous tumor, an abnormal value of the tissue hardness will be detected and provided as a reference to doctors as a basis for diagnosis and determination.

If the signal is detected by the sensor9and transmitted to the back-end system, the pressing device is pulled back as shown inFIG. 7. Now, users may release the pressing of the pressing device51, so that the compressed state of the restoring spring53is released to push the pressing device51back to its original position and drive the pull-rod52to pull back the trigger54accordingly, and the elastic brace541of the trigger54abuts the inner embedding wall22of the housing2(also seeFIG. 8), and the firing spring55resumes its compressed state, while the push-rod71is automatically pulled and stretched with the trigger54to restore its original position and prepare for the next measurement.

It is noteworthy that the firing mechanism1of the present invention forms the reciprocating structure by two springs of different rigidities, wherein the coefficient of rigidity of the firing spring55is greater than the coefficient of rigidity of the restoring spring53, and the required firing force is calculated by Hooke's law, such that after the sensor9of the firing mechanism1is triggered, the resilience of the restoring spring53compresses the firing spring55again to its firing length. Therefore, the position restoration can be completed by a single driving point, and the firing operation can be achieved by one hand, so as to simplify the doctor's operation and improve convenience and efficiency.

In summation of the description above, the present invention improves over the prior art, and is thus duly filed for patent application. While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.