Patent Abstract:
A bending control mechanism for an endoscope includes a bending portion in an insertion portion of the endoscope. The bending portion is controlled by a bending wire extending therefrom. A pulley operates in linkage with a bending control lever through a shaft portion of the pulley. The lever is in a control portion of the endoscope. A driving wire winding groove spirals along the pulley&#39;s outer peripheral surface and extends in its peripheral direction. A driving wire winds along the groove. A connection member connects the driving wire with the bending wire. A guide member in the control portion has a slidably mounted connection member. With the most driving wire wound around the pulley, a relative position between the pulley and the guide member is such that the driving wire extends substantially in parallel to a guide surface of the guide member.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to an endoscope for medical use and, more particularly, to a bending control mechanism which is built in the endoscope.  
           [0002]    In general, the endoscope is composed of two main portions, of which one is a control portion and the other is a flexible insertion portion connected with the control portion and is inserted in the somatic cavity. The insertion portion includes a flexible soft portion connected with the control portion, a bent-free bending portion connected with the soft portion on the tip side of it, and a hard tip distal end portion which includes an objective window (lens) and others, is connected with the tip of the bending portion.  
           [0003]    The endoscope is provided with a bending control mechanism for controlling the bending of the bending portion. This bending control mechanism includes a bending control lever, a pulley of which the rotational motion is controlled by the control lever, and a driving wire wound round the pulley, all of the above lever, pulley, and driving wire being provided inside the control portion of the endoscope. The driving wire is connected with the bending wires through a connection member and functions as a control wire for controlling the bending portion.  
           [0004]    The above pulley includes two juxtaposed independent grooves capable of winding up an independent driving wire by one each (referred to as “driving wire winding groove” hereinafter). Here, if these two driving wires are wound round these driving wire winding grooves by one each in the opposite winding direction and then, the pulley is turned in one direction, one of two driving wires extending out from the pulley is taken up or wound up while the other is paid out or wound off from the pulley. Accordingly, two control wires connected with driving wires are controlled such that one advances and the other retreats, thus the bending control of the bending portion being carried out.  
           [0005]    In the endoscope, however, in order to improve the observational performance, specifically to expand the observable area by the endoscope, it is desired to make a bending angle of the bending portion as large as possible. To meet the above desirable requirement, there is needed for the driving wire to have a large wire stroke.  
           [0006]    Because of this, in order to make the wire stroke large, there is proposed a prior art endoscope which increases the winding diameter of the pulley, round which the driving wire is wound. However, if the winding diameter of the pulley is made large, the turning torque of the pulley becomes large, which causes such inconvenience that the bending control lever requires larger force for controlling it.  
           [0007]    On the other hand, in order to decrease the turning torque of the pulley, there is another prior art endoscope which makes the size of the pulley smaller by shortening the winding diameter of it. In case of such a small pulley, however, as the winding diameter of the pulley is made shorter, the bending control lever has to be turned much more in order to obtain the same bending angle as obtained by the large pulley. Because of this, controllability of the bending portion is reduced.  
           [0008]    Furthermore, in the pulley of which the winding diameter is made smaller, the more it is tried to make the stroke of the driving wire large, the more the excess driving wire has to be wound round the driving wire winding groove, for instance 2 turns or more. Because of this, the turning torque of the pulley gradually becomes larger corresponding to the winding number of the driving wire, thus the bending control at a uniform turning torque becoming impossible. Still further, as the overlapped driving wires caused by double or more turned driving wires interfere with each, for instance rub one with the other, thus the durability of the driving wire being reduced.  
           [0009]    The invention has been made in view of such problems as described above. Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a bending control mechanism for the endoscope with high controllability, which can improve the durability of the driving wire wound round the pulley of the bending control mechanism and also enables the bending portion to be controlled with a smaller force.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    In order to solve the problems as described above, according to the invention, there is provided a bending control mechanism for an endoscope, which is characterized in that the bending control mechanism includes a bending portion provided in an insertion portion of the endoscope; a bending wire extended out from the bending portion in order to control the bending portion; a pulley linked to a bending control lever through the shaft portion of the pulley, the bending control lever being provided in the control portion of the endoscope; a driving wire winding groove as spirally formed on the outer peripheral surface of the pulley as well as in the peripheral direction of the pulley; a driving wire wound round the driving wire winding groove of the pulley; a connection member connecting the driving wire with the bending wire; and a guide member provided in the control portion and including a connection member slidably mounted thereon, wherein in the state where the most driving wire is wound round the pulley, a relative position between the pulley and the guide member is determined such that the extending direction of the driving wire is substantially in parallel with the guide surface of the guide member.  
           [0011]    According to the invention like this, in the state where the tension applied to the driving wire wound round the pulley connected with the bending control lever is maximized while the bending portion control is carried out, as the extending direction of the driving wire is substantially in parallel with the guide surface of the guide member guiding the driving wire, there is no need for any excess force to be used for winding up the driving wire round the pulley by using the bending control lever, and the bending portion can be controlled with smaller force, thus the controllability of the endoscope is improved.  
           [0012]    Furthermore, in the state where the tension applied to the driving wire wound round the pulley is maximized while the bending portion control is carried out, as the driving wire is substantially in parallel with the guide surface of the guide member, it becomes possible to prevent the consumption or frictional wear of the driving wire caused by the rubbing motion between the driving wire and the wall face of the driving wire winding groove, which take place when winding the driving wire round the pulley. Consequently, there is improved the durability of the driving wire wound round the pulley of the bending control mechanism. With this, durability of the driving wire can be improved.  
           [0013]    Furthermore, in the state where the most driving wire is wound round the pulley, the direction of spiral turn of the driving wire winding groove may be such a spiral turning direction that the extending direction of the driving wire becomes substantially parallel to the guide surface of the guide member. Like this, as the position in the axial direction of the driving wire extended out from the pulley can be changed by changing the direction of spiral turn of the driving wire winding groove, it becomes possible to make the extending direction of the driving wire be substantially in parallel with the guide surface of the guide member. Therefore, there is no need for the guide member to change its arrangement position and it is enough only to change the direction of spiral turn of the driving wire winding groove.  
           [0014]    Still further, in the state where the most driving wire is wound round the pulley, the guide member may be arranged to be in such a position that the extending direction of the driving wire becomes substantially parallel to the guide surface of the guide member. With this, as the arrangement position of the guide member can be arranged to meet the position in the axial direction of the driving wire extended out from the pulley, it is possible to arrange the driving wire and the guide member such that the extending direction of the driving wire becomes substantially parallel to the guide face of the guide member. Therefore, there is no need for the driving wire winding groove to change the direction of spiral turn of it and it is enough for the guide member only to change the arrangement position of it.  
           [0015]    Still further, there may be provided a pulley displacement mechanism which displaces the pulley in the axial direction of it such that the extending direction of the driving wire becomes substantially parallel to the guide surface of the guide member, in correspondence with the height in the axial direction of the pulley of the driving wire wound round the pulley. As this pulley displacement mechanism makes it possible to produce such a state that the driving wire and the guide face of the guide member become always substantially parallel to each other, there is no need for any excess force to be used for winding up the driving wire round the pulley by using the bending control lever, and the bending portion can be controlled with smaller force. Also, it becomes possible to effectively prevent the consumption or frictional. wear of the driving wire, which is caused by the rubbing motion between the driving wire and the wall face of the driving wire winding groove.  
           [0016]    Still further, the pulley displacement mechanism may be provided with a cam groove formed on the shaft portion of the pulley as well as a cam pin formed on the pulley support member for supporting the pulley so as to fit to the cam groove. Also, the pulley displacement mechanism may be provided with a cam formed on the pulley support member for supporting the pulley as well as a cam pin formed on the shaft portion of the pulley so as to be fitted the cam.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]    The invention will now be described in detail by way of some preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description and drawing, a constituent of the invention having substantially like function and constitution is designated by a like reference numeral or sign.  
         [0018]    In the drawing:  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a whole constitution of an endoscope according to the first embodiment of the invention.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the peripheral portion of a bending control lever in the endoscope control portion according to the first embodiment of the invention.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a pulley and a support member of the pulley in the endoscope control portion.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a complete assembly of the pulley and the support member of the pulley as shown in FIG. 3.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams showing the constitution of the pulley provided in a prior art endoscope. FIG. 5A is an illustration showing an external appearance of the pulley and FIG. 5B is a sectional side view of the pulley.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams schematically showing the constitution and the operation of the bending control mechanism of the prior art endoscope.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 7A is an illustration showing an external appearance of the pulley according to the first embodiment of the invention and FIG. 7B is a sectional side elevation of the pulley according to the first embodiment of the invention.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams schematically showing the constitution and the operation of the bending control mechanism of the endoscope according to the first embodiment of the invention.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams schematically showing the constitution and the operation of the bending control mechanism of the endoscope according to the second embodiment of the invention.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams schematically showing the constitution and the operation of the bending control mechanism of the endoscope according to the third embodiment of the invention.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIGS. 11A and 11B are diagrams schematically showing the constitution and the operation of the bending control mechanism of the endoscope according to the fourth embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0030]    (First Embodiment)  
         [0031]    First of all, there will be described an endoscope according to the first embodiment of the invention with reference to FIG. 1, which indicates the whole constitution of an endoscope according to the first embodiment of the invention. As shown in this figure, an endoscope  100  is composed of two principal portions, of which one is a control portion  102  and the other is a flexible insertion portion  104  connected with the control portion  102  and is inserted in the somatic cavity. The insertion portion  104  includes a flexible soft portion  106  connected with the control portion  102 , a bend-free bending portion  108  connected with at the tip side of the soft portion  106 , and a hard tip distal end portion  110  which is provided with an objective window (lens) and is connected with the tip of the bending portion  108 .  
         [0032]    In the control portion  102  of the endoscope  100 , there is provided a bending control mechanism for controlling the bending of the above bending portion  108 . This bending control mechanism is made up of a bending control lever  112 , a pulley  114  rotated by the bending control lever  112 , and a pair of driving wires  116   a ,  116   b  wound round the pulley  114 , which are all provided in the control portion  102  of the endoscope  100 . Driving wires  116   a ,  116   b  are connected with the bending wires  120   a ,  120   b  through connection members  118   a ,  118   b  slidably mounted on guide members  130   a ,  130   b  which are provided in the control portion  102 . Consequently, driving wires  116   a ,  116   b  come to function as control wires  122   a ,  122   b  of the bending portion  108 .  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view schematically showing the state of connection between the bending control lever  112  and the pulley  114  which are provided in the control portion  102 . FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the pulley  114  and a support member  124  of the pulley while FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a complete assembly of the pulley  114  and the support member  124  of the pulley as shown in FIG. 3. Here, an expression “bending control lever  112 ” represents a bending control lever  112   a  for right-left (RL) bending control (referred to as “RL bending control lever  112   a ” hereinafter) and a. bending control lever  112   b  for up-down (UD) control (referred to as “UD bending control lever  112   b ” hereinafter). Also, an expression “pulley  114 ” represents a pulley  114   a  for RL control (referred to as “RL control pulley  14   a ” hereinafter) and a pulley  114   b  UD control (referred to as “UD pulley control  114   b ” hereinafter). Furthermore, an expression “pulley shaft portion  115 ” represents a pulley shaft portion  115   a  for RL control (referred to as “RL control pulley  115   a ” hereinafter) and a pulley shaft portion  115   b  for UD control (referred to as “UD control pulley shaft portion  115   b ” hereinafter) control. Still further, an expression “pulley support member  124 ” represents a pulley support member  124   a  for RL control (referred to as “RL pulley support member  124   a ” hereinafter) and a pulley support member  124   b  for UD control (referred to as “UD pulley support member  124   b ” hereinafter).  
         [0034]    As shown in FIG. 3, a plate  125  for fixing a shaft (referred to as “shaft-fixing plate  125 ” hereinafter) arranged inside the above control portion  102  is immovably fitted with a fixed shaft  126 , by means of screws or the like. Also, a ring shaped pulley support member  127  is firmly fixed on the shaft-fixing plate 125  by means of screws or the like, and the RL control pulley  114   a  is inserted along the fixed shaft  126  so as to be accepted inside the ring shaped pulley support member  127 .  
         [0035]    The RL control pulley support member  124   a  is inserted along the shaft portion  115   a  of the RL control pulley  114   a  while the UD control pulley  114   b  is inserted along the RL control pulley support member  124   a . The UD pulley support member  124   b  is inserted along the shaft portion  115   b  of the UD control pulley  114   b . The UD control pulley support member  124   b  is fixed on the shaft-fixing plate  125  by means of screws or the like through the RL control pulley support member  124   a  and the ring shaped pulley support member  127 .  
         [0036]    Driving wires  116   a ,  116   b  are wound round the RL control pulley  114   a  while driving wires  116   c ,  116   d  are wound round the UD control pulley  114   b.    
         [0037]    Furthermore, driving wires  116   a ,  116   b ,  116   c  and  116   d  are respectively connected with bending wirers  120   a ,  120   b ,  120   c  and  120   d  through connection members  118   a ,  118   b ,  118   c  and  118   d , which are slidably arranged on a guide member  30  as shown in FIG. 8. The guide member  30  is arranged inside of the control portion  102 .  
         [0038]    As shown in FIG. 2, the shaft portion  115   a  of the RL control pulley  114   a  is connected with the RL bending control lever  112   a  while the shaft portion of the UD control pulley  114   b  is connected with the UD bending control lever  112   b.    
         [0039]    With the constitution as described above, if the bending control lever  112  is turned, the pulley  14  is turned through the pulley shaft portion  115 . Therefore, the pulley  114  is turned by an angle corresponding to the angle of rotation of the bending control lever  112 . For instance, if the RL bending control lever  112   a  is turned, the pulley shaft portion  115   a  is turned and then, the RL control pulley  114   a  is turned by an angle corresponding to the angle of rotation of RL bending control lever  112   a . With this, the control wire  122  comes to go back and forth, thereby the bending portion  108  being made to move in the right or left direction.  
         [0040]    In the next, the pulley of the bending control mechanism according to the invention will be described in detail especially about the concrete constitution of the pulley as well as about the positional relation between the pulley and a guide member. First of all, let us start from comparing the pulley  114  of the bending control mechanism according to the invention with a prior art pulley with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 5A and 5B indicate the constitution of a prior art pulley  10  and FIGS. 6A and 6B show the positional relation between the pulley  10  and a prior art guide member  20 . Here, as the RL control pulley and the UD control pulley have the substantially same constitution and also, the RL control pulley shaft portion and the UD control pulley shaft portion have the substantially same constitution. Therefore, both of these pulleys and both of pulley shaft portions will be collectively referred to as the pulley  10  and the pulley shaft portion  9  in the following description.  
         [0041]    As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the pulley  10  is provided at one end portion of the pulley shaft portion  9 . A groove  12  round which a driving wire  14  is wound (referred to as “driving wire winding groove” hereinafter) is formed on the peripheral surface of the pulley  10 . As shown in FIG. 5A, the driving wire winding groove  12  is formed in the shape of a spiral which continuously extends in the peripheral direction of the pulley  10 . The driving wire winding groove  12  is formed such that a plurality of step grooves are formed in the axial direction of the shaft portion  9  from the end face of the pulley  10  toward the pulley shaft portion  9 . The end portion of one driving wire is fixedly connected with the one end portion of the driving wire winding groove  12  while the end portion of the other driving wire is fixedly connected with the other end portion of the driving wire groove  12 . FIGS. 6A and 6B indicates a state attained when winding the driving wire  14  round the driving wire winding groove  12  as described above. In these figures, however, only one driving wire is shown and the other one is omitted.  
         [0042]    The driving wire  14  extending out from the pulley  10  is connected with a bending wire  16  through a connection member  18 , which is slidably mounted on a guide member  20 .  
         [0043]    Consequently, if the pulley  10  like the above is rotated in one direction, one driving wire is taken up or wound up while the other one is paid out or wound off. Contrary to this, if the pulley  10  is rotated in the direction opposite to the above, the other driving wire is taken up (wound up) while one driving wire is paid out or wound off.  
         [0044]    Accordingly, it can be avoided to wind the driving wire round the same driving wire winding groove  12  twice or more times, that is, the so-called double winding can be avoided. This prevents the same driving wires from interfering with each other, which contributes to improvement of the durability of the driving wire.  
         [0045]    Furthermore, as the driving wire winging groove  12  is formed in the shape of a spiral, it becomes possible to wind a longer driving wire  14 . Thus, the winding diameter of the pulley  10  can be made larger, by which the rotational torque of the pulley  10  can be reduced. These effects of the spiral shaped driving wire winging groove  12  make it possible to provide a bending control mechanism with excellent controllability.  
         [0046]    As described above, even the pulley  10  having a structure like the above can take sufficiently useful effects, but if the pulley  10  is able to overcome the following points, it will is able to assure more excellent controllability and more improved durability of the driving wire.  
         [0047]    For example, in case of the pulley  10 , as the driving wire winding groove  12  is formed in the shape of a two-step spiral extending along the outer peripheral surface of the pulley  10  as well as in the axis direction of the shaft of the pulley  10 , the extending direction of the driving wire  14  becomes different depending on two states, one is the state where the bending portion is not bend, the so-called a neutral state as shown in FIG. 6A, and the other is the state where the bending portion is bent as shown in FIG. 6B. Because of this, there happens the case that the driving wire  14  as paid out from the driving wire winding groove  12  is not in substantially parallel with the guide surface of the guide member  20 . For instance, as shown in FIG. 6A, even if the driving wire  14  paid out from the inner step groove (groove near the pulley shaft) of the driving wire winding groove  12  is set to be substantially in parallel with the guide surface of the guide member  20  in the neutral state, the substantial parallelism as set above between the guide surface of the guide member  20  and the driving wire  14  paid out from the outer step groove (groove near the pulley end surface) of the driving wire winding groove  12  is lost due to the displacement of the pulley  10  in the axial direction of its shaft as shown in FIG. 6B when the maximum tension (caused by the most wire winding) is applied to the driving wire. Accordingly, in case of FIG. 6B, as the angle θ of inclination is caused between the driving wire  14  and the guide member  20 , the pulley  10  has to be rotated with an ordinary force plus 1/cos  2 θ of the wire tension.  
         [0048]    ( 11 )  
         [0049]    Furthermore, the larger the angle of inclination between the driving wire  14  and the guide surface of the guide member  20  becomes, the more the driving wire  14  comes to strongly rub against the wall face of the driving wire winding groove  12  of the pulley  10 , thus the durability of the driving wire  14  being damaged.  
         [0050]    Therefore, in the invention, in the state where the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  114 , the extending direction of the driving wire  116  paid out from the pulley  114  is determined taking account of the position of the guide member  130  such that the extending direction of the driving wire  116  becomes substantially parallel to the guide surface of the guide member  130 .  
         [0051]    A pulley  114  of the bending control mechanism according to the invention as described above will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams showing the constitution of the pulley  114  of the bending control mechanism according to the first embodiment of the invention in which FIG. 7A is an external view of the pulley  114  and FIG. 7B is a vertical sectional view of the pulley  114 . Here, in this embodiment, as the RL control pulley and the UD control pulley have the substantially same constitution while the RL control pulley shaft portion and the UD control pulley shaft portion also have the substantially same constitution. Therefore, both of these pulleys and both of these pulley shaft portions will be collectively referred to as the pulley  114  and the pulley shaft portion  115  in the following description.  
         [0052]    As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the pulley  114  according to this embodiment is provided at the one end of the pulley shaft portion  115 , which is formed in the substantially cylindrical shape. The other end (with which no pulley is fitted) of the pulley shaft portion  115  is fitted with the bending control lever  112 .  
         [0053]    As shown in FIG. 7A, the driving wire winding groove  128  for winding the driving wire  116  round itself is formed on the outer periphery of the pulley  114 . The driving wire winding groove  128  is in the shape of a spiral continuously extending in the peripheral direction of the pulley  114 . The driving wire winding groove  128  in this embodiment is also in the shape of a spiral continuously extending in the peripheral direction of the pulley  114 , but the turning direction of this spiral is made opposite (anti-clockwise to the peripheral direction of the pulley  114 ) to that of the spiral of the driving wire winding groove  12  of the pulley  10  as shown in FIG. 5A. To put it concretely, the spiral groove of the driving wire winding groove  128  is formed such that a plurality of step grooves are formed in the direction from the pulley shaft portion  115  of the pulley  114  toward the end surface of the pulley  114 .  
         [0054]    One end portion  128   a  of the driving wire winding groove  128  is fixedly connected with the end portion of one driving wire while the other end portion  128   b  of the driving wire winding groove  128  is fixedly connected with the end portion of the other driving wire. The driving wire winding groove  128  and the driving wire winding groove  12  of the pulley  10  as shown in FIGS. 5A an  5 B differ from each other in the point from which the winding of the driving wire  116  starts. In FIGS. 7A and 7B, the other driving wire is omitted.  
         [0055]    The above driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  114  which is provided so as to act in link with the bending control lever  112  provided in the control portion  102 . If the bending control lever  112  is turned, the pulley shaft portion  115  is turned, thereby the pulley  114  being turned by an angle equal to the angle of rotation of the bending control lever  112 . With this, the driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  114  and the bending wire  120  connected with the driving wire  116  through the connection member  118  is pulled back in the direction toward the pulley  114 , thereby the bending portion  108  being bent. Like this, the driving wire  116  is connected with the bending wire  120  through the connection member  118 , and it functions as the control wire  122  of the bending portion  108 .  
         [0056]    As described above, the driving wire  116  is connected with the bending wire  120  through the connection member  118 . The connection member 118  is slidably mounted on the guide member  130 . The guide member  130  is provided between the pulley  114  and the insertion portion  104  of control portion  102 . In this embodiment, the guide member  130  is arranged in advance such that, in the neutral state, the extending direction of the driving wire  116  is slanted to the guide face of the guide member  130 . With this arrangement, when the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  114 , in other words, when the most force is applied to the driving wire  116  in the bending control operation, it becomes possible to make the extending direction of the driving wire  116  be substantially in parallel with the guide face of the guide member  130 .  
         [0057]    Here, there will be described the operation of the bending control mechanism of the endoscope according to the first embodiment of the invention with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B, in which FIG. 8A indicate the state of the bending control mechanism where the bending portion  108  is in the neutral state and FIG. 8B indicates the state of the bending control mechanism where the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  114 .  
         [0058]    In the first embodiment, there is provided the driving wire winding groove  128  in the shape of a anti-clockwise spiral formed along the peripheral surface of the pulley  114 , and the end portion  117  of the driving wire  116  is connected with the end portion  128   a  of the driving wire winding groove  128 , the end portion  128   a  being located on the end surface side of the pulley  114 . Here, in the following description, an expression “pulley surface side” stands for the side where no pulley shaft portion is provided in the axial direction of the pulley while an expression “pulley shaft provision side” means the side where a pulley shaft portion is provided in the axial direction of the pulley.  
         [0059]    Furthermore, in this embodiment, the spiral shaped driving wire winding groove  128  provided in he pulley  114  is made to turn anti-clockwise along the peripheral direction of the pulley  128  as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B. The driving wire  116  is connected with the end portion  128   a  of the driving wire winding groove  128 , the end portion  128   a  being located on the end surface side of the pulley  114 . The guide member  130  is located such that in the neutral state, the extending direction of the driving wire  116  is slanted to the guide surface of the guide member  130 .  
         [0060]    Because of this arrangement, in the neutral state, the extending direction of the driving wire  116  can not be in parallel with the guide surface of the guide member  130  as shown in FIG. 8A. To the contrary, when the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  114  as shown in FIG. 8B, the position of the pulley  114  in the axial direction of itself, at which the driving wire  116  is paid out through the driving wire winding groove  128 , is substantially in the same height of the position of the connection member  118  on the guide member  130 . Therefore, the extending direction of the driving wire  116  becomes substantially parallel to the guide surface of the guide member  130 .  
         [0061]    As described above, according to the first embodiment of the invention, in the state where the tension applied to the driving wire  116  is maximized, in other words, when the most driving wire is wound round the pulley  114 , the relative position between the driving wire  116  and the guide member  130  is determined such that they becomes substantially parallel to each other. With the constitution like the above, it becomes possible for the bending control lever  112  to rotate the pulley  114  for winding up the control wire  122  round it without using any extra force but with the smaller force, comparing with the pulley  10  of the bending control mechanism as shown in FIG. 5. Consequently, as the bending portion  108  can be controlled with smaller force, controllability of the endoscope is improved.  
         [0062]    Furthermore, in the state where the tension applied to the driving wire  116  is maximized, in other words, when the most driving wire is wound round the pulley  114 , as the driving wire  116  and the guide member  130  are held substantially in parallel with each other, it becomes possible to prevent the consumption or frictional wear of the driving wire which is caused by the rubbing motion between the driving wire  116  and the wall face of the driving wire winding groove  128 , which takes place when winding the driving wire  116  round the pulley  114 . Thus, there can be improved the durability of the driving wire  116  wound round the pulley of the bending control mechanism.  
         [0063]    (Second Embodiment)  
         [0064]    In the next, there will be described the bending control mechanism of the endoscope according to the second embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams schematically showing the constitution and the operation of the bending control mechanism for the endoscope according to the second embodiment of the invention, in which FIG. 9A indicates the bending control mechanism staying in the neutral state (non-bending control) while FIG. 9B indicates the bending control mechanism staying in the state where the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  214 . Besides, the endoscope to which the bending control mechanism of this embodiment is applied is the same as the one described in the first embodiment, thus, the detailed explanation thereabout being omitted. This omission will be applied to the other embodiments as will be described later.  
         [0065]    As shown in FIG. 9B, in the state where the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  214 , the bending control mechanism of the second embodiment differs from that of the first embodiment in the constitution of the pulley  214  as well as in the arrangement position of the guide member  230 .  
         [0066]    To put it more concretely, the pulley  214  of the second embodiment is provided with a driving wire winding groove  228  in the similar way as the pulley  10  provided with the driving wire winding groove  12  as shown in FIG. 5. That is, both of driving wire winding grooves  228  and  12  are similarly formed along the peripheral direction of respective pulley and in the shape of a clockwise spiral, respectively. Also, as shown in FIG. 9B, the end portion  117  of the driving wire  116  is connected with the end portion  228   a  of the driving wire winding groove  228  on the shaft-provision side of the pulley  214  and extends therefrom.  
         [0067]    Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 9A, in the neutral state before the driving wire is wound up by the pulley  214 , the connection member  118 , which is slidably mounted round the guide member  230  provided inside the control portion, stays in the position that is deviated in the axial direction of the pulley  214  from the position out of which the driving wire  116  extends. At this time, the driving wire  116  makes an angle θ′ with regard to the direction vertical to the axial direction of the pulley  214 .  
         [0068]    With the constitution like this, when the most driving wire  116  is wound, the position of the guide member  230  is determined such that the extending direction of the driving wire  116  and the guide face of the guide member  230  are substantially in parallel with each other. Like this, relative position between the pulley  214  and the guide member  230  is determined such that the extending direction of the driving wire  116  becomes parallel to the guide face of the guide member  230 .  
         [0069]    In the neutral state, because the guide member  230  is arranged as shown in FIG. 9A, the driving wire  116  can not be in parallel with the guide face of the guide member  230  in the neutral state but slopes up directing to the extending point of the driving wire  116  from the pulley  214  as shown in FIG. 9A. In contrast with this, in the state where the most driving wire  116  is wound round pulley  214  as shown in FIG. 9B, as the driving wire  116  is wound round the spiral-shaped driving wire winding groove  228  provided on the shaft-provision side of the pulley  214 , the extending point of the driving wire from the driving wire winding groove  228  comes down until the same height level as that of the connecting member  118  mounted on the guide member  230  provided inside the control portion.  
         [0070]    Because of this, when the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  214 , the extending direction of the driving wire  116  and the guide face of the guide member  230  become in parallel with each other and at this time, the positional relation between the driving wire  116  and the guide member  230  is relatively determined. With this, when the tension applied to the driving wire  116  is maximized, in other word, when the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  214 , the driving wire  116  becomes substantially parallel to the guide member  230 . Accordingly, comparing to the pulley  10  of the bending control mechanism as shown in FIG. 5, there is no need for any excess force to be used for winding up the driving wire  116  round the pulley  214 , and it becomes possible to turn the bending control lever  112  with smaller force.  
         [0071]    Besides, when the tension applied to the driving wire  116  is maximized, that is, when the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  214 , as the driving wire  116  and the guide member become substantially parallel to each other, it becomes possible to prevent the consumption or frictional wear of the driving wire caused by the rubbing motion between the driving wire  116  and the wall face of the driving wire winding groove  228 , which takes place when winding the driving wire  116  round the pulley  214 .  
         [0072]    Furthermore, as there is no chance that the driving wire  116  is in contact with the guide member  230  even in the neutral state, it becomes possible to prevent the consumption or frictional wear of the driving wire  116  caused by the rubbing motion between the driving wire  116  and the guide member  230 .  
         [0073]    (Third Embodiment)  
         [0074]    In the next, there will be described the bending control mechanism for the endoscope according to the third embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams schematically showing the constitution and the operation of the bending control mechanism for the endoscope according to the third embodiment of the invention, in which FIG. 10A indicates the bending control mechanism when it stays in the neutral state, and FIG. 10B indicates the state of the bending control mechanism when the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  314 .  
         [0075]    Besides, in the bending control mechanism according to the third embodiment as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, there is provided a pulley displacement mechanism, which enables a pulley  314  to move up and down in the axial direction thereof such that the extending direction of the driving wire  116  becomes substantially parallel to the guide face of the guide member  130  in correspondence with the height of the driving wire  116  wound round the pulley  314  in the axial direction thereof.  
         [0076]    With provision of the pulley displacement mechanism like the above, it becomes possible to produce such a state that the driving wire  116  and the guide face of the guide member  130  mounting a connection member thereon become always substantially parallel to each other, the connection member being connected with the driving wire  116  with a bending wire  120 . Because of this, there is no need for any excess force to be used for winding up the driving wire  116  round the pulley  314  by using the bending control lever  112  and the bending portion  108  can be controlled with smaller force. Furthermore, it becomes possible to prevent the consumption or frictional wear of the driving wire, which is caused by the rubbing motion between the driving wire 116  and the wall face of the driving wire winding groove  328 .  
         [0077]    Here, there will be described in detail the concrete constitution of the pulley displacement mechanism according to the third embodiment, referring to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the pulley displacement mechanism includes a cam of the cylinder type  330  which is provided on a pulley shaft portion  315  and a cam pin  325  which is provided on a support member  324  supporting the pulley  314  in the control portion such that the cam pin  325  fits to the cam groove  332  of the cylinder type cam  330 . The cylinder type cam  330  may be arranged in a region, for instance the region between the pulley  314  and the bending control lever  112 .  
         [0078]    Similar to the pulley  10  as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the pulley  314  according to this embodiment includes the driving wire winding groove  328  in the shape of a clockwise spiral, which is formed on the peripheral surface of the pulley  314  so as to extend in the peripheral direction of the pulley  314 . The driving wire winding groove  328  is formed such that a plurality of stepped grooves are formed in the shape of a spiral along the axial direction of the shaft portion  315  from the end face side of the pulley  314  toward the side of the pulley shaft portion  315 . Besides, as shown in FIG. 10B, the one end portion  328   a  of the driving wire winding groove  328  is fixedly connected with the end portion of one driving wire while the other end portion of the driving wire winding groove  328   b  is fixedly connected with the end portion of the other driving wire. In FIGS. 10A and 10B, the other driving wire is omitted.  
         [0079]    As shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the above cylinder type cam  330  is constituted to have the same diameter as the pulley  314 , and the cam groove  332  is formed in the shape of a spiral extending in the peripheral direction similar to the driving wire winging groove  328  of the pulley  314 . Besides, the cam pin  325  fitting to the cam  332  is provided in the inner peripheral surface of the pulley support member  324  inserted in the shaft portion  315  of the pulley  314 .  
         [0080]    According to the bending control mechanism of the third embodiment, if the pulley  314  is rotated by means of the bending control lever  112 , the cylinder type cam  330  is turned linking with rotation of the pulley  314  If the cylinder type cam  330  is rotated, the cam pin  325  fixed through the pulley support member  324  is guided along the cam groove  332 , thereby the cylinder cam  330  sliding in the axial direction, in link with which the pulley  314  also slides also in the axial direction. As a result, as shown in FIG. 10B, the pulley  314  is displaced in the axial direction by a distance of X.  
         [0081]    As shown in FIG. 10B, in the state where the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  314 , the arrangement position of the cam pin  325  is determined such that the height in the axial direction of the driving wire  116  extending out from the driving wire winding groove  328  becomes the same as that of guide face (i.e. arrangement position of the connection member  118 ) of the guide member  130 . Because of this, the extending direction of the driving wire  116  as extended out from the pulley  314  becomes always substantially parallel to the guide surface of the guide member  130 .  
         [0082]    In the way like this, when the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  314  and the tension applied to the driving wire  116  is maximized, as the driving wire  116  and the guide face of the guide member  130  become substantially parallel to each other, the bending control lever  112  can be rotated without using any excess force.  
         [0083]    Furthermore, according to the displacement mechanism of the third embodiment, the extending direction of the driving wire  116  can always be made substantially parallel to the guide face of the guide member  130 , not limited to only when the tension applied to the driving wire  116  is maximized. Consequently, it becomes possible to more effectively prevent the consumption or frictional wear of the driving wire  116  which is caused by the rubbing motion between the driving wire  116  and the wall face of the driving wire winding groove  328 , when winding the driving wire  116  round the pulley  314 .  
         [0084]    (Fourth Embodiment)  
         [0085]    In the next, there will be described a bending control mechanism for the endoscope according to the fourth embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIGS. 11A and 11B are diagrams schematically showing the constitution and the operation of the bending control mechanism for the endoscope according to the fourth embodiment of the invention, in which FIG. 11A indicates the bending control mechanism when it is in the neutral state, and FIG. 11B indicates the bending control mechanism when the most driving wire  116  is wound round a pulley  414  at the time of executing the bending control.  
         [0086]    The constitution of the pulley  414  according to the fourth embodiment is similar to that of the pulley  314  according to the third embodiment. A driving wire winding groove  428 , an end portion  428   a  and an end portion  428   b  in the fourth embodiment correspond to the driving wire winding groove  328 , the end portion  328   a  and the end portion  328   b  in the third embodiment as described in the above, respectively.  
         [0087]    The pulley  414  of the fourth embodiment is also provided with a pulley displacement mechanism capable of displacing the pulley  414  in the axial direction thereof in the same way as the pulley  314  of the third embodiment. However, the former differs from the latter in that in the pulley displacement mechanism of the fourth embodiment, a cam pin  425  is provided on the pulley shaft portion  415  while a cam groove  426  is provided on the pulley support member  424 .  
         [0088]    To put it more concretely, as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, a cam groove  426  is provided along the inner face of the pulley support member  424  inserted in the shaft portion  415  of the pulley  414 , the cam groove  426  being in the shape of a spiral extending in the peripheral direction of the above inner face of the pulley support member  424 . Besides, the cam pin  425  fitting to the cam groove  426  is provided on the shaft portion  415  within a region between the pulley  414  and the bending control lever  112 .  
         [0089]    According to the bending control mechanism of the fourth embodiment, if the pulley  414  is rotated by the bending control lever  112 , the cam pin  425  is turned linking with the rotation of the bending control lever  112 . At this time, the cam pin  425  is guided along the cam groove  426  of the pulley support member  424 , thereby the pulley  414  sliding in the axial direction. As a result, as shown in FIG. 11B, the pulley  414  is displaced in the axial direction by a distance of X.  
         [0090]    As shown in FIG. 11B, the formation position of the cam groove  426  is determined such that, in the state where the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  414 , the height in the axial direction of the driving wire  116  extending out from the driving wire winding groove  428  becomes the same as that of the guide face (i.e. arrangement position of the connection member  118 ) of the guide member  130 . As a result, the extending direction of the driving wire  116  as extended out from the pulley  414  becomes always substantially parallel to the guide surface of the guide member  130 .  
         [0091]    In this way, when the most driving wire  116  is wound round the pulley  414  and the tension applied to the driving wire  116  is maximized, as the driving wire  116  and the guide face of the guide member  130  become substantially parallel to each other, the bending control lever  112  can be rotated without using any excess force.  
         [0092]    Furthermore, according to the displacement mechanism of the fourth embodiment, the extending direction of the driving wire  116  can be always substantially parallel to the guide face of the guide member  130 , not limited to only when the tension applied to the driving wire  116  is maximized. As the result of this, it becomes possible to more effectively prevent the consumption or frictional wear of the driving wire  116  which is caused by the rubbing motion between the driving wire  116  and the wall face of the driving wire winding groove  428 , when winding the driving wire round the pulley  414 .  
         [0093]    While several preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is needless to say that the invention is not always limited to such embodiments. It will be apparent that one who is skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the principle and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims, and it is understood that those changes and modifications naturally belong to the technical scope of the invention.  
         [0094]    For instance, in the first embodiment, there is described on an example wherein a driving wire winding groove in the shape of an anti-clockwise spiral is formed on the external peripheral surface of the pulley along the peripheral direction thereof. However, the invention is not always limited to this embodiment. If the driving wire is fixedly connected with the end portion of the driving wire winding groove on the end surface side of the pulley, the driving wire winding groove in the shape of clockwise spiral formed along the peripheral surface of the pulley can bring the same effect as the first embodiment.  
         [0095]    Besides, in the second, third and fourth embodiments, there are described examples wherein each driving wire winding groove in the shape of a anti-clockwise spiral is formed on the external peripheral surface of the pulley along the peripheral direction thereof. However, the invention is not always limited to this example. If the driving wire is fixedly connected with the end portion of the driving wire winding groove on the shaft side of the pulley, even the driving wire winding groove in the shape of anti-clockwise spiral formed on peripheral surface of the pulley can bring the same effect.  
         [0096]    As has been discussed so far, according to the bending control mechanism for the endoscope, when the tension applied to the driving wire is maximized, as the extending direction of the driving wire becomes substantially parallel to the guide face of the guide member, the control of the bending portion can be carried out by winding up the driving wire wound round the pulley with smaller force. Accordingly, there is provided an endoscope with the improved controllability.  
         [0097]    Besides, when the tension applied to the driving wire is maximized, as the extending direction of the driving wire becomes substantially parallel to the guide face of the guide member, it becomes possible to prevent the consumption or frictional wear of the driving wire which is caused by the rubbing motion between the driving wire wound round the pulley and the wall face of the driving wire winding groove provided along the peripheral surface of the pulley. Because of this, the durability of the driving wire can be improved.  
         [0098]    Furthermore, as there is provided a pulley displacement mechanism capable of moving up and down the pulley in the axial direction thereof in correspondence with the height in the axial direction of the driving wire wound round the pulley such that the extending direction of the driving wire becomes substantially parallel to the guide face of the guide member, it become possible to make the extending direction of the driving wire be always substantially parallel to the guide face of the guide member. Because of this, it becomes possible to more effectively prevent the consumption or frictional wear of the driving wire which is caused by the rubbing motion between the driving wire and the wall face of the driving wire winding groove, when the driving wire is wound round the pulley.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6