Patent ID: 6977053

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a front-end optical component in which a lens is mounted on the front end of a metallic lens-barrel provided on the front end of the inserting portion of an endoscope, comprising the steps of: placing a lens raw material on the front-end side in the lens-barrel, press-forming the lens raw material in a heat-softened state with a pair of upper and lower shaping dies, tightly joining the outer edge of the pressed lens raw material to the inner peripheral surface of the lens-barrel; and wherein the front end of the lens-barrel is placed so as to straddle an outer periphery of a transfer surface shaped on a top surface of the lower die of said pair of upper and lower shaping dies, a guide die is provided so as to enclose the periphery of the lens-barrel, the upper die has a transfer surface shaped on a bottom surface thereof and is provided in the lens-barrel so as to able to be inserted in and withdrawn from it, a portion of the lens raw material press-formed by the upper and lower dies is formed projecting toward the front-end side of the lens-barrel from its inside, and the projection-shaped portion is polished and finished.