Patent ID: RE43281

Claim:
An endoscope capable of being autoclaved, comprising: an outer casing of the endoscope made at least partially of a polymeric material and having an interior; and a component housed in the interior of the outer casing and constituted as a hermetically sealed unit composed of a plurality of airtight partition members, end parts of said plurality of airtight partition members being hermetically joined to one another such as to at least partially have said partition members overlap one another thereby to provide an airtight space; wherein the outer casing is formed to provide a first sealing level to hinder liquid from invading into the interior thereof while permitting high-pressure, high-temperature steam given off during autoclaving to invade into the interior thereof; and the component is formed to provide a second sealing level higher than the first sealing level of the outer casing, to hinder the high-pressure, high-temperature steam penetrating through the outer casing during autoclaving from invading into the interior , wherein said hermetically sealed unit includes at least one of optical members and electronic parts or both said optical members and said electronic parts as airtight partition members, and wherein said hermetically sealed unit is a lens unit having optical members as said airtight partition members, said lens unit having a first and second end portions which are hermetically locked as optical windows .