Patent ID: 8591405

Claim:
A bending operation device provided in an operation section of an endoscope and configured to bend a bending portion of the endoscope, the bending operation device comprising: a bending operation knob configured to pivot about a pivoting shaft to cause the bending portion to perform a bending action; a friction plate including a first surface and a second surface and configured to pivot according to pivoting of the bending operation knob; two tabular members including a first tabular member provided on the first surface side of the friction plate and a second tabular member provided on the second surface side of the friction plate; slits respectively formed in the two tabular members to pierce through the two tabular members in a direction of the pivoting shaft in a predetermined superimposed position in a state of the two tabular members in plan view from a direction coaxial with the pivoting shaft; a moving portion configured to move the first tabular member or the second tabular member from a first position where the two tabular members are separated by a first space from each other to a second position where the two tabular members are separated by a second space shorter than the first space from each other and hold the friction plate therebetween to thereby fix a pivoting position of the bending operation knob; a moving portion operation member configured to actuate the moving portion and move the first tabular member or the second tabular member from the first position to the second position; and an annular member including the moving portion, the annular member including a projecting portion configured to pierce through the respective slits of the two tabular members in an axis direction of the pivoting shaft and move in the respective slits in a direction of the pivoting, and pivoting about the pivoting shaft separately from the pivoting of the pivoting shaft when the moving portion operation member is operated to pivot the annular member.