Patents by Inventor Kikuo Iwasaka

Kikuo Iwasaka has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Endoscopic optical fiber bundle
    Patent number: 6226432
    Abstract: In an endoscopic optical fiber bundle, cutouts (15a) are formed near an end portion of helical tube (15) and the area with the cutouts is placed over socket (12), with a string-like member (16) being passed through the cutouts (15a) to be wound onto the outer surface of the helical tube (15) so that the socket (12) is tightly bound to the helical tube 15.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2001
    Assignee: Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Gonda, Kikuo Iwasaka, Ryoichi Baba, Hitoshi Hirose
  • Flexible tube for endoscope and method of producing the flexible tube
    Patent number: 6206824
    Abstract: A flexible tube for an endoscope includes a spiral coil 11 as the innermost layer and a jacket 13 that is formed by applying a melt of a jacket material 1 and then curing it, in which the jacket material 1 has been allowed to penetrate through the gaps between adjacent turns of the innermost spiral coil 11 to reach the portion of its inner surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2001
    Assignee: Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kenichi Ohara, Yoshinori Shibata, Hiromichi Shibuya, Hitoshi Hirose, Kikuo Iwasaka, Tatsuo Kubota, Masaya Sato, Tadashi Kasai
  • Flexible tube of endoscope
    Patent number: 5885207
    Abstract: A flexible tube of an endoscope includes a tubular spiral, a meshwork tube provided around the tubular spiral, and a resin sheath provided around the meshwork tube. The meshwork tube is made by netting a plurality of wire bundles, each of the bundles being made of a plurality of metal wires. At least one wire for each bundle is coated with a coating material made of thermoplastic resin. The coating material is bonded to the resin sheath and the tubular spiral by heating the resin sheath and the meshwork tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 23, 1999
    Assignee: Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kikuo Iwasaka
  • Manipulator for flexible portion of an endoscope
    Patent number: 5752912
    Abstract: A manipulator for a flexible portion of an endoscope includes a rotatable pulley provided in an operating portion of the endoscope, and a pliable pull rope which is wound about the pulley. One end of the pull rope is connected to the pulley. The flexible front end portion is provided at an insertion portion of the endoscope to be remotely bendable through the pull rope when the pull rope is pulled in accordance with a rotation of the pulley. The pull rope is made of braided non-metallic fibers so as to have a high pliability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 19, 1998
    Assignee: Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hisaki Takahashi, Shizuharu Miura, Kikuo Iwasaka