US Patent Issued to OLYMPUS on May 27 for "Flexible tube insertion apparatus, control apparatus, and method of changing rigidity" (Japanese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,310,557, issued on May 27, was assigned to OLYMPUS Corp. (Tokyo).

"Flexible tube insertion apparatus, control apparatus, and method of changing rigidity" was invented by Shuji Nakamura (Akishima, Japan) and Takeshi Takahashi (Hachioji, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A flexible tube insertion apparatus includes an insertion section inserted into an insertion target conduit, a rigidity variable member disposed inside the insertion section and capable of changing rigidity, and a binding member configured to bind a proximal end portion of the rigidity variable member to be capable of changing a pressing force applied to an outer circum...