ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,471,765, issued on Nov. 18, was assigned to OLYMPUS Corp. (Tokyo).
"Endoscope conduit switching device and endoscope" was invented by Kazuya Saiga (Hachioji, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An endoscope conduit switching device includes: a movable piston portion that is movable to be inserted into and removed from a conduit of an endoscope, the movable piston portion including a piston and a packing, the piston being made of resin and extending along a conduit of an endoscope, the piston including a proximal end portion and a small diameter portion thinner than the proximal end portion, the packing being made of an elastic material ...