US Patent Issued to OLYMPUS on Oct. 28 for "Rigidity variable apparatus, endoscope, and manufacturing method of rigidity variable apparatus" (Japanese Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,453,463, issued on Oct. 28, was assigned to OLYMPUS Corp. (Tokyo).

"Rigidity variable apparatus, endoscope, and manufacturing method of rigidity variable apparatus" was invented by Tatsuhiko Okita (Akiruno, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A rigidity variable apparatus includes: a rigidity variable member having a cylindrical shape, a bending rigidity of the rigidity variable member increasing by being heated; a heater having a cylindrical shape and arranged along the rigidity variable member on an inside of the rigidity variable member in a radial direction, the heater being configured to heat the rigidity variable member; a filler ...