US 12,295,550 B2
Dynamically rigidizing overtube
Alexander Q. Tilson, Burlingame, CA (US); Garrett J. Gomes, San Mateo, CA (US); Stephen J. Morris, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Eugene F. Duval, Menlo Park, CA (US); Adam S. Wigginton, Sunnyvale, CA (US); and Mark C. Scheeff, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to Neptune Medical Inc., Burlingame, CA (US)
Appl. No. 16/631,473
Filed by NEPTUNE MEDICAL INC., Burlingame, CA (US)
PCT Filed Jul. 19, 2018, PCT No. PCT/US2018/042946
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 16, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/018682, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 24, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/672,444, filed on May 16, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/535,134, filed on Jul. 20, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2020/0178763 A1, Jun. 11, 2020
Int. Cl. A61B 1/00 (2006.01); A61B 1/005 (2006.01); A61B 1/008 (2006.01); A61B 17/00 (2006.01); A61B 34/30 (2016.01); A61M 25/01 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 1/00078 (2013.01) [A61B 1/00135 (2013.01); A61B 1/0052 (2013.01); A61B 1/0055 (2013.01); A61B 1/0057 (2013.01); A61B 1/008 (2013.01); A61B 2017/00318 (2013.01); A61B 2034/301 (2016.02); A61M 25/0155 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A rigidizing overtube comprising:
an elongate flexible tube;
mounting elements attached to the elongate flexible tube;
a plurality of male engagers and a plurality of female engagers connected to the mounting elements, the plurality of male and the plurality of female engagers positioned in an alternating arrangement around a circumference of the rigidizing overtube;
wherein the rigidizing overtube has a flexible configuration in which the plurality of male and female engagers are configured to move axially relative to each other to accommodate bending of the elongate flexible tube;
wherein the rigidizing overtube has a rigid configuration in which the plurality of female engagers are fixed relative to the plurality of male engagers to prevent the elongate flexible tube from bending,
wherein the mounting elements is attached to the elongate flexible tube so that axial movement between the mounting elements and the elongate flexible tube is prevented when the rigidizing overtube is in the flexible configuration and the rigid configuration, and
wherein the rigidizing overtube is configured such that an application of vacuum between an outer layer and an inner tube of the rigidizing overtube transitions the rigidizing overtube from the flexible configuration to the rigid configuration and fixes the plurality of female engagers relative to the plurality of male engagers by constricting the outer layer around the plurality of female engagers and the plurality of male engagers, further wherein removal of the application of vacuum returns the rigidizing overtube to the flexible configuration.