Ophthalmoscopes

Claim 1

In an ophthalmoscopic instrument having a main body portion which houses a viewing aperture, a light channel with a source of light therein and auxiliary lens and light filtering means selectively positionable in line with said viewing aperture and light channel, the improvement comprising: an elongated flexible light-conducting fiber bundle having a first portion of its fibers proximally secured to said housing in tightly grouped together axially aligned relationship with said viewing aperture, the remaining fibers being proximally tightly grouped together and secured to said housing in aligned relationship with said light channel; said fibers of said bundle all being distally tightly grouped together adjacent their termini as a combined light-emitting and image-receiving face of said fiber bundle with said grouped opposite ends of said first portion of fibers comprising an image-emitting face of the bundle; objective lens means adjacent said termini of said fibers for producing images of objects under observation by said ophthalmic instrument upon said image-receiving face of said bundle for transference to said image-emitting face and viewing thereof through said viewing aperture; and protruding handle means also adjacent said fiber termini for manually manipulating said bundle and for moving said objective lens relative to said objects under observation for selectively imaging portions of said objects through said objective lens means upon said image-receiving face of said bundle.