Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Brother Industries, Ltd.

Hideo Asakura

Susumu Kuzuya

Shigenori Hattori

Tomoyoshi Watanabe

Yoshiaki Nagao

Takanobu Hirayama

Yukio Hishida

Masami Hanazono

Toshio Nakai

A tape printer for use with a detachably loaded tape cassette including a thermal printing head secured to a frame, and a platen roller mounted together with a tape feed roller in a platen holder rotatably mounted on the frame. When the tape cassette is loaded in the tape printer, an image source tape in the cassette is biased by a spring member outwardly of a head insertion recess. In a subsequent printing operation preparation, the spring member is engaged with a spring pushing piece on the platen holder to release the biasing to the image source tape and permit contact thereof with the printing head.

Tape printer

A tape cassette is disclosed, in the housing of which are provided accommodation sections accommodating an ink ribbon, an image receiving tape and an adhesive tape, respectively. The tape cassette is set in a tape printer, and printing is done in a mirror image transfer mode on the printing surface of the tape from the printing head via the ink ribbon. After the printing, the tape is fed out together with the adhesive tape applied to the printing surface. The cassette housing can be used for a label tape cassette and also for an instant lettering tape cassette, and the image transfer mode of the tape printer is never changed irrespectively of the types of tape cassettes used with the tape printer.

Tape cassette and tape printer for use therewith

A ribbon cartridge includes a pair of housings having apertures, a pair of ribbon spools rotatably supported in the housings, and a ribbon wound on the spools. A portion of the ribbon is exposed to the outside of the housings through the apertures when the ribbon is fed from one spool to the other. Each housing rotatably supporting a hold member. The hold member has a holding portion which is movable across a ribbon passage within the respective housings for holding the ribbon and has an engaging portion which is engageable with teeth on a flange of each spool, and each hold member is biased by a spring member. When the cartridge is removed from the typewriter, the holding portion is moved across the ribbon passage and a portion of the ribbon slackened and exposed from the housing is tensioned. The engaging portion prevents the rotation of the respective spools by the biasing force of the spring member, and when the cartridge is installed in the typewriter, the hold member is retracted to a released position by a retract member of the typewriter.

Ribbon cartridge having slack preventing means

A ribbon cartridge for typewriters having a plurality of type bars which have the respective type fonts or characters at the top portions thereof and which are struck toward a printing point on a platen during the printing operation. The ribbon cartridge includes a pair of housings made of plastic material and a connecting arm member made of a metal strip for interconnecting the two housings. The connecting arm member has its center portion positioned in front of a type bar guide (on the side of the typist) and is formed substantially into a U-shaped opening as seen from the front side of the typewriter in order to permit the printing operation of the respective type bars. A spool for winding the printing ribbon is rotatably mounted in each housing, the spool being operatively connected in the usual manner to an ordinary ribbon drive means which is provided on the typewriter. Each one of the housings is provided with an aperture or slot to allow passage therethrough of the printing ribbon. A printing ribbon which is wound on one spool is fed through the aperture in its housing and taken up on the other spool through the aperture in the other housing.

Growing community of inventors

Kasugai, Japan

Hideo Asakura