Seiko Epson Corporation

Other

King Jim Co., Ltd.

Meisei International Patent Firm

Yoshikiyo Furuya

Kenji Watanabe

Masaji Takayama

Takanobu Kameda

Tomoyuki Shimmura

Chieko Aida

Hideki Sakano

Tomoki Nakamura

Akira Hashimoto

Yoshiyuki Takeuchi

Chie Ohshima

Hideo Sodeyama

Teruhiko Unno

Ko Kojima

There is provided a tape printing apparatus which is capable of positively discharging a cut-off tape strip of a tape material out of the apparatus by forcibly discharging the same, thereby preventing jamming and double cutting of the tape material. A full-cutting device for cutting a printed strip off the tape material is arranged at a location downstream of a printing section in a tape-feeding direction. A half-cutting device carries out half-cutting of the tape material. A tape discharge device forcibly discharges the cut-off tape strip out of the apparatus via a tape exit.

Tape printing apparatus

There is provided a half-cutting device which makes it possible to attain the energy saving, downsizing of the construction of a tape printing apparatus using the device, and reliable cutting with a beautiful cut, and the tape printing apparatus incorporating the device. A half-cutting mechanism carries out half-cutting on a tape material introduced between the same and a tape-receiving member in a direction of the tape material. A half cutter of the half-cutting mechanism has a cutter blade formed by an angular blade, and performs a cutting operation on the tape material by moving in a direction of the width of the tape material. A cutter moving mechanism causes the half cutter to cyclically move through a cutting wait position, a cutting start position, a cutting completed position, a withdrawn position, and then to the cutting wait position.

Half-cutting device and tape printing apparatus incorporating same

A tape printing apparatus is provided which has a high flexibility in the combination of half-cutting and full-cutting, and is capable of cutting a tape material as desired. A tape feeding section feeds a tape material in the form of a laminate of a printing tape and a peel-off paper. A printing section prints on the tape material being fed by the tape feeding means. A full-cutting device is arranged at a location downstream of the printing section in a tape-feeding direction, for cutting off the tape material. A half-cutting device is arranged at a location downstream of the printing device, for carrying out half-cutting to cut off one of the printing tape and the peel-off tape of the tape material. A control section individually and separately controls the tape feeding section, the printing section, the full-cutting device, and the half-cutting device.

A printing device including a printing mechanism adapted to print a series of letters and characters on a printing tape which is fed through the printing mechanism in a generally vertical orientation. A manually operated cutting mechanism is provided which includes a movable cutting blade configured to cut a printed section of the printing tape at a generally vertical cutting region after a printing operation. The movable cutting blade is rotatably supported in a manner positioning its axis of rotation on one side of the cutting region while the fixed cutting blade is positioned on the other side of the cutting region. The movable cutting blade initially contacts the vertically oriented printing tape from a lower face of the blade during cutting of the printing tape, and moves generally in the direction toward the one side of the cutting region. An operation button provided on a top face of the printing device is configured to move substantially linearly toward a bottom of the printing device. The movable cutting blade rotates toward a fixed cutting blade when the operation button is depressed to manually cut the printing tape disposed between the movable cutting blade and the fixed cutting blade from the lower face of the printing tape.

Tape cartridge and printing device

There is provided a tape printing apparatus in which a cartridge-ejecting function by an ejection mechanism and a cartridge-holding function by a cartridge compartment are separated from each other based on a simple construction. In the tape printing apparatus including a cartridge compartment for removably mounting a tape cartridge therein, and an ejection mechanism for lifting the tape cartridge mounted, from the cartridge compartment, the cartridge compartment has a bottom thereof formed with a seat portion for seating thereon the tape cartridge in a mounted state, and a lift plate of the ejection mechanism for lifting a tape cartridge is positioned away from the tape cartridge seated on the seat portion when the lift plate is in a standby state. This construction makes it possible to separate the cartridge-ejecting function implemented by the ejection mechanism and the cartridge-holding function by the cartridge compartment from each other, thereby preventing the ejection mechanism from adversely affecting printing operation.

Tape printer

There is provided a printing apparatus for printing on a continuous tape. When a portion of a continuous tape having passed a thermal head is cut at a predetermined cutting position, a stepping motor is caused to stop driving the platen roller for rotation to stop feeding of the tape, and then the tape is cut off. During tape-cutting operation, the stepping motor is held in an energized state. When the printing operation is resumed after stopping the feeding and printing of the tape, the thermal head is caused to print on a portion of the tape printed by an immediately preceding printing operation by the thermal head, in an overlapping manner, by the use of identical printing data or printing data for a next line of dots.

Tape-printing apparatus with control of feeding and cutting of a tape

Tape-printing apparatus

The present invention provides a novel structure of a tape cartridge accommodating a printing tape and an ink ribbon used for printing, which prevents the printing tape from being stuck in a cartridge case or the ink ribbon from being slackened. The tape cartridge of the invention has a mechanism for preventing an end of the tape from being reversely moved back into the cartridge case. A typical structure of the mechanism includes an anti-inversion system which prevents a tape core having a tape wound thereon from rotating in a reverse direction, that is, a direction opposite to a normal rotating direction for printing. The anti-inversion effects are removed when the tape cartridge is set in a printing device such as a tape writer to ensure smooth feeding of the tape for printing. When the tape is forcibly pressed back into the cartridge case, a movable platen clamps the tape between the platen and a fixed wall to prevent reverse movement of the tape. The tape cartridge of the invention also includes an anti-slack mechanism for preventing slack of the ink ribbon through engagement of a ribbon winding core with an anti-rotational engagement piece. Engagement of this anti-slack mechanism is also released when the tape cartridge is set in the printing device.

A tape reel device includes a spool in the form of a hollow cylinder having a hollow portion for winding a tape material around a peripheral surface thereof, a casing rotatably accommodating the spool, and a braking mechanism in sliding contact with the spool. The baking mechanism applies back tension to the tape material being rolled out from the spool. The braking means comprises a sliding-contact member brought into contact with the spool in an axial direction such that the spool is circumferentially slidable on the sliding-contact member, and a spring arranged within the hollow portion of the spool and supported by the casing for urging the sliding-contact member in the axial direction.

Tape reel device with brake mechanism applying constant back tension

A tape printing apparatus includes a body, and a lid arranged on the body in a hinged-door form, the body having a pocket formed therein for removably loading a cartridge containing a tape-like member as a printing object material. An ejecting mechanism elevates the cartridge when the cartridge is in a state loaded in the pocket. The cartridge is classified into at least a small-height cartridge containing a tape-like member having a small width and a large-height cartridge containing a tape-like member having a large width. The body has a first support member arranged in the pocket for receiving a seating portion of the small-height cartridge in a shallow position in the pocket and a second support member arranged in the pocket for receiving a seating portion of the large-height cartridge in a deep position in the pocket. The first support member is arranged in a position away from the seating portion of the large-height cartridge when the large-height cartridge is loaded in the pocket. The second support member is arranged in a position away from the seating portion of the small-height cartridge loaded when the small-height cartridge is loaded in the pocket.

Tape cartidge and printing device

Tape cartridge and printing device having print medium cartridge

An electronic viewfinder for displaying video images captured in an attached electronic camera utilizes a liquid crystal display which can be illuminated from the rear by ambient illumination or by light from an included fluorescent lamp. The liquid crystal display is positioned at a slight angle to the viewer's line of sight and light transmitted by the display is diffused thereafter to provide a high quality image.

Growing community of inventors

Suwa, Japan

Yoshikiyo Furuya