Ribbon changing mechanism for a typewriter

Abstract

In a ribbon changing mechanism, a ribbon retaining portion of the ribbon vibrator lifts a printing ribbon from a lowered non-printing position to an elevated printing position, in response to the printing operation. When a push button is depressed for retaining an actuating lever in a first position where said ribbon vibrator is shifted to a ribbon changing position, the ribbon vibrator connected to the actuating lever is moved upward from the lowered non-printing position to the ribbon changing position, independently of the printing operation and retained in the ribbon changing position. The ribbon retaining portion is comprised of a rear ribbon retaining member and a front ribbon retaining member, which defines a pair of ribbon passages having closed top and bottom portions in combination with both ribbon retaining members. The actuating lever is operatively connected to an opener shaft, so that when the push button is depressed, the opener shaft may be brought into engagement with the front ribbon retaining member, and then the top portions of the ribbon passages are opened. By depressing the push button, a top cover of the typewriter is moved to an open position. If the top cover is brought into a closed position, the actuating lever is returned to the second position, whereas the top portions of the ribbon passages are closed.