The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 24, 1995
Filed:
Mar. 19, 1993
Charles D Zinsmeyer, Austin, TX (US);
James A Parnell, Austin, TX (US);
Dan R Poole, Austin, TX (US);
Carl D Massey, Nashville, TN (US);
Summagraphics Corporation, Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
A cassette for ribbon for a printer, particularly a thermal printer, is disclosed. The cassette is configured to be stably mounted to a print carriage of a thermal printer, or to a storage turret mounted to the printer for storing a number of cassettes, and to be transferred by a passive transfer system between the print carriage and the storage turret simply in response to movement of the print carriage. A smooth, low friction path is provided for the ribbon within the cassette with no acute angle changes in the path when the cassette is in a printing position and being acted upon by the printer's print head. The cassette is provided with a brake mechanism which automatically engages the supply and take-up reels in the cassette when the cassette is removed from the print carriage, and automatically disengages the brake mechanism when the cassette is mounted to the print carriage. The cassette is provided with a bar code so that cassettes on the storage turret may automatically be identified, particularly for use in an automatic cassette transfer system. The cassette housing is plastic and is provided with an anti-static additive.