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:
Sep. 14, 1999
Filed:
Jan. 20, 1998
Applicant:
Inventors:
Assignee:
Alps Electric Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B41J / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
400206 ; 347214 ;
Abstract
A cassette transfer mechanism for a thermal transfer printer with a cassette platform and a cassette holder for holding a plurality of ribbon cassettes. The cassette transfer mechanism transfers a ribbon cassette between the cassette platform and the cassette holder by driving the platform and holder to come into and out of contact with each other. The cassette holder and the cassette platform each have movable members and stationary members for engaging a ribbon cassette. A further embodiment includes elastic members on the cassette holder for abutting the reels of the ribbon cassette to elastically bias the reels in one direction.