Ink ribbon cartridge with leaf spring and method of assembling the same
AssigneeEastman Kodak Company
InventorsPaul A. Lysiak, Hiroshi Sato
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of assembling an ink ribbon cartridge comprises inserting a leaf spring having a mounting frame and a flat spring finger that longitudinally extends from the mounting frame, beginning at an opening in the mounting frame, and at an acute angle from the opening, into a housing-half to position the spring finger pointing at the acute angle into the housing-half, and inserting an ink ribbon spool having opposite hub ends and a rotation axis into the housing-half, laterally relative to the rotation axis, to cause one of the hub ends to depress the spring finger at least partially into the opening, whereby the spring finger will urge the spool in one direction along the rotation axis.
Claims11
An ink ribbon cartridge comprising an ink ribbon spool having opposite hub ends and a rotation axis, a housing-half into which said spool is inserted laterally relative to said rotation axis during cartridge assembly, and a leaf spring that presses against one of said hub ends of said spool to urge said spool in one direction along said rotation axis in said housing-half, is characterized in that:
- said leaf spring has a mounting frame and a flat spring finger that longitudinally extends from said mounting frame, beginning at an opening in said mounting frame, and at an acute angle from said opening, in order to be depressed at least partially into said opening by said one hub end when said spool is laterally inserted into said housing-half, whereby said spring finger will urge said spool in one direction along said rotation axis.
An ink ribbon cartridge comprising a cartridge housing, an ink ribbon spool in said cartridge housing which has opposite hub ends and a rotation axis, and a leaf spring in said cartridge housing which presses against one of said hub ends of said spool to urge said spool in one direction along said rotation axis in said cartridge housing, is characterized in that:
- said leaf spring has a mounting frame and a flat spring finger that longitudinally extends from said mounting frame, beginning at an opening in said mounting frame, and at an acute angle from said opening;
- and
- said one hub end of said spool depresses said spring finger at least partially into said opening, whereby said spring finger urges said spool in one direction along said rotation axis.
A method of assembling an ink ribbon cartridge, comprising:
- inserting a leaf spring having a mounting frame and a flat spring finger that longitudinally extends from the mounting frame, beginning at an opening in the mounting frame, and at an acute angle from the opening, into a housing-half to position the spring finger pointing at the acute angle into the housing-half;
- and
- inserting an ink ribbon spool having opposite hub ends and a rotation axis into the housing-half, laterally relative to the rotation axis, to cause one of the hub ends to depress the spring finger at least partially into the opening, whereby the spring finger will urge the spool in one direction along the rotation axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.