Printer and cartridge assembly therefor

A ribbon cartridge for a printer, comprising:

• a housing including an elongated body having ribbon exit and entrance arms adjacent opposite ends of said body and projecting to one side thereof;
• a ribbon disposed in said housing and extending between said exit and entrance arms;
• drive means in said housing for pulling said ribbon from said housing through said exit arm and into said entrance arm;
• said housing including upper and lower covers substantially coextensive with said housing and on opposite sides of said ribbon in said housing, one of said covers including means including means defining a plurality of slots spaced one from the other along an edge of said one cover, the other of said covers including a plurality of pins extending therefrom for reception in the slots, said slots being elongated in the direction of elongation of said body a distance greater than their width whereby, upon reception of said pins in said slots in an interference fit, the registering slots and pins provide tight tolerances in the transverse direction and loose tolerances in the longitudinal direction.

A ribbon cartridge for a printer comprising:

• a housing including an elongated body having ribbon exit and entrance arms adjacent opposite ends and spaced one from the other;
• a ribbon disposed in said housing and extending between said entrance and exit arms;
• means carried by said housing for pulling said ribbon in one direction from said housing through said exit arm to said entrance arm and into said housing;
• manually operable means coupled to said pulling means for rotation in one rotary direction to pull said ribbon in said one direction;
• one-way clutch means interconnecting said manually operable means and said pulling means for preventing movement of said ribbon in said opposite direction upon rotation of said manual means in the opposite rotary direction;
• and
• said pulling means comprising a gear and a mating connecting structure on one side of said gear for connection to a drive structure carried by the printer, said manually operable means being carried by said gear on the opposite side thereof, said gear having a pin projecting from said opposite side thereof, said manually operable means including a knob overlying said pin with said one-way clutch means cooperable between said pin and said knob.