Ink ribbon unit and ink ribbon cassette
AssigneeSony Corporation
InventorsShoziro Asami, Yasuji Yui
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ink ribbon unit and an ink ribbon cassette for use in printers of thermally sublimate ink transferal type are described. The cassette comprises a casing and the ink ribbon unit installed in the casing. The ink ribbon unit comprises an ink film, a spool around which the ink film is wound, a coaxial shaft portion possessed by the spool, a ring rotatably disposed about the coaxial shaft portion of the spool, and a mark representing information on the ink film. The mark is applied to the ring to rotate therewith. Another mark similar to the above-mentioned mark is attached to the casing.
Claims19
An ink ribbon unit comprising:
- an ink film;
- a spool around which said ink film is wound, said spool having a coaxial shaft portion;
- a ring disposed about the coaxial shaft portion of said spool so as to be relatively rotatable with respect to the coaxial shaft portion;
- a mark representing information pertaining to said ink film, said mark being applied to said ring to rotate therewith;
- and
- drive means associated with said ring for enabling said ring to be driven to rotate with respect to coaxial shaft portion while said coaxial shaft portion is stationary.
An ink ribbon cassette comprising:
- a casing consisting of upper and lower case parts;
- an ink ribbon unit installed in said casing, said ink ribbon unit including an ink film;
- a spool on which said ink film is wound;
- a coaxial shaft portion extending from one end of said spool;
- a ring disposed about the coaxial shaft portion of said spool so as to be relatively rotatable with respect to the coaxial shaft portion, said ring including means operatively engageable with a drive source which is disposed outside of said casing, for enabling said ring to be driven to independently rotate relative to said coaxial shaft portion;
- a first mark representing information pertaining to said ink film, said mark being applied to said ring to rotate therewith;
- and
- a second mark which represents information pertaining to said ink film, said second mark being attached to said casing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.