Tape printer

A tape printer comprising:

• a tape cassette that comprises:
• a box-like housing having a top surface, a bottom surface, and a front wall extending in a direction that is generally orthogonal to the top surface and the bottom surface, said front wall connecting the top and bottom surfaces;
• a wound tape mounted within the housing, the housing directing the tape along a path to an exit, at least a portion of the path extending parallel to the front wall;
• a tape guide spaced downstream of the exit whereby a section of tape is exposed between the exit and the tape guide;
• and
• an indicator of the tape type formed in the front wall proximal to the exposed section of tape, the indicator comprising at least one aperture extending generally parallel to the top and bottom surfaces and perpendicular to the portion of the path;
• a cassette housing portion in which and from which the tape cassette is detachably installed and removed, with the bottom surface facing downward and the front wall extending in an up-down direction;
• a feeding device that feeds the tape along the path from the housing of the tape cassette installed in the cassette housing portion;
• a printing device that performs printing on the tape fed by the feeding device;
• a table storage device that stores a tape type table in which identification information pieces are each associated with a tape type, the identification information pieces being used to identify the tape type of the tape mounted within the housing;
• a plurality of detecting switches that protrude in a direction that is generally perpendicular to a direction of installing and removing the tape cassette from the cassette housing portion and horizontally toward the front wall of the housing of the tape cassette installed in the cassette housing portion, a part of the plurality of detecting switches that opposes a surface portion other than the at least one aperture in the indicator being pressed to thereby detect information indicating a pressing state or non-pressing state of each of the plurality of detecting switches as the identification information;
• a tape type identifying device that identifies, with reference to the tape type table, the tape type associated with the identification information detected by the plurality of detecting switches as the tape type of the tape mounted within the housing;
• and
• a movable member that includes the plurality of detecting switches and that can be moved between a first position and a second position, said first position being in proximity to the front wall of the tape cassette installed in the cassette housing portion and the second position being at an interval from the front wall of the tape cassette installed in the cassette housing portion, wherein
• when the movable member is in the second position, the tape cassette can be installed in and removed from the cassette housing portion, and
• when the movable member is in the first position, the part of the plurality of detecting switches opposes and is pressed by the surface portion that is other than the at least one aperture.