PRINTER

PURPOSE: To enable to use a printer in a heat-sensitive paper mode, by a method wherein a tape cassette fitting body can be detachably fitted to a main body of a printer constituted of a recording paper fitting mechanism, a thermal head and a head-feeding mechanism, in a thermal transfer printer.

CONSTITUTION: The main body A of the printer comprises a platen 6, a printing head provided with a printing unit 16 and the head-feeding mechanism driven by a pulse motor 24. The tape cassette fitting body B is fitted to side ends of both side plates 1, 2 provided in the main body A, and a thermal transfer tape cassette is fitted to both guide parts 140'. The body B is so constructed that only the rotation in a returning stroke of the printing unit 16 is transmitted through a take-up shaft 158 to a take-up spool in the tape cassette through a one-direction clutch incorporating pulley rotated interlockedly with the movement of the printing unit 16. Accordingly, the printer can be used in common both in a heat-sensitive paper mode not requiring any transfer tape and in an ordinary paper mode, and the printer can be mass-produced.

COPYRIGHT: (C)1984,JPO&Japio