Tape cassette

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12240258-B2
Application number	US-202218059392-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 28, 2022
Priority date	Nov 30, 2021
Publication date	Mar 4, 2025
Grant date	Mar 4, 2025

Abstract

The tape cassette includes a housing, a tape roll, a tape, an outlet, a first guide, first opening, second opening, a first rotation body, and a second rotation body. The first guide is configured to guide the tape that has been conveyed through a detection position toward the outlet. The first opening opens toward a first surface of the tape. The second opening opens toward a second surface of the tape. The first rotation body is disposed at a position adjacent to the first opening. The position adjacent to the first opening is an entrance to the detection position. The second rotation body is disposed further upstream than the first guide in a tape conveyance direction. The second rotation body is disposed at a position adjacent to the second opening. The position adjacent to the second opening is an exit from the detection position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tape cassette configured to be mounted in a printer, the tape cassette comprising:
a housing having a first end portion and a second end portion separated from the first end portion in a first direction, and having a third end portion and a fourth end portion separated from the third end portion in a second direction, the second direction being orthogonal to the first direction;
a tape roll held inside the housing, and disposed closer to the third end portion than to the fourth end portion in the second direction;
a tape wound around the tape roll;
an outlet disposed closer to the first end portion than to the second end portion in the first direction, and configured to discharge, to outside of the housing, the tape from the tape roll that has been conveyed through a detection position provided at a position facing a sensor of the printer;
a first guide disposed closer to the fourth end portion than to the third end portion in the second direction, disposed closer to the first end portion than to the second end portion in the first end portion, and configured to guide the tape that has been conveyed through the detection position toward the outlet;
a first opening that is open toward a first surface of the tape conveyed through the detection position;
a second opening that is open toward a second surface of the tape, the second surface being opposite to the first surface of the tape;
a first rotation body disposed closer to the fourth end portion than to the third end portion in the second direction, and disposed at a position adjacent to the first opening, the position adjacent to the first opening being an entrance to the detection position; and
a second rotation body disposed closer to the fourth end portion than to the third end portion in the second direction, disposed further upstream than the first guide in a tape conveyance direction, and disposed at a position adjacent to the second opening, the position adjacent to the second opening being an exit from the detection position,
wherein the second rotation body is arranged between the first guide and the first rotation body, in the first direction.

2. The tape cassette according to claim 1 , wherein
the housing includes
a first wall having the first opening, and
a second wall facing the first wall, the second wall having the second opening.

3. The tape cassette according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a second guide disposed, in the tape conveyance direction, further downstream than the second rotation body and further upstream than the first guide,
wherein
an angle between a first straight line and a second straight line is 90 degrees or more, where the first straight line connects the first rotation body with the second rotation body, and the second straight line connects the second rotation body with the second guide,
an angle between the second straight line and a third straight line is 90 degrees or more, where the third straight line connects the second guide with the first guide, and
an angle between the third straight line and a fourth straight line is 90 degrees or more, where the fourth straight line connects the first guide with the outlet.

4. The tape cassette according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a third wall disposed opposite to a surface of the first rotation body, with respect to the first rotation body, where the first rotation body and the tape are in contact, the third wall being configured to support the first rotation body; and
a fourth wall disposed opposite to a surface of the second rotation body, with respect to the second rotation body, where the second rotation body and the tape are in contact, the fourth wall being configured to support the second rotation body.

5. The tape cassette according to claim 1 , wherein
a rigidity of the tape is 3 N·mm 2 or more.

6. The tape cassette according to claim 1 , wherein
the tape has a tube shape.

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Horiuchi Takashi
• TSUCHIMORI Shohei
• Takami Yukiko

Classifications

• B41J15/044

  Cassettes or cartridges containing continuous copy material, tape, for setting into printing devices · CPC title

• B41J33/26

  by rollers engaging the ribbon · CPC title

• B41J3/4075

  Tape printers; Label printers · CPC title

• B41J2/325 Primary

  by selective transfer of ink from ink carrier, e.g. from ink ribbon or sheet · CPC title

• B41J3/36

  for portability {, i.e. hand-held printers or laptop printers (B41J3/4075 takes precedence)} · CPC title