Tape cassette

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019030930-A1
Application number	US-201816044572-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 25, 2018
Priority date	Jul 31, 2017
Publication date	Jan 31, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A tape cassette configured to contain a tape has a box-like cassette case having a wall formed with one of a recess and a hole, and a substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, at least two conductive electrodes being provided to the first surface, a storage electrically connected to the pair of conductive electrodes being provided to the second surface. The at least one of the recess and the hole being arranged at a central area, in a particular direction, of the wall, and the substrate being attached on the wall such that the substrate is arranged at the one of the recess and the hole, and the at least two conductive electrodes are aligned in the particular direction regardless of whether the substrate is attached on the wall in a first orientation or a second orientation which is a reversed orientation with respect to the particular direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A tape cassette, comprising:
a box-like cassette case having a first outer wall, a second outer wall, a third outer wall, a fourth outer wall, a fifth outer wall and a sixth outer wall,
the first outer wall and the second outer wall extending in parallel and being arranged in a first direction perpendicular to both the first outer wall and the second outer wall,
the third outer wall and the fourth outer wall extending in parallel and being arranged in a second direction perpendicular to both the third outer wall and the fourth outer wall,
the fifth outer wall and the sixth outer wall extending in parallel and being arranged in a third direction perpendicular to both the fifth outer wall and the sixth outer wall,
the first direction, the third direction and the third direction are perpendicular to each other;
a tape configured to be accommodated in the cassette case; and a substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, a pair of conductive electrodes being provided to the first surface, a storage electrically connected to the pair of conductive electrodes being provided to the second surface, the third outer wall has a first side wall extending in parallel with the third outer wall, one of a recess and a hole being provided, the recess being recessed in a fourth direction, which is a one-way direction of the second direction directing inside the cassette case from the third outer wall, and the hole penetrating the cassette case in the second direction, and a second side wall extending in parallel with the third outer wall, the first side wall, the one of the recess and the hole, and the second side wall extending, in this order, along a fifth direction which is a one-way direction of the third direction, the pair of conductive electrodes being arranged in a sixth direction which is parallel with the first surface, given that the second surface is equally divided into three areas of a first substrate area, a second substrate area and a third substrate area, in this order, along a one-way direction of the sixth direction, the storage being arranged in the second substrate area, the substrate being arranged to be bridged between the first side wall and the second side wall with the third direction being the sixth direction and a seventh direction opposite to the fourth direction being directed to the first surface; and one of the storage and a molded part protecting the storage being arranged at the one of the recess and the hole.

2 . The tape cassette according to claim 1 ,
wherein a surface shape of a first arrangement area on a side in an eighth direction, which is a one-way direction of the first direction, of the first side wall and a surface shape of a second arrangement area on a side in a ninth direction which is a one-way direction opposite to the eighth direction in the second side wall are symmetrical with respect to a center, viewed along the second direction, of an area including the first side wall, the one of the recess and the hole and the second side wall, and wherein a surface shape of a third arrangement area on a side in the ninth direction of the first side wall and a surface shape of a fourth arrangement area of the second side wall on a side in the eighth direction are symmetrical with respect to the center.

3 . The tape cassette according to claim 2 ,
wherein a distance, in the third direction, between an end part of the first side wall opposite to the second side wall and an end part of the second side wall opposite to the first side wall is larger than a length of the substrate in the sixth direction, wherein a length of the one of the recess and the hole in the third direction is larger than a length of the one of the storage and the molded part in the sixth direction, and wherein: a length, in the third direction, of the first side wall is smaller than a length, in the sixth direction, between one of the storage and the molded part and each end, in the sixth direction, of the substrate; and a length, in the third direction, of the second side wall is smaller than the length, in the sixth direction, between one of the storage and the molded part and each end, in the sixth direction, of the substrate.

4 . The tape cassette according to claim 2 ,
wherein surface shapes of the first arrangement area, the second arrangement area, the third arrangement area and the fourth arrangement area are substantially planar.

5 . The tape cassette according to claim 2 ,
wherein the first side wall and the second side wall are provided with at least one pair of protrusions which protrude from positions symmetrical with respect to the center, and wherein the second surface is provided with at least one pair of recesses or holes penetrating through the second surface at positions corresponding to the at least one pair of protrusions.

6 . The tape cassette according to claim 1 ,
further comprising a pair of condensers provided to the second surface and electrically connected to the pair of conductive electrodes, respectively, wherein the pair of condensers is arranged tin the seconds substrate area.

7 . The tape cassette according to claim 1 ,
wherein one of a bottom wall of the recess, and the storage or the molded part arranged in the hole faces the tape inside the cassette case.

8 . The tape cassette according to claim 7 ,
wherein one of the bottom wall of the recess, and the storage or the molded part arranged in the hole faces the tape on a conveying passage of the tape inside the cassette case.

9 . The tape cassette according to claim 7 ,
further comprising a discharging part formed on the fourth outer wall to allow the tape to be discharged therefrom, wherein, given that the third outer wall and the fourth outer wall being equally divided, in the fifth direction, into a first area, a second area and a third area in this order, the discharging part and the one of the recess and the hole are arranged in the same one of the first area and the third area.

10 . The tape cassette according to claim 1 ,
wherein the third wall has a particular surface directed to the seventh direction, and wherein the first side wall and the second side wall are arranged such that:
a distance, in the second direction, between the fourth outer wall and the first side wall is smaller than a distance, in the second direction, between the fourth outer wall and the particular surface; and
a distance, in the second direction, between the fourth outer wall and the second side wall is smaller than a distance, in the second direction, between the fourth outer wall and the particular surface.

11 . The tape cassette according to claim 10 ,
wherein the particular surface and the first surface are arranged at the same positions in the second direction.

12 . The tape cassette according to claim 1 ,
wherein a first distance between the fifth outer wall and the sixth outer wall is larger than a second distance between the first outer wall and the second outer wall, and wherein a third distance between the third wall and the fourth outer wall is larger than the first distance.

13 . The tape cassette according to claim 1 ,
further comprising a supporting part provided between the first outer wall and the second outer wall, the supporting part extending in the first direction, the supporting part supporting a tape roll configured by winding the tape.

14 . A tape cassette configured to contain a tape, comprising:
a box-like cassette case having a wall formed with one of a recess and a hole; a substrate having a first surface a

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Fujioka Atsushi
• Sugiura Koichi
• Ota Yoshihiro

Classifications

• B41J15/044 Primary

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

• B41J17/36 Primary

  Alarms, indicators, or feed-disabling devices responsible to material breakage or exhaustion · CPC title

• B41J32/00 Primary

  Ink-ribbon cartridges · CPC title