TAPE DRIVE MECHANISM AND PRINTING APPARATUS

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tape drive mechanism which can maintain tension of a tape during spool to a tolerance level.

SOLUTION: A printer ribbon is mounted on two spools, each of which is driven by a respective stepper motor. A controller controls the energization of the motor such that the ribbon is transported in at least one direction between spools mounted on the spool support. The controller is operative to energize both motors to drive the spools of ribbon in the direction of ribbon transport to achieve push-pull operations. Ribbon tension is monitored to enable accurate control of ribbon supply and ribbon take-up. The monitoring of ribbon tension is achieved by monitoring power supply to the two stepper motors.

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