Ribbon cartridge having slack preventing means

摘要

A ribbon cartridge includes a pair of housings having apertures, a pair of ribbon spools rotatably supported in the housings, and a ribbon wound on the spools. A portion of the ribbon is exposed to the outside of the housings through the apertures when the ribbon is fed from one spool to the other. Each housing rotatably supporting a hold member. The hold member has a holding portion which is movable across a ribbon passage within the respective housings for holding the ribbon and has an engaging portion which is engageable with teeth on a flange of each spool, and each hold member is biased by a spring member. When the cartridge is removed from the typewriter, the holding portion is moved across the ribbon passage and a portion of the ribbon slackened and exposed from the housing is tensioned. The engaging portion prevents the rotation of the respective spools by the biasing force of the spring member, and when the cartridge is installed in the typewriter, the hold member is retracted to a released position by a retract member of the typewriter.