Tape-ribbon cartridge

Claim 1

A cartridge for supplying tape and ribbon to a lettering apparatus of the type having a lettering station, a font having a plurality of characters positionable in printing alignment with said lettering station and means for transferring an image of said character from said ribbon to said tape, said cartridge comprising: a cartridge housing including a pair of parallel side walls and forward and rearward ends and having first and second housing portions; a lettering station disposed near the forward end of said cartridge and between said first and second housing portions and being generally perpendicular to said side walls; a supply of tape and ribbon disposed within said first housing portion, said supply of ribbon disposed between said side walls so that said ribbon is disposed at generally right angles relative to said side walls; advancement means for advancing said tape and ribbon along a tape-ribbon advancement path toward said lettering station and into lettering alignment with said apparatus including a reciprocally movable advancement assembly, said supply of tape and ribbon being disposed below said tape-ribbon advancement path and toward the rearward end of said cartridge housing; ribbon rewind means including a ribbon rewind spool rotatably mounted within said second housing portion, said ribbon rewind spool being disposed in a common plane with said supply of ribbon so that said ribbon does not change directions except for changes of direction within said common plane and said ribbon rewind spool further being disposed above said tape-ribbon advancement path and toward the forward end of said cartridge housing, and said second housing portion being spaced above said first housing portion to define a font receiving opening therebetween and being joined to said first housing portion by connection means; and means for causing rotation of said ribbon rewind spool in response to reciprocal movement of said tape advancement assembly including means transferring the reciprocal movement of said tape advancement assembly to said rotatable ribbon rewind spool.