Ink ribbon cassette including means for identifying the type of ink ribbon contained therein and containing an ink ribbon having end indication means

Claim 1

An ink ribbon cassette, comprising: a cassette body being mountable on a printer for rocking during operation between a first position and a second position; first and second substantially coextensive spaced ink ribbon guide arms projecting from said body, each having a projecting free end; an ink ribbon mounted in said body for advancement during printing and having a portion extending between the free ends of said guide arms so as to be available for printing; ribbon-end indicating means formed at the end of the ink ribbon for indicating the approach of the end of the ink ribbon; means for rendering said ribbon-end indicating means visible to a photo detector that is located on the printer entirely outside the periphery of said cassette, said cassette undergoing pivotable movement relative to the photo detector as said cassette rocks between the first and second positions, said rendering means having a light transparent part in a wall of said first ink ribbon guide arm; and ribbon-type indicating means formed on the wall of said first ribbon guide arm for indicating to the photo detector which of several types of ink ribbon is in said cassette body, wherein the light transparent part and said ribbon-type indicating means are arranged along the wall of said first ribbon guide arm and are located relative to each other such that said ribbon-end indicating means can be detected by the photo detector when said cassette body is in the first position and said ribbon-type indicating means can be detected by the same photo detector when said cassette body is in the second position.