Abstract: A typewriter includes a carriage arranged for reciprocating travel, a receiving arrangement mounted on the carriage, a drive arrangement mounted on the carriage, and a ribbon cartridge receivable in and removable from the receiving arrangement and operatively connectable with the drive arrangement, and an XY-plotter receivable and removable from the receiving arrangement when the ribbon cartridge is absent from the receiving arrangement. The XY-plotter includes a stylus holder for supporting a plurality of styli; a first force-transmitting arrangement operatively connectable to the drive arrangement for moving the stylus holder such as to place a selected stylus in a standby writing position; and a second force-transmitting arrangement operatively connectable to the drive arrangement for moving the selected stylus in contact with the record carrier.

Abstract: An ink ribbon cartridge for use in an office machine includes a housing; a ribbon; a supply reel for storing unused ribbon wound thereon and a take-up reel for storing used ribbon wound thereon, a drive roller rotatably supported in the housing; and an arrangement for resiliently urging the drive roller and the ribbon wound on the take-up reel into a peripheral, torque-transmitting contact with one another. The drive roller is arranged for being drivingly engaged by an advancing mechanism of the office machine when the cartridge is in place, whereby the drive roller imparts a rotation to the take-up reel in a winding direction for pulling the ribbon off the supply reel, for moving the ribbon through a printing station of the office machine and for winding the ribbon on the take-reel. There is further provided a reverse winding arrangement for pulling ribbon off the take-up reel and for winding the ribbon on the supply reel.

Abstract: Several line drawing devices to permit drawing horizontal and vertical lines on typewriters are known. The fact that they are rarely encountered in practice, should be sufficient proof that they were not found to be satisfactory and greatly impede the typing process. These drawbacks are overcome by the invention in that the ribbon cassette is provided with a receptacle for a colored writing implement which, in one end position, resiliently rests on the record carrier so as to produce drawn lines and is arranged to be movable and arrestable in another end position to put it out of operation. A significant advantage resides in the fact that the colored writing implement can here be attached to the cassette at a location where the typing process is not interfered with. The colored writing implement can easily be exchanged by removing the ribbon cassette. The ribbon cassette together with the colored writing implement permits easy production of drawn lines in the horizontal, vertical or any other direction.

Abstract: Ribbon cartridges for typewriters or similar office machines must meet various design requirements, especially, must be easily exchangeable without soiling one's fingers, must be inexpensive to manufacture, and must dampen the noise in the printing area. To be avoided in addition is a soiling of the machine components when using the cartridge, through ribbon rub-off dropping through the holes in the bottom of the cartridge, and a smooth ribbon drive must be possible. These various problems are inventionally solved in that the cup-shaped base component of the cartridge casing features on the inside of the bottom protruding stiffening ribs which likewise serve to support the spools of the flangeless supply and take-up reels and/or prevent ribbon rub-off accruing in the cartridge casing from dropping out of the openings.

Abstract: In a system including a cassette containing a print wheel arranged to cooperate with holding devices provided in an impact printer having a rotatable setting shaft to which the print wheel can be releasably fastened for rotation therewith, the cassette is formed to enclose the print wheel on all sides except the region where it is to be acted upon by a printing hammer, and the cassette and printing wheel can be provided with elements which cooperate to hold the printing wheel in a predetermined angular position in the cassette when the printing wheel is disconnected from the setting shaft. The printer can be provided with a detent mechanism cooperating with countendetent elements in the cassette to hold the cassette in a fully inserted position in the printer.

Abstract: In a system including a cassette containing a print wheel arranged to cooperate with holding devices provided in an impact printer having a rotatable setting shaft to which the print wheel can be releasably fastened for rotation therewith, the cassette is formed to enclose the print wheel on all sides except the region where it is to be acted upon by a printing hammer. The printer can be provided with a detent mechanism cooperating with counterdetent elements in the cassette to hold the cassette in a fully inserted position in the printer. The cassette can additionally be provided with an outwardly curved collecting funnel positioned for catching dirt released in the region where the type faces of the printing wheel strike a printing medium.

Abstract: In the combination of an office machine for writing data and a source of a set of printing types including a carrier carrying such printing type set and a cassette in which the carrier is housed and which is insertable in the machine and exchangeable for other cassettes housing carriers carrying respectively different type sets, the office machine being provided with a receiving unit for receiving at least a portion of such cassette and holding such portion in an inserted position in the machine, there are provided control elements carried by the portion of the cassette and receiving members located in the region of the receiving unit to cooperate with the control elements of a cassette portion in the inserted position for initiating at least one of the operations of setting the machine to the particular printing type carried by the carrier and identified by the control elements, and supplying operating power to the machine.