Abstract: An ink ribbon cassette for use in a thermal transfer printer, the ink ribbon cassette including an opening and containing an ink ribbon wound on a draw-out reel and a windup reel and having a portion exposed through the opening. The ink ribbon cassette includes ribbon feed rollers, the ribbon feed rollers contacting the ink ribbon between the draw-out reel and the opening and between the windup reel and the opening. The ribbon feed rollers include keyed central passages for receiving driving shafts located on a mounting carriage of the thermal transfer printer, and the ribbon feed rollers have high friction surfaces for providing constant tension to the ink ribbon portion located at the opening in the ink ribbon cassette.

Abstract: A thermal transfer printer in which printing is performed by melting ink from an ink ribbon and transferring the molten ink to a printing sheet, and which is capable of erasing printed characters as desired by attaching the transferred ink to the ink ribbon and drawing the ink ribbon to separate the ink from the printing sheet. At least one ribbon feed roller having its surface formed of a material of a large friction coefficient is provided in a ribbon cassette housing the ink ribbon. The ribbon feed roller is rotated by a drive shaft provided on a carriage to assist in separating the ink ribbon from the printing sheet, thereby enabling the ink ribbon to be separated and wound up constantly with stability during each of the printing and correction operations.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of erasing printing by a thermal transfer printer which is capable of erasing printing on paper. A printing area is divided into a plurality of small areas extendedly disposed in the direction in which a carriage moves. These small areas are divided into a plurality of erasure units made up of a plurality of small areas spaced apart from each other. The erasure operation is divided into two or more operations performed on each unit whereby erasure of printing is reliably performed and damage to paper is suppressed to a minimum.

Abstract: A constant tension device for peeling an ink ribbon away from a printing medium during a correction operation in which ink printing produced by a thermal transfer printer is erased, a roller mounted on the printer is pressed against another roller mounted on a ribbon cassette, an ink ribbon is trained over the roller mounted on the ribbon cassette and between the two rollers, and the ink ribbon is stretched by the rotation of the roller mounted on the ribbon cassette which is rotated with a constant speed so as to provide a constant tension so that the ribbon is reliably peeled away from the printing medium.