Patent ID: 7217047

Claim:
A thermal transfer printer comprising: a ribbon cassette having a first ribbon housing section for housing a supply reel around which an unused ink ribbon is wound and a second ribbon housing section for housing a take-up reel around which a used ink ribbon is wound; a cassette mounting section on which the ribbon cassette can be mounted; a thermal head; a platen roller which can be brought into contact with and separated from the thermal head; and a paper feeding mechanism capable of carrying a recording paper which is fed between the platen roller and the thermal head; wherein the ribbon cassette is provided with a head insertion section in which the thermal head is positioned and a relief groove having a predetermined depth in which the paper feeding mechanism can be positioned between the first ribbon housing section and the second ribbon housing section, and includes a partitioning wall that partitions the head insertion section and the relief groove, and the ink ribbon to be wound around the take-up reel is exposed to the relief groove, and wherein a ribbon guide section is arranged in the cassette mounting section so that the ink ribbon exposed to the relief groove of the mounted ribbon cassette can be bent toward a lower portion of the relief groove to be wound around the take-up reel, and wherein the ribbon cassette is mounted on the cassette mounting section, and the ink ribbon is drawn out from the supply reel through an end of the partitioning wall and the ribbon guide member to be wound around the take-up reel.