Patent ID: 7798733

Claim:
A ribbon feeder comprising: a print head for printing ink of an ink ribbon on a paper sheet, a ribbon tension detecting means for detecting a tension of the ink ribbon, a ribbon take-up shaft for winding up the ink ribbon, and a ribbon take-up motor for rotating the ribbon take-up shaft; wherein said ribbon tension detecting means directly engages the ink ribbon between the ribbon take-up shaft and the print head and detects the tension of the ink ribbon wound up by the ribbon take-up shaft; and said ribbon tension detecting means having a smoothing member and a control section for adjusting said smoothing member, said control section being provided at an end of said smoothing member in a manner such that a central axis of said control section and a central axis of said smoothing member are eccentric to each other, allowing an inclination angle of said smoothing member with respect to the traveling direction of the ink ribbon to be adjusted by operating said control section, thereby allowing said smoothing member to prevent wrinkles from occurring in the ink ribbon.