GB2309960A

GB2309960A - Tape holding case for printing apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2309960A
Application number: GB9602627A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Walter Wauters
Original assignee: Esselte NV
Current assignee: Esselte NV
Priority date: 1996-02-09
Filing date: 1996-02-09
Publication date: 1997-08-13
Also published as: DE59604473D1; WO1997028967A1; EP0879148A1; GB9602627D0; EP0879148B1; AU1304197A

Abstract

A tape holding case for use with a tape printing apparatus has an outlet through which the tape 70 from a spool 104 exits and a wall portion 47 over which the tape then passes, the wall portion being cooperative with a rotatable drive means 40 of the printing apparatus and being movable relative to the case so that in use the wall portion and the drive means contact opposed sides of the tape with sufficient force that rotation of the drive means causes the tape to be withdrawn from the case. The wall portion may have a protruding portion 218 arranged in use to contact a support member of the case or the printing apparatus, eg a pin 205, the support member being on the opposite side of the wall portion to the drive means. The wall portion, which is preferably rectangular, may be biased towards the drive means and may be hinged to the case (figures 4 and 5).

Description

TAPE MOLDING CASES FOR PRINTING APPARATUS The present invention relates to a cassette or tape holding case for a printing device, for example a tape printing device.

Tape printing devices of the general type with which the present invention is concerned are known. They operate with a supply of tape arranged to receive an image and means for transferring an image onto the tape. In one known tape printing device, a tape holding case or cassette holds a supply of image receiving tape and a supply of image transfer tape or ink ribbon, the image receiving tape and the image transfer tape being passed in overlap through a print zone of the printing device. At the print zone, a thermal print head cooperates with a platen to transfer an image from the ink ribbon to the image receiving tape.A tape printing device operating with a tape holding case of this type is described for example in EP-A-0267890 (Varitronics, Inc.). Other printing devices have been made in which letters are transferred to an image receiving tape by a dry lettering or dry film impression process. Tape printing devices are also known in which an image is applied directly to the image receiving tape by the print head, without the need for an image transfer ribbon. The image receiving tape used with such devices is itself thermally sensitive.

One form of known image receiving tape comprises an upper layer for receiving an image which is secured to a releaseable backing layer by a layer of adhesive. Once an image or message has been printed on the tape, that portion of the tape is cut off by a cutting mechanism of the tape printing device to enable it to be used as a label. The releaseable backing layer is removed from the upper layer to enable the upper layer to be secured to a surface by means of the adhesive layer.

In another known printing device, described in EP-A-0322918 and EP-A-322919 (Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha), a cassette houses a supply of a transparent image receiving tape and a supply of an image transfer ribbon. The cassette also houses a supply of backing tape which comprises a carrier layer having an adhesive layer on its underside to which is secured a releaseable backing sheet and an adhesive layer on its upper side which can be secured to the image receiving tape after an image has been printed thereon. In this device, the image is printed onto the image receiving tape as a mirror image which, when viewed through the image receiving tape, is the correct way round. With this tape printing device, the print is protected when the label is used.

In order to drive the image receiving tape through the print zone of the tape printing device, it is necessary to provide some form of driving arrangement. In one known tape printing device, a driven feed roller is provided in the tape printing device.

This driven feed roller cooperates with a cassette roller in the cassette. When the cassette is in the tape printing device, the cassette roller is received on a drive pin of the tape printing device and is arranged to be driven thereby. The drive pin is received in a cylindrical aperture defined in the cassette roller. The feed roller is mounted on a biased armmember which urges the feed roller towards the cassette roller when the cassette is in the tape printing device and the cover for the cassette receiving bay is closed.

There is generally some play between the cassette roller and the drive pin of the tape printing device on which it is mounted.

This play is provided to accommodate differences in the dimensions of the drive pin and the aperture of the cassette roller in which it is received as well as differences in their relative positions due to manufacturing tolerances. However, because of the biasing of the feed roller of the tape printing device towards the cassette roller, at least part of the cassette roller is urged into contact with the drive pin of the tape printing device and can be driven thereby. Image receiving tape passing between these two rollers is thus drawn from the interior of the cassette, driven past the print head, where an image can be printed on the image receiving tape, and is moved towards an outlet of the tape printing apparatus. However, this arrangement has the disadvantage that a roller is provided in the cassette.

This increases the costs of the cassette, not only because of the additional costs of the roller itself but also because it complicates the manufacturing process for the cassette thus increasing production costs.

It should be appreciated that there are other tolerances which can cause difficulties. Locating pins are provided in the tape printing device which are received in corresponding apertures in the cassette. Tolerances in the relative positions of the pins and the apertures can arise. The apertures in the cassette have to be large enough to accommodate these tolerances.

Relative movement between the cassette and the tape printing device may thus be possible. There are also tolerances in the relative positioning of the cassette roller with respect to the positioning apertures of the cassette. Tolerances also arise between the relative position of the feed roller of the tape printing device and the locating pins. These tolerances should be compensated for otherwise the driving force applied to the tape could vary from printing device to printing device. This is undesirable as this can have an adverse effect on print quality.

It is therefore an object of embodiments of the present invention to provide a cassette or tape holding case which does not require a roller and which further may compensate for at least some of the above described tolerances.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tape holding case for use with a tape printing device, said tape holding case comprising means for holding a supply of image receiving tape, an outlet through which said tape can exit said cassette, and a wall portion over which said tape can pass after it has exited said outlet, said wall portion being cooperable with rotatable drive means of said tape printing device to drive therebetween said tape from the tape holding case, wherein said wall portion is movable relative to said tape holding case so that in use said wall portion and said drive means contact opposed sides of the tape with a sufficient force such that rotation of the drive means causes said tape to be drawn from the tape holding case.

The wall portion of the cassette is able to replace the cassette roller used in the known arrangements without loss of functionality. The drive means cooperates with the movable wall portion. As the wall portion is movable, it is possible to ensure that there is a sufficient contact pressure on the opposed sides of the image receiving tape and hence driving force on the tape to cause the tape to be drawn from the tape holding case.

Thus, difficulties arising from manufacturing tolerances of the tape printing device and/or the tape holding case do not have a material effect on the driving operation performed by the driving means in cooperation with the wall portion.

The wall portion may be arranged to contact a support member of the tape printing device or tape holding cassette to prevent further movement thereof in the direction of the support member, said support member being on an opposite side of the wall portion to the drive means. Thus, the drive means preferably applies a force to the wall portion which causes it to move towards the support member. The support member prevents the wall portion from moving further once it is in contact therewith. This ensures that the contact pressure on the tape provided by the wall portion and the drive means is sufficient to cause the tape to be drawn from the tape holding case. This feature is particularly advantageous in that tolerances in the tape printing device and/or tape holding case, such as mentioned earlier do not cause variation in the drive force applied to the tape. In particular, the wall portion is moved until it comes into contact with the support member, regardless of the relative initial positions of the wall portion and the support member. In particular, the position of the cassette and hence its associated tolerances are unimportant as the only material tolerances may be the tolerances associated with the position of the support member and the drive means and these tolerances are compensated for. The wall portion may have a protruding portion which is arranged, in use, to contact the support member. This protruding portion can be selected in accordance with the desired distance through which the wall portion is permitted to move.

The wall portion is preferably biased in a direction towards said drive means. This ensures that there is sufficient force provided by the wall portion and the drive means on the image receiving tape to permit the tape to be drawn from the cassette.

The wall portion may be biased to a normal position in which said wall portion lies flush with an adjacent wall portion of the tape holding case and the drive means is arranged to push said wall portion inwardly of the tape holding case. Thus, when the wall portion is moved inwardly of the tape holding case, it tries to move back to its normal position. In other words, the wall portion exerts a force in the direction of the drive means. In this way, a sufficient driving force on the tape is provided by the-wall portion and the drive means.

The wall portion may be hingedly connected to said tape holding case and movable about an axis defined by said hinged connection. Thus, the wall portion is able to adopt the required position in order to ensure that a sufficient driving force is provided, regardless of manufacturing tolerances of the cassette and/or tape printing device.

The wall portion is preferably substantially rectangular and is surrounded on three sides thereof by a slot, said wall portion being arranged to move about an axis defined by the fourth side of the wall portion. As three sides of the wall portion are free, the wall portion can thus easily move when a force is applied by the drive means. Additionally, the fourth side provides an axis about which the wall portion can move. The fourth side connection may also act to return the wall portion to the normal position when the force applied by the drive means is removed.

Preferably, at least a portion of the tape holding case including said wall portion is made from a plastics material using a moulding process. In this way, the costs of the cassette are reduced as compared to the prior art. Firstly, the material costs are reduced and secondly the manufacturing process is simpler and thus cheaper.

The tape holding case preferably includes means for holding a supply of image transfer tape and means for taking up said image transfer tape after printing. It should be appreciated that the present invention is also equally applicable to embodiments in which the image receiving tape is in the form of a material to which an image is applied directly by a thermal print head.

The present invention also provides a tape holding case as described above in combination with a tape printing apparatus comprising means for receiving the tape holding case, printing means for printing an image on the image receiving tape and rotatable drive means for driving said image receiving tape from said cassette, the drive means being arranged to cooperate with said wall portion.

The drive means are preferably biased in the direction towards said wall portion. This biasing preferably occurs when the print head is in an operative position. This biasing may occur when the tape holding case is in position and a lid of the tape printing apparatus covering the means for receiving the tape holding case is closed.

The tape printing apparatus preferably further comprises a support member against which one side of said movable wall is in contact, when said movable wall and said drive means are cooperating to draw the image receiving tape from the tape holding case.

For a better understanding of the present invention and as to how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a tape printing device; Figure 2 is a plan view of the cassette receiving portion of the printing device with the lid having been removed; Figure 3 is a plan view of a cassette for insertion into the tape printing device, additionally showing various components of the tape printing device; Figure 4 shows a side view of part of the cassette of Figure 3, along line IV-IV; Figure 5 shows a view of the cassette, along line V-V of Figure 4; and Figure 6 is a diagrammatic sketch showing the control circuitry for the tape printing device.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a tape printing device 2 comprising a casing 4 which has a right hand part 6 housing electronic circuitry for controlling operation of the tape printing device and a left hand part acting as a cassette bay 8 and housing a printing mechanism. The right hand part 6 carries keys 10 defining a keyboard 11 for entering print data, defining an image to be printed onto an image receiving tape 70, into the tape printing device and a display screen 12 for displaying the entered data prior to printing. The cassette bay 8 comprises a casing base 14 and a lid 16. The lid 16 is shown cut away in Figure 1 to reveal details of part of the printing mechanism which will be described in more detail hereinafter. The lid 16 is hingedly connected to the casing base 14 along hinge line x-x.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the printing mechanism, shown looking down on the cassette receiving bay 8 of Figure 1 with the lid 16 having been removed. The printing mechanism comprises a thermal print head 24. This print head preferably comprises a single column of printing elements having, for example, 128 printing elements which are selectively activated in accordance with data input via the keyboard 11. The column of printing elements of the print head 24 generally extends widthwise of the image receiving tape 70, perpendicular to its longitudinal length. The print head 24 generally has a height corresponding to or slightly less than the width of the image receiving tape to be used with the tape printing device 2.Where more than one width of image receiving tape can be used with the tape printing device, the thermal print head 24 will generally have a height corresponding to the largest width of image receiving tape to be used with the tape printing device. However, as will be appreciated, any suitable print head can be used in embodiments of the invention.

There is also provided a cassette chassis 18 which is of moulded plastics which receives the cassette. Under the chassis 18 is a base plate 18a, which will generally be of a suitable metal. To this base plate 18a is mounted a linkage mechanism which is operable to move the thermal print head 24 and a drive roller 46 between an operative position when the lid 16 is closed and an inoperative position when the lid is open. The print head 24 is secured to a print head support bracket 30 which pivots about a pin 28 secured to the base plate 18a between the operative position, shown in Figure 2, and the inoperative position shown in broken lines in Figure 2.

In the operative position, the print head 24 bears against a platen 32 which is spring loaded towards the print head 24 by a spring 90. The spring 90 gives the correct contact pressure of the platen against the print head in order to achieve satisfactory printing. When a cassette is loaded in the cassette chassis 18, the image receiving tape 70 passes between the print head 24 and platen 32. The platen 32 is rotatably mounted on a pin 34 secured to the base plate 18a, the upper end of which pin 34 is guided into a slot 36 of a first roller cage moulding 38.

A second roller cage moulding 40 is pivotably mounted at a pivot point 97 adjacent the first roller cage moulding 38. The second cage moulding 40 has upper and lower slots, the upper one of which is designated 42, in which is guided a pin 44 which can move backwards and forwards within those slots. A drive roller 46 is secured to the pin 44 and rotates therewith. There is also secured to the pin 44 a gear wheel 86 by means of which the drive roller 46 is driven by a gear train. The other end of the second roller cage moulding 40 has a pin 50 guided in a slot 52 of the print head support bracket 30.

The second roller cage mounting is connected by a tension spring (not shown) to the base plate 18a. The print head support bracket 30 doglegs through the base plate 18a and is pivotally connected via a pin 62 to an actuation arm 58 of the linkage mechanism.

The linkage mechanism is operable to move the print head 24 and the drive roller 46 when the lid 16 is opened and closed.

The lid 16 carries a cam 56 which bears against the print head actuation arm 58. The print head actuation arm 58 can slide relative to the base plate 18a in response to movement of the cam 56 when the lid 16 is opened or closed. In the closed position, the print head actuation arm 58 is biased towards the cam 56 by the action of a spring 60. Thus, when the lid 16 is closed, the print head 24 will be biased towards the platen 32 and the drive roller 46 will be biased towards the cassette.

A motor 54 is located beneath the base plate 18a and drives a double spur gear 48. The larger diameter spur gear drives, via an intermediate gear 94, the gear 96 which drives a ribbon rewind spool of a cassette inserted in the tape printing device 2. The smaller diameter spur of the double spur gear 48 drives a gear 98 which drives a gear 88. Gear 88 meshes with the gear 86 of the drive roller 46 when the latter is in the operative position.

The cutting mechanism has a cutting arm 66 carrying on one end a button 68 to be depressed by the user when the image receiving tape 70 is to be cut. The cutting arm 66 is pivotably mounted so that when the button 68 is depressed the other end 67 of the cutting arm is brought into contact with a cutter support 72 which carries a cutting blade 74. The blade 74 acts against the cassette which is held in place by a turned up region 78 of the edge of the base plate 18a.

Figure 3 shows a plan view of a cassette loaded in the cassette bay 8, with a lid of the cassette removed. The cassette comprises a spool 100 of an image receiving tape 70, an ink ribbon supply spool 104 and an ink ribbon take-up spool 106. The image receiving tape 70 and the ink ribbon 102 are passed in overlap through a print zone defined between the print head 24 and the platen 32. The ink ribbon 102 thus follows a path between the ink ribbon supply spool 104 and the ink ribbon takeup spool 106. On the other hand, the image receiving tape 70 extends from its spool 100, passes between the print head 24 and the platen 32, passes between the drive roller 46 and a wall 47 of the cassette and on to the outlet of the tape printing apparatus.

The cassette is provided with a recess R which, in use, accommodates the print head 24. More particularly, the recess R in the cassette accommodates the thermal print head 24 and is large enough to accommodate movement of the print head into and out of the operative position.

In use, an image is printed onto the image receiving tape 70 via the print head 24, using the ink ribbon 102.

Location pins 201 and 202 are provided on the cassette bay chassis 18. These location pins 201 and 202 locate the cassette which has a respective hole 203 and slot 204 to accommodate these pins. A pin 205 is provided which extends from the base plate 18a. That pin engages in a hole 210 in the cassette. The slot and hole 203 and 204 are larger than the location pins so as to accommodate tolerances in the position of the location pins, the holes and the slot.

Reference will now be made to Figures 4 and 5. These Figures show respectively a front view and a cross-sectional view of a movable cassette wall 47 which is, in use, in contact with the drive roller 46 when the drive roller is in the operative position. A C-shaped slot 212 is defined about three sides of the movable wall 47 of the cassette which contacts the drive roller 46. This slot 212 is defined by a first slot portion 212a defined between the wall 47 and the base 213, a second slot portion 212b defined between the wall 47 and the adjacent side wall portion 215 and a third slot portion 212c between the wall 47 and the cassette lid (not shown). This third slot portion may be defined by a gap between the wall 47 and the lid. This Cshaped slot 212 allows the wall 37 to move about an axis 216 extending parallel to the axis of the tape spools.This axis 216 lies on the fourth side of movable wall 47.

Running along a central portion of this wall 47 is a rib 218 which extends away from the wall 47, internally of the cassette.

As can be seen, this rib 218 is defined on the opposite side of the wall 47 to the drive roller 46. In use, the drive roller 46 is urged by the linkage mechanism towards the wall 47 of the cassette, when the cassette is in place and the lid 16 closed.

The drive roller 46 pushes the wall 47 inwardly into the cassette until rib 218 is in contact with pin 205 extending from the base plate 18a. The wall 47 is therefore prevented by the pin 205 from moving any further. This pin prevents the wall 47 from moving too far inside the cassette which could result in the wall portion becoming damaged or even separated from the cassette along the axis 216. As the drive roller 46 exerts a relatively large inward force on the wall 47 as a result of the action of the linkage mechanism, a relatively large contact pressure is exerted by the wall 47 and the drive roller 46 on opposed sides of the image receiving tape 70. In other words, the force between the drive roller 46 and the wall 47 is sufficient to grip the image receiving tape 70 such that rotation of the drive roller 46 causes the image receiving tape 70 to be drawn from the cassette.Thus, the image receiving tape 70 can be driven by the drive roller 46 in cooperation with the movable wall 47 through the tape printing device.

It is preferred that the movable wall 47 be resilient so that when the drive roller 46 is moved away from the cassette, for example when the lid 16 is opened, the movable wall 47 adopts its original position, flush with the adjacent side wall portion 215. Additionally, when the movable wall 47 is inside of the cassette, it is biased in the direction of the original position.

The drive roller 46 and the movable wall are thus biased towards each other which ensures that a sufficient contact force is exerted on the tape to drive it through the tape printing device.

The pin 205 is important in preventing the wall 47 from moving too far inside the cassette and thus prevents damage.

It should be appreciated that the distances which the wall 47 are required to move are typically quite small. Accordingly, the wall 47 can be of the same plastics material generally used to make such cassettes. Furthermore, the wall 47 can be formed at the same time as the lower half of the cassette, using a single moulding procedure. The provision of the C-shaped slot assures that the wall is sufficiently resilient and able to move a sufficient distance to have the desired effect.

By using a movable wall 47, it is also possible to compensate for difficulties caused by tolerances in the manufacture of the cassette as well as in the tape printing device itself. For example, the cassette is located by one pin 205 on the base plate 18a and two pins 201 and 202 on the chassis 18. Manufacturing tolerances mean that the base plate 18a and chassis 18 will not always have the exact same relationship.

Accordingly, the slots and holes 203, 204, 210 in the cassette need to be larger than the actual size of the pins so that the cassette can always be received in the cassette receiving bay, regardless of differences in the relationship between the chassis 18 and the base plate 18a. There will also be tolerances in the cassette which result in the slots and holes not always having exactly the same relationship with respect to each other or the rest of the cassette. However, because the wall 47 is movable, it can always be ensured that the drive roller 46 and the movable wall will always be biased towards one another in the operative position so that a sufficient pressure is generated between the wall 47 and the drive roller 46 to drive the image receiving tape 70 through the tape printing device.This is achieved in that the drive roller 46 will exert a force on the wall 47 which causes the wall to move until it can move no further, when it comes into contact with pin 205. This pin 205 provides a reaction surface against which the drive roller 46 can act via the wall 47. The wall 47 and the drive roller 46 will thus always exert a large enough force on each other to grip the image receiving tape 70 so that it can be driven by the rotation of the drive roller 46 regardless of the initial relative position of the cassette and the drive roller. The exact relationship between the chassis 18, the base plate 18a, the drive roller and the cassette is thus not critical.

However, it should be appreciated that in certain embodiments of the present invention, the wall need not be resilient. For example, the wall 47 may be arranged so as to be hingedly connected to the cassette so that it can move to a position in which the wall 47 is in contact with pin 205 on one side and with the drive roller 46 on the other side. The movable wall 47 is prevented from moving too far into the cassette by the pin 205 which also provides a reaction surface for the wall 47 that the necessary force between the drive roller 46 and movable wall 47 can be generated.

It should also be appreciated that in certain embodiments, the need for pin 205 can be avoided. If the wall 47 is sufficiently resilient, it can itself provide a force in the direction of drive roller 46 which would be sufficient to provide the necessary contact pressure on the image receiving tape as it passes between the wall 47 and the drive roller 46. In another variation on the present invention, it would be possible to replace the pin by any other suitable support structure. That support structure may be provided by suitable support members defined in the cassette. It should also be appreciated that the rib 218 can be omitted in certain embodiments of the present invention.

The basic circuitry for controlling the tape printing device is shown in Figure 6. There is a microprocessor chip 300 having a read only memory (ROM) 302, a microprocessor 301 and random access memory capacity indicated diagrammatically by RAM 304.

The microprocessor is connected to receive data input to it via the keyboard 11. The microprocessor chip 300 outputs data to drive the display 12 via a display driver chip 309. It should be appreciated that in certain embodiments of the present invention, the display driver chip 309 may be incorporated in the microprocessor chip 300. The microprocessor chip 300 also outputs data to drive the print head 24 and the motor 54 for driving the platen 32 and the drive roller 46. The motor 54 may be a stepper motor which moves the tape stepwise past the print head 24. Alternatively, the motor 54 may be a dc motor which continuously drives the image receiving tape 70 past the print head 24.In some embodiments, the microprocessor chip 300 may also control the cutting mechanism including a cutter 317 to cut off lengths of printed tape, after an image has been printed thereon to thereby define labels. However, in the described embodiment, a manually operable cutter has been provided.

The operation of the tape printing device 2 will now be described. Data to be printed is typed into the tape printing device 2 using the data input keys 10 of the keyboard 11. The data input keys 11 will generally comprise a plurality of lettered and numbered keys. As the data is input into the keyboard 11 it is supplied to the microprocessor 301 which drives the display screen 12 to display the data as it is entered. To do this, for each character which is entered, the microprocessor calls up the stored version of the entered character from the ROM 302. As the character is stored in compressed form, the font data is stored temporarily in the RAM 304 and is manipulated by the microprocessor chip 300 to generate pixel data to form the character. This pixel data is transmitted in one form to the display 12 and in another form to the print head 24 for printing.

Character data is not passed to the print head 24 for printing until the print operation is executed. The characters for the label are entered and then edited using function keys on the keyboard 11 in conjunction with the display 12, prior to printing.

The pixel data comprises a plurality of groups of data.

These groups of data are passed successively to the print head group-by-group. Each group of data corresponds to one column in the printed image.

When the complete label has been printed, the motor moves the image receiving tape 70 through a distance corresponding to the distance between the print head and a zone where cutting is implemented. A cutting operation is then executed to cut off the printed portion of the tape to provide the label.

Claims

1. A tape holding case for use with a tape printing device, said tape holding case comprising means for holding a supply of image receiving tape, an outlet through which said tape can exit said cassette, and a wall portion over which said tape can pass after it has exited said outlet, said wall portion being cooperable with rotatable drive means of said tape printing device to drive therebetween said tape from the tape holding case, wherein said wall portion is movable relative to said tape holding case so that in use said wall portion and said drive means contact opposed sides of the tape with a sufficient force such that rotation of the drive means causes said tape to be drawn from the tape holding case.

2. A tape holding case as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wall portion is arranged to contact a support member of said tape printing device or tape holding case to prevent further movement thereof in the direction of the support member, said support member being on an opposite side of the wall portion to said drive means.

3. A tape holding case as claimed in claim 2, wherein said wall portion comprises a protruding portion which is arranged, in use to contact the support member.

4. A tape holding case as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said wall portion is biased in a direction towards said drive means.

5. A tape holding case as claimed in claim 4, wherein said wall portion is biased to a normal position in which said wall portion lies flush with an adjacent wall portion of the tape holding case and the drive means is operable to push said wall portion inwardly of the tape holding case.

6. A tape holding case as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, wherein said wall portion is hingedly connected to said tape holding case and movable about an axis defined by said hinged connection.

7. A tape printing apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said wall portion is substantially rectangular and is surrounded on three sides thereof by a slot, said wall portion being arranged to move about an axis defined by the fourth side of said wall portion.

8. A tape holding case as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein at least a portion of said tape holding case including said wall portion is made from a plastics material using a moulding process.

9. A tape holding case as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said tape holding case includes means for holding a supply of image transfer tape and means for taking up said image transfer tape after printing.

10. A tape holding case as claimed in any preceding claim in combination with a tape printing apparatus comprising means for receiving the tape holding case, printing means for printing an image on the image receiving tape, and drive means for driving said image receiving tape from said tape holding case, the drive means being arranged to cooperate with said wall portion.

Il. A combination as claimed in claim 10, wherein said driving means are biased in a direction towards said wall portion of the tape holding case.

12. A combination of a tape holding case and a tape printing apparatus as claimed in claim 11 or 12 when appended to claim 2 or any claim appended thereto, wherein said tape printing apparatus further comprises a support member which is in contact with one side of said movable wall portion, when the opposite side of the wall is in contact with the drive means.