Typewriter ribbon

The ink ribbon is a carrier of the ink. It is mainly used in typewriters, impact printers and calculators with printing. Today ribbons are a niche product for those devices that have since been replaced largely by PC systems with other printing technology (inkjet and laser printers ).

• 4.1 correction capability
• 4.2 Safety Risk carbon ribbon

Historical

The first typewriter with ribbon constructed in 1855, the Italian Giuseppe Ravizza from Novara. Then other manufacturers such as Remington or 1878, the Danish designer Malling -Hansen equipped their machines with ribbons after eg Malling - Hansen's first models of the " writing ball " made ​​the font with carbon paper visible.

Ribbon systems

Ribbons are usually open between two single coils or mounted in a cartridge unit. Open at only a single installation is filled with a new ink ribbon spool is bought separately and hooked into the remaining empty bobbin at the beginning of the new ink ribbon. After the ribbon is correctly and carefully threading in the mechanical guide profiles. At the end of the ribbon, an automatic change of direction is switched, and the tape runs in the opposite direction. There are few coils sizes, so that almost all machines are supported with consumables. For machines of more modern design ribbon cartridges are used. They already contain the required coils and are changed as a unit without manual threading. Textile belts are usually no coil in an endless loop. Cartridges are available in many formats. Therefore, today no longer supported in this shrinking market all model series, and it is for older models, if any, the tapes will only be available in one color. While typewriters usually compact cassettes are used, which are carried along with the printing unit and one character wound, they are available for a full line length for some calculators or dot matrix printer in a long shape and be spooled together with the return of the printing unit. As a special form of high-performance line printer are covered in the computer, depending on the number of possible stop positions with a color or blankets up to 420 mm width.

Textile ribbons

The standard form of the ribbon is a solid color impregnated fabric tape. It is now mostly made ​​of nylon, formerly made ​​of silk and cotton. The impregnation is so set that a pressure-free touch of the paper does not cause coloring. It was not until the stop of a type transfers with the raised areas by printing the dye contained in the tissue out. Thus, the types accept any color themselves, they are often chrome plated. By transferring to the paper is indeed locally extracted dye but compensates by capillary action the color from adjoining areas these local lack of color within a short time again. Most ribbons were having a width of 13 mm ( corresponding to one-half inch ) at around six meters in length used for the usual office typewriters. Cassette tapes are narrower because the most precise mechanics, its length is dependent on the type of cartridge.

The extent and nature of fabric ribbons are laid down in DIN 2103. The dimensions of the coils are described in DIN 32755.

Colors

For emphasis or expression of negative values ​​in red and ribbons with a hälftigen black over a red watering can be used. At the dividing line between the colors, the capillary is prevented by a weld seam in the fabric. This dot matrix printer could print with colored artwork, there were over one another even ribbons with four standard inks black, cyan, magenta and yellow. Cloth tapes did exist were as mechanical typewriters still common, in different colors. Black, black, red, green, red, blue, brown, violet, green, and possibly Black-Green In the early years of the typewriter and purple ribbons were used. But were commonly used only black and black and red ribbons, which are most likely available today.

Proofing tools for tissue tapes

When proofing tools for carbon bands already on the market were available, correction possibilities have also been developed for tissue bands. This cover incorrect characters with a wide white color. With correction ribbons having strip one-half of the tissue web was replaced by a colorless fabric with a layer of white correction. This color stripe has an additional film which protects the types. There are also correction sheets with a similar body color, which is held manually in front of the repeated stop the wrong type on the paper.

Carbon bands

The impression of an impregnated cloth tape through can never reach the quality of printing. It is always the fabric structure can be seen. This lack of resolve so-called carbon ribbons. Carbon ribbons are coated with paint and a binder, very thin plastic film strip. The color coating is particularly fine-grained, comparable to a Rußbelag. Originally, the color of fine carbon, today art resinous compositions are mostly used without additional binder. In both cases, the ink layer is very sensitive. By external influences the color may slightly blur or peel off partially. It is thus not document proof in rule. In addition to these single-coated tapes, there were multi-coated so-called multi- carbon bands. The best impression, however, is obtained with only a single-layer coating. Except in the cartridges for ball head and Typenradschreibmaschinen there was carbon bands at 13 -mm ribbon spools. Even with the carbon bands were different colors to choose from. Today, usually only black carbon tapes are available as a consumable.

Correction capability

Not indelible, easily coated carbon belts allow an almost perfect typo correction. These special ribbons are referred to as carbon C- bands. The C stands for correctable. With another type of attack on the wrong character solves or removes a specially matched to the color coating, slightly tacky, correction tape, the color pigments of the wrong sign on the paper from (so-called lift-off correction). Since the correction is usually triggered automatically by the clear key by correction memory, correction sheets are not common for manual deletion.

Security risk carbon ribbon

The only single-layer -coated carbon bands constitute an information security risk that disabled their universal use. Because of after the impression at times missing color coating, the written documents in a used ribbon, though, are reconstructed without spaces and formatting. In addition, the text generated documents could also be subsequently altered by the lift-off correction function without this would become visible. For this reason, may Carboniferous bands in institutions with increased security requirements (eg, banks, law firms, government agencies ) can not be used. For this purpose there were many machines a retrofittable Bank barrier which prevented the loading of an ink ribbon cassette with a correctable ribbon over a mechanical coding in the cassette.