PURPOSE: To easily determine the residual amount of an ink ribbon by providing a part having a different ink color to at least an end part.
CONSTITUTION: The end part of a thermal transfer ink ribbon 12 on the side of a ribbon roll 3b is provided with a part having an ink color different from that of the other part. The taking-up of the ribbon 12 around a ribbon roll 3a is advanced and the residual quantity of the ribbon is reduced and, from a point X considered to become impossible to print a predetermined number of lines, the color of ink is changed. When printing is applied to paper of an A4-size largely used in a general personal use Japanese word processor, the proper position of X is set to the point separated by 7m from the end of the ribbon on the side of the ribbon roll 3b, because an ink ribbon of about 18cm is generally consumed per one line and a sentence of about 40 lines per one page is prevalent. As mentioned above, since the color at the time of printing is changed at the point X, it can be easily known that the residual quantity of the ink ribbon is small and a proper measure such as the replacement of an ink ribbon cassette can be taken.
OTSUKA KEITA
UEDA HIROO
