Alps Electric Co., Ltd.

Eihin Setsu

Hirotoshi Terao

Yoshibumi Abe

Mitsuo Tsushima

Hitoshi Funaki

Tomoko Wauke

Mikio Onodera

Takashi Goto

Shinichi Sagawai

Zenko Motoki

Heishiro Fudo

Minoru Sato

Hiroyoshi Zama

Hisashi Hoshino

Mitsuaki Yamazaki

Shinichiro Kimura

Susumu Nakajima

Tomohiro Osumi

Kazuma Kobashi

Eiji Okada

Mitsuo Makino

A heater for a fixing device heats an object to be heated, the object traveling in a first direction. The heater includes a substrate facing the object and extending in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction; a heating body extending on the substrate in the second direction; a first conductor and a second conductor disposed on the substrate to supply power to the heating body; a plurality of first electrodes each connected to the first conductor and configured to supply power to the heating body; and a plurality of second electrodes having a polarity different from that of the first electrodes, each connected to the second conductor, and configured to supply power to the heating body. The first electrodes and the second electrodes are configured to intersect the heating body, alternately arranged in the second direction, and inclined with respect to the first direction.

Heater for fixing device

A heater for fixing devices includes a glass substrate, a heating element, electrode patterns connected to the heating element, a first protective layer, and a second protective layer. The glass substrate is made of an alkali-free glass. The first protective layer is formed by firing a mixture of a first glass powder and a first filler. The first glass powder contains no alkali metal oxide and has a lower softening point than the glass substrate. The first filler has a lower thermal expansion coefficient than the alkali-free glass for the glass substrate. The second protective layer is made of a material that does not contain the first filler contained in the first protective layer.

A recording apparatus including a printing unit that contacts or separates a thermal head with or from a platen using the driving force of a UD motor, one or more sheet feed units that include sheet feed rollers which are rotated forward or backward by the driving force of an LF motor transmitted through a transport gear group and pressure rollers which are supported between a pair of roller supporting members and are urged by elastic members to come into pressure contact with the sheet feed rollers, and are provided on an upstream side and a downstream side of the printing unit in a transport path of a recording sheet, a pressure release mechanism including a cam shaft that is rotatably provided so as to tilt the pair of roller supporting members of the sheet feed units against the urging force of the elastic members and separates the pressure rollers from the sheet feed rollers, and a pressure release gear group that transmits the driving force of the LF motor to the cam shaft of the pressure release mechanism, the driving force of the LF motor being transmitted to the pressure release gear group and the transport gear group.

Recording apparatus for printing images on the entire surface of a recording sheet

A recording device presses a thermal head, where heating elements are arranged in a direction orthogonal to a transport direction of the print medium, against a printing surface of the print medium at a printing portion on a transport path of a print medium transported by a transport means, controls the flow of current selectively applied to the heating elements, and performs desired printing at a printing area on the printing surface. The print medium has a shape having portions where the contact lengths of the printing surface coming in contact with the heating elements in a width direction orthogonal to a transport direction of the print medium are different in the transport direction. A pressing load of the thermal head is frequently adjusted according to the contact length of the printing surface of the print medium.

Recording device

Disclosed is a disk label printer that includes a slot-in type optical disk driving mechanism and a printing mechanism integrated with each other, has a small size, and smoothly transfers optical disks. The disclosed disk label printer includes: a case that has a slot through which an optical disk is inserted or ejected formed therein; an optical disk driving mechanism that is provided in the case and writes and/or reads signals to and/or from the optical disk mounted to a disk mounting portion; and a printing mechanism that is provided in the case and includes a thermal head which prints a desired image on a label surface of the optical disk. The printing mechanism is provided on a transfer path of the optical disk toward the optical disk driving mechanism between the slot and the optical disk driving mechanism. The thermal head and a platen roller come into pressure contact with each other with the optical disk interposed therebetween on the transfer path, only when the optical disk is transferred during the driving of the printing mechanism. The thermal head and the platen roller are withdrawn from the transfer path so as to be separated from each other, when the optical disk is transferred during operations other than the driving of the printing mechanism.

Disk label printer

A ribbon cassetteincludes a cassette casehaving a first accommodating portiona second accommodating portionand a connecting portionconnecting the first and second accommodating portionsanda feeding coreand a take-up corerotatably accommodated respectively in the first and second accommodating portionsandand an ink ribbon R having a large width which can be fed from the feeding coreand taken up by the take-up corethrough a connecting memberwherein there is provided in the first accommodating portionin the vicinity of the connecting membera shaftextending along the direction of the width of the ink ribbon R, wherein there is provided in the connecting memberan edge portiona of a wall portionopposed to the shaftand wherein the ink ribbon R fed out from the feeding coreis bent at the shaftand then bent in the opposite direction by the edge portiona before it is taken up by the take-up corewhereby it is possible to provide an ink ribbon cassette in which it is possible to achieve an overall reduction in size and in which the ink ribbon can be fed in a stable manner.

Ink ribbon cassette for thermal transfer printer

A ribbon cassette includes a cassette case having a first accommodating portion a second accommodating portion and a connecting portion connecting the first and second accommodating portions and a feeding core and a take-up core rotatably accommodated respectively in the first and second accommodating portions and and an ink ribbon R having a large width which can be fed from the feeding core and taken up by the take-up core through a connecting member wherein there is provided in the first accommodating portion in the vicinity of the connecting member a shaft extending along the direction of the width of the ink ribbon R, wherein there is provided in the connecting member an edge portion of a wall portion opposed to the shaft and wherein the ink ribbon R fed out from the feeding core is bent at the shaft and then bent in the opposite direction by the edge portion before it is taken up by the take-up core whereby it is possible to provide an ink ribbon cassette in which it is possible to achieve an overall reduction in size and in which the ink ribbon can be fed in a stable manner.

Growing community of inventors

Fukushima-ken, Japan

Eihin Setsu