Seiko Instruments Inc

Mitsuhiro Kaiya

Seishi Shimada

Shinji Nureki

Yasumi Yokoyama

Hideki Onuki

A thermal printer with enhanced cutting performance includes a thermal head for performing printing on successively supplied recording sheets, and a platen roller for feeding the recording sheets. A cutter for cutting the recording sheets has a fixed blade and a movable blade. A main body unit supports the fixed blade, and a cover unit supports the movable blade and is removable with respect to the main body unit. A pinion gear meshes with a rack constructed integrally with the movable blade to move the movable blade. The main body unit supports the pinion gear, and the cover unit supports only the movable blade and the platen roller.

Printer with movable blade having rack that meshes with pinion when cover is closed

A recording apparatus includes a main body for recording on a recording medium, a protective cover which has an opening, for covering the main body with a portion other than the opening of the protective cover, and a waterproof cover which is connected to the protective cover via first and second connecting portions. When the first and second connecting portions are respectively in connected states, the waterproof cover is positioned so that the waterproof cover is opposed to the opening of the protective cover, and there is a gap for passing the recording medium between the protective cover and the waterproof cover. When the first connecting portion is in the connected state and the second connecting portion is in a disconnected state, the waterproof cover is moved to a position so that a part of the main body can be exposed to an outside through the opening.

Recording apparatus and waterproof structure for the same

Provided is a head support structure including: a thermal head () for heating a sheet material (); a platen roller () for transporting the sheet material () being pressed by the thermal head (); a head support member () for supporting the thermal head (), which is capable of moving in a direction in which the head support member () is brought into close contact with or moved away from the platen roller (); and a head biasing member () for biasing the head support member () to a side of the platen roller (). Further, the head biasing member () is formed of an elastic material and includes a pressing part () for pressing the head support member () against the side of the platen roller () and holding parts () provided at each end of the pressing part (), for holding the platen roller (). Accordingly, a structure of the head support structure is simplified and an entire apparatus to which the head support structure is mounted can be downsized.

Head support structure, printing device, thermally activating device, and printer

A thermal head device operates while a recording medium is fed in its lengthwise direction for line-sequentially printing each image line along its widthwise direction. A platen has a plane tangential thereto to define a level of feeding pass of the recording medium in a printing zone thereof. A plurality of planar head segments are opposed to the printing zone of the platen in staggered relation to each other such that the head segments are arranged along a pair of parallel rows along the widthwise direction of the recording medium. The respective planar head segments have edge portions opposed to each other between the parallel rows in the printing zone, and are slanted relative to the tangential plane such that the respective edge portions are inclined away from the feeding pass of the recording medium.

Thermal line printer with staggered head segments

A thermal line head device operates while a recording medium is fed in a vertical direction for printing dots line-sequentially along a horizontal direction according to bit image data corresponding to dots. A plurality of longitudinal head segments have a plurality of heating elements effective to print dots according to the corresponding bit image data, and linearly arranged along a longitudinal edge portion of the segment and deviated from a longitudinal center portion of the segment. The head segment are arranged in staggered relation along upstream and downstream rows such that the longitudinal edge portions of segments are opposed adjacently to each other in parallel between the rows so that the heating elements are linearly arranged in the horizontal direction between the rows a given vertical spacing. A line memory stores bit image data and distributes the stored bit image data to the heating elements in synchronization with vertical feeding of recording medium through the given vertical spacing.

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Chiba, Japan

Mitsuhiro Kaiya