Tokyo Electric Co.

Sony Corporation

Seiji Koike

Takeshi Tashiro

Kazuhiro Fushimi

Osamu Koizumi

Yukihiro Hirosaki

Motonobu Hamada

Mitsuo Uchimura

Yasuo Inoue

Ikuzo Sugiura

Hideki Hama

Toshiharu Shimosato

Kazuhiko Hiramatsu

Takahiko Ohata

Tsugio Shiozaki

Izumi Matsushita

Haruyuki Karibe

Kouzi Endo

Takahiko Ohhata

A label separator apparatus has a label separating member for separating labels one by one from a long and narrow label carrying paper, on which the labels are adhered, by acutely turning the carrying paper toward a no-label-adhered side thereof while the carrying paper is moved in its longitudinal direction. The label separator apparatus further has a label-rising restrictor located above the label being separated form the paper which contacts a rear end portion of the label which is being separated while the label rises together with the paper from the separating member, so that the label is prevented from being completely separated from the paper.

Label separator apparatus

A printing head supporting device including a supporting mechanism for supporting a printing head so that the printing head can be brought into contact with and separation from a platen, and a pressure plate detachably mounted to a printer body. When the pressure plate is mounted to the printer body, the printing head is maintained in contact with the platen to obtain a printable condition. In contrast, when the pressure plate is detached from the printer body, the printing head is maintained in separation from the platen, so that an operator can easily carry out a maintenance work such as cleaning of the printing head or removing of a recording paper caught between the printing head and the platen. Thus, the maintenance work can be easily carried out by a simple operation such that the pressure plate is simply detached from the printer body.

Printing head supporting device

An information output projection of a handy terminal is adapted to engage an information input hole of a data processing device. A light shutting out member is provided between an opening of the information input hole and an information receiving element in the data processing device. The light shutting out member is adapted to be opened by a depression force of the information output projection when the information output projection is inserted from the opening of the information input hole thereinto. Accordingly, malfunction of the device due to entry of optical noise from the opening of the information input hole is prevented.

Optical data transfer device

A printing apparatus comprises a printer body having an opening on the top side thereof, and a platen for feeding a paper sheet supported by a paper holder disposed in the printer body. The platen is provided in the body to face the opening. A head unit includes a housing having an opening on the bottom side thereof and a print head disposed in the housing to face the opening thereof. The head unit is moveable between an operative position, in which the head unit is located on the printer body so that the opening of the housing and the print head face the opening of the printer body and the platen, respectively, whereby the paper sheet between the platen and the print head is allowed to be ready for printing, and an open position in which the head unit is off the printer body so that the whole opening of the printer body is exposed.

Printing apparatus

The present invention provides a paper holding device for a printer which includes a supply arm mounted for pivotal motion on a housing on which a printing station is held. The supply arm holds a supply shaft thereon such that at least the supply shaft may be positioned outwardly of the housing so that paper in the form of a roll having such a large diameter that it cannot otherwise be accommodated in the housing can be used on the printer.

Paper holding device for printer

A method for cleaning a thermal head with a raised portion formed on a printing surface portion corresponding to a heat generating element. The method comprises passing a nonwoven sheet, havng an alcohol-impregnated forward portion and a dried rear portion, between a printing surface of the thermal head and a platen, upon the rotation of the platen, in a fashion compressed therebetween to allow the printing surface to be cleaned with the alcohol impregnated in the forward portion of the nonwoven sheet and the alcohol to be sucked in the dried rear portion of the nonwoven sheet.

Method for cleaning a thermal head

A color ink ribbon comprising a ribbon body on which a plurality of colors are sequentially aligned in a ribbon feeding direction, color recognition marks which sequentially represent next colors on the ribbon body by bar code information, and ribbon speed detection marks formed on the ribbon body at equal intervals in the ribbon feeding direction. The bar code marks and the speed detections marks are used together with a compensation coefficient to determine the identity of the subsequent color portion on the ink ribbon body.

Color ink ribbon and printer using this ribbon

According to the present invention, a shaft cover is attached to the front end portion of a ribbon guide shaft projecting in a cantilevered state from a side face of a printer body; cores of an ink ribbon are fitted respectively on a ribbon feed shaft and a ribbon take-up shaft both projecting in a cantilevered state from the said side face of the printer body; the ink ribbon is passed round the outer periphery of the shaft cover; then the cores and the shaft cover are pushed in simultaneously to set the ink ribbon in a predetermined certain position.

Method and apparatus for loading ink ribbon

An apparatus for transporting paper comprising a paper transport path made up of a reference surface with which one edge portion of paper is brought into abutment and a paper guide on which the surface of the paper is supported, a skew roller supported on a roller shaft, which is arranged at an angle with the transport direction of the paper, and resilently urged toward the paper guide, a skew roller portions control having an abutment surface with which one end portion of the roller shaft is brought into abutment when the skew roller takes a position to be in contact with the paper and a stopper edge with which the periphery of the roller shaft is brought into abutment when the skew roller takes an open position to be away from the paper and being urged toward the skew roller, and a release to move the skew roller position control away from the skew roller, whereby it is made possible to simply bring about a state of the skew roller separated from the paper guide and a state of them held in contact.

Apparatus for transporting paper

An electronic printing apparatus comprises a printer body having a front surface with a window, a sheet feeding mechanism provided in the printer body, which may be accessed for maintenance work through the window, a main front cover for opening and closing the window in the front surface of the printer body, a sub-front cover movably provided on the printer body so as to be downwardly pivotable about the bottom of the printer body in a perpendicular direction, and having an operation surface which covers the main front cover so that it faces thereto, and a keyboard and a display provided on the operation surface of the sub-front cover.

Electronic printing apparatus

The invention provides a drive device for a thermal transfer printer of the type which includes a thermal head for printing data on a label on a mount by way of an ink ribbon. A platen roller contacts the mount having a label thereon. The mount is also contacted by the thermal head so that the mount may be fed by a rotational frictional force of the platen roller. Sprockets are mounted for free rotation and for engagement in sprocket holes formed in the mount. Thus, a mount having a label thereon is fed by a rotational frictional force of the platen roller which is contacted under pressure by the thermal head. As the mount is fed, the movement thereof is guided and hence corrected by the freely rotating sprockets. As a result, the mount can be transported assuredly without causing meandering or slipping thereof, thereby allowing high quality printing to be attained without dislocation of printed symbols.

Drive device for a thermal transfer printer

A label printer for printing data on a label attached on a long ground paper by means of a thermal head opposed to a platen. The label printer includes a ground paper feeder constituted of a drive roller and a pinch roller for sandwiching the ground paper therebetween. The drive roller stretches the ground paper with slip generated between the drive roller and the ground paper to peel off the printed label from the ground paper by means of a peeling plate and to issue the same. The surface of the drive roller is provided with a wear resistance to prevent wear of the drive roller and thereby to prevent change in the outer circumference of the drive roller. Accordingly, the ground paper may be stretched by the paper feeder under always fixed conditions, and the label may be reliably peeled off by the peeling plate.

Label feeder

A wide-type thermal-transfer printer comprises a fixed mechanism section including a record medium holder mounted on one end portion of a fixed frame so as to rotatably hold a record medium rolled, and a platen mounted on the other end portion of the frame so as to carry thereon the medium from the holder, and a printer unit including a moving frame coupled to the fixed frame so as to be movable between a first position adjacent to the fixed frame and a second position remote from the fixed frame, the moving frame being fixed with a thermal head so that the head, in cooperation with the platen, holds the medium when the moving frame is located in the first position, and so that the head separates from the medium on the platen when the moving frame is moved to the second position, wherein the moving frame is detachably fitted with an ink ribbon supply shaft and an ink ribbon take-up shaft, so that the ribbon is held between the platen and the head in a manner such that the longitudinal direction of the ribbon is substantially in line with the transporting direction of the medium when the moving frame is located in the first position, and wherein the head starts printing with the medium and ribbon being moved in the same direction when the moving frame is located in the first position.

Wide-type thermal-transfer printer

A labeling apparatus holds an article to which a label is to be stuck, on a holder and then moves the holder carrying the article from a home position via a waiting position and a labeling position back to the home position. In a label peeling and issuing section, the article is moved up toward a label being issued in the label peeling and issuing section and is brought into contact with the label so that the label is peeled from the supporting strip and stuck to the article as the holder holding the article is moved toward the home position along guide paths. Reverse movement preventing plates prevent the reverse movement of the holder as the holder is moved along the guide paths. With the labeling apparatus the label can applied to the article simply and automatically without requiring a manual labeling operation.

Labeling apparatus

In a label printer of the invention, a guide member to guide an ink ribbon is positioned in reverse direction of separating direction of the ink ribbon with respect to the line connecting a platen to a point on the outside of a separating plane, and thereby the ink ribbon is separated in bent state from the ground paper and therefore the separation between the ground paper and the ink ribbon is performed well. In this constitution, vibration of the ground paper is prevented and the noise is not produced, and deformation of the ground paper is prevented and the feed amount is held uniform. Further the ground paper only is bent by the separating plate, and the label is separated securely.

Growing community of inventors

Shizuoka, Japan

Seiji Koike