Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Shinji Arase

Masanobu Katsumura

Hitoshi Shimaoka

Tsutomu Harada

A portable card reader is provided which reads data stored in a card inserted thereinto and/or records given data on the card. The card reader includes upper and lower casings which are pivotably supported so that they are opened to expose a card feeding path defined in the card reader for facilitating easy removal of the card if jammed. The card reader also includes a memory for storing therein the data read out of the card and an input/output terminal for establishing data communication with an external device such as a computer.

Card reader with pivoting casing

Upper unit and lower unit are jointed with a hinge to form a body, and a card transfer path is provided between the units, and a recording/reproducing head and an image forming head are installed separated in the units opposing to each other, for making the maintenance servicing easy. In addition, a handle and elastic clamping components are provided on one of the units, and accepting components to accept the clamping components on the other unit, in order to make the clamping of both units in closed state firm and the open/close operation easy.

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Kumamoto, Japan

Shinji Arase