Printing apparatus

Abstract

To provide a printing apparatus in which a mechanical portion that is heavy in weight and needs a high precision is fixed to simplify a structure and to perform a high speed operation with a high quality printing. A piece of printing paper P is guided between a printing head 1 and a platen 2 for printing. A pair of stationary frame plate 20 are mounted to face each other on a base frame for supporting the printing head, and a platen driving unit 3 for contacting the platen 2 against the printing head 1 and separating the platen 2 away from the printing head 1 is mounted on the base frame. A guide shaft 4 for guiding a carrier 7, that carries thereon the printing head, in a printing direction, a carrier the 5 for driving the carrier in the printing direction, and stoppers 6 that face the platen around the printing head with their ends protruding toward the platen beyond a front surface of the printing head are fixed to the stationary frame plates 20. The platen driving unit 3 keeps, in a printing stand-by mode, a gap between the platen and the printing head 1 to a predetermined gap that is larger than that in a printing operation by depressing the platen by a cam 22, and in the printing operation, clamp and fasten the printing paper between the platen and the stoppers by raising the platen with the biasing force of a compression spring 21.