Printer
AssigneeToshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsToshiharu Sekino, Hiroyuki Taki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
According to one embodiment, a printer includes a housing that has an outlet, a drawer unit, first, second and third print medium support units and a printing unit. The drawer unit is placed inside of the housing so that it can be drawn out from the housing. The first and the second print medium supporting unit are fixed to the drawer unit. The third print medium supporting unit is fixed to the housing so as to be located between the lower end of the first print medium supporting unit and the lower end of the second print medium supporting unit when the drawer unit is in the closed position. The printing unit prints on a belt-shaped print media, which is drawn out from a roll of printable media that is rotatably supported by at least the first print medium supporting unit.
Claims20
A printing apparatus comprising:
- a housing having an outlet;
- a drawer unit slidable in the outlet between an open position and a closed position;
- a first supporting unit disposed in the drawer unit and configured to support a roll of printable media at an outer circumference of the roll of printable media when the drawer unit is in the open position;
- a second supporting unit disposed in the housing and configured to rotatably support the roll of printable media when the drawer unit is in the closed position, wherein the second supporting unit does not support the roll of printable media when the drawer unit is in the open position;
- and
- a printing unit configured to print on printable media fed from the roll of printable media.
A method for printing on a roll of printable media in a printer, the method comprising:
- loading the roll of printable media into a drawer unit extending from a housing of the printer in an open position so that the roll of printable media is supported, at an outer circumference of the roll of printable media, on a first supporting unit and on a second supporting unit disposed in the drawer unit;
- and
- moving the drawer unit to a closed position within the housing, wherein a third supporting unit in the housing lifts the roll of printable media away from the second supporting unit as the drawer unit reaches the closed position, wherein the third supporting unit does not support the roll of printable media when the drawer unit is in the open position.
A printer comprising:
- a housing provided with an outlet;
- a drawer unit disposed inside the housing and configured to be slid out from the housing into an open position;
- a first supporting unit and a second supporting unit disposed on the drawer unit and spaced apart from each other, wherein the first supporting unit and the second supporting unit support a roll of printable media at an outer circumference of the roll of printable media;
- a third supporting unit disposed on the housing wherein the third supporting unit is arranged between the first supporting unit and the second supporting unit when the drawer unit is in a closed position, wherein the third supporting unit supports the roll of printable media away from the second supporting unit when the drawer unit is in the closed position and the third supporting unit does not support the roll of printable media when the drawer unit is in the open position;
- and
- a printing unit configured to print on a printable media pulled out from a roll of printable media that is rotatably supported by at least the first supporting unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.