A printing apparatus includes a printing head that performs printing in a printing region of a first surface of a medium, a support portion that supports a second surface of a medium, a transport unit that transports the medium in a transport direction, and a static electricity eliminating material that is provided facing the second surface and that eliminates, in a non-contact manner with the medium, static electricity accumulated in the medium. The support portion includes a spacer that maintains a predetermined distance between the medium and the static electricity eliminating material.

A printing assembly for digital printing on a continuous metal strip, including: a digital printing unit having a printing area and a conveyor belt arranged for advancing the continuous metal strip in a longitudinal direction through the printing area, an inlet guide unit located upstream of the printing unit and configured to guide the continuous metal strip along a path comprising at least one first movable bend which is freely movable in the longitudinal direction, and an outlet guide unit located downstream of the digital printing unit and configured to guide the continuous metal strip along a path comprising at least one second movable bend which is freely movable in the longitudinal direction.

A displacement amount calculation part in a base material processing apparatus calculates the degree of matching between an upstream data section and a downstream data section included in a first and a second detection results, which indicate time-varying changes in the positions of an edge of a base material in the width direction at an upstream and a downstream detection positions. This calculation uses calculation results obtained by sequentially calculating the degrees of matching between sub-data sections in the upstream data section and downstream sub-data sections in the downstream data section. This reduces the amount of computation and enables highly accurate detection of the amount of displacement of the base material in the transport direction on the basis of an identification result of the downstream data section that is highly matched with the upstream data section.

A displacement amount calculation part in a base material processing apparatus calculates the degree of matching between an upstream data section and a downstream data section included in an upstream and a downstream detection results, which indicate time-varying changes in the positions of an edge of the base material in the width direction at an upstream and a downstream detection positions. This calculation uses the results of comparison between signals in a predetermined frequency band extracted from the upstream detection result and signals in the predetermined frequency band extracted from the downstream detection result. Accordingly, a downstream data section that is highly matched with the upstream data section can be identified with high accuracy, and the amount of displacement of the base material in the transport direction can be detected with high accuracy on the basis of an identification result.

A printing system having: a print head arranged with a predetermined nip for printing to a recording medium; a sensor positioned upstream of the print head, and configured to detect possible joints of the recording medium; a spacer arranged in a region of the print head, the spacer being configured to be displaceable to deflect the recording medium and increasing a distance between the print head and recording medium; an actuator to displace the spacer element; and a controller configured to activate the actuator to displace the spacer upon detection of a joint by the sensor.

A printing apparatus includes: a roll paper container portion that accommodates roll paper formed into a roll by wrapping recording paper around a core; a transportation roller that transports the recording paper in a transportation direction; a buffering member that moves in contact with the recording paper; and a guide member that is provided upstream of the buffering member in the transportation direction and guides the core of the roll paper that is moved from an inside of the roll paper container portion to an outside.

A label printer includes a print head, a transporting roller, a peeling roller, and a control unit, wherein the control unit controls a current value to be supplied to a peeling motor configured to rotate the peeling roller such that a transport force of the peeling roller for transporting the backing sheet is equal to or greater than a minimum force required for peeling the label and is greater than a maximum friction force between the peeling roller and the backing sheet, and the maximum friction force and a maximum friction force between the transporting roller and the label sheet are set such that the maximum friction force between the peeling roller and the backing sheet is equal to or smaller than a transport force of the peeling roller that sets a transport error of the label sheet by the transporting roller to be within an acceptable value.

A printing apparatus includes: a roll sheet container that contains a roll sheet around which a recording sheet is wound; a first sheet guide that makes contact with a first surface of the recording sheet; a second sheet guide that makes contact with a second surface of the recording sheet; and a transport roller that transports the recording sheet. The first and second sheet guides are disposed so as to face each other to form a sheet route along which the recording sheet is to pass. The transport roller transports the recording sheet that passed along the sheet route. The second sheet guide includes: a projection that protrudes toward the roll sheet container; and a pushing section that extends from the projection along an outer circumference of the roll sheet and in a direction away from the first sheet guide.

A tape cassette used for a printer includes a thermal head and a cassette holder to which the tape cassette is attachable. The tape cassette includes a tape roll, a casing, a regulation guide and a pressure member. The tape roll is formed by winding a tape. The tape has a width defining a widthwise direction. The casing accommodates therein the tape roll. A tape conveying passage is defined in the casing. The regulation guide is positioned at the tape conveying passage to restrict displacement of the tape in the widthwise direction. The pressure member is positioned upstream of the regulation guide in a conveying direction of the tape and along the tape conveying passage. The pressure member is in contact with the tape in a contacting direction to apply pressing force to the tape in the contacting direction.

A cutter unit includes a first frame, a fixed blade, a movable blade, a movable blade drive mechanism and a pressure mechanism. The fixed blade has a first cutting edge portion. One end portion of the movable blade has one end configured to cut a cut item in cooperation with the first cutting edge portion. The second cutting edge portion and the first cutting edge portion contacting with each other at a first point and a second point. Another end portion of the movable blade has a contacting portion in contact with the first frame at a third point. The first point, the second point and the third point define an imaginary triangle. The pressure member presses the movable blade at a pressure contact position so that the movable blade presses against the fixed blade. The pressure contact position is positioned substantially within the imaginary triangle.