Patent ID: 7554567

Claim:
A thermal printhead comprising a substrate and a plurality of heat-producing resistance sections provided on the substrate, the heat-producing resistance sections melting ink of an ink ribbon, which is transferred together with a recording sheet, to transfer the ink onto the recording sheet; wherein the thermal printhead further comprises an inequality surface region provided downstream from the heat-producing resistance sections in a secondary scanning direction which is a transfer direction of the ink ribbon, the inequality surface region including a plurality of projections each of which extends in the secondary scanning direction and which are aligned at predetermined intervals in a primary scanning direction which is perpendicular to the secondary scanning direction; wherein at least some of the projections are inclined with respect to a center line so as to become farther from the center line as the projections extend downstream in the secondary scanning direction, the center line being a line positioned at the center, in the primary scanning direction, of a region where the heat-producing resistance sections are arranged.