Patent ID: 7611299

Claim:
A thermal printer, comprising: a rotatable platen; a thermal print head including a plurality of heating elements arranged rectilinearly in a row at a printing position where the heating elements are abutted against the platen; a head holding mechanism for holding the thermal print head to be displaceable in an adjusting direction which is orthogonal to a rectilinear direction between the row of heating elements and a rotational center of the platen; positioning pins projecting from both sides of the thermal print head; positioning grooves in which the positioning pins are adapted to be fitted so as to be displaceable in the adjusting direction; and a displacing mechanism including a movable piece, which is movable across an associated one of the positioning grooves such that the movable piece is movable to selectively project from one of opposite sides of the associated positioning groove; wherein the displacing mechanism positions the positioning pin in the corresponding positioning groove in one of two different positions in the adjusting direction in accordance with the one of the sides of the associated positioning groove from which the movable piece projects, so as to position the thermal print head in one of two different printing positions in the adjusting direction.