Patent ID: 7293869

Claim:
A recording medium processing apparatus comprising: a carriage provided with a head; and a carriage-driving mechanism including a motor for reciprocating the carriage; and wherein the carriage can move to a first region for reading and/or recording information in/from a recording medium, and to a second region farther than the first region; the recording medium processing apparatus has a medium-holding base to hold the recording medium, and a holding mechanism to press the recording medium to the medium-holding base; the holding mechanism comprising: a fixing member located at a position corresponding to the medium-holding base; an arm member which is held rotatably by the fixing member; a pushing member which is secured to the arm member and moved from a position close to the medium-holding base to a position separated from the medium-holding base, as the arm member is rotated; and a sliding member which is driven by the carriage while the carriage remains in the second region, and moves the pushing member in a direction of separating from the medium-holding base when the carriage moves to the second region.