Patent ID: 7922408

Claim:
A printer comprising: a printing medium feed reel that feeds a printing medium; a ribbon feed reel that feeds an ink ribbon; a platen roller that conveys the printing medium that is fed from said printing medium feed reel and the ink ribbon that is fed from said ribbon feed reel; a thermal head that is disposed opposite said platen roller via the printing medium and the ink ribbon and performs printing by transferring ink of the ink ribbon onto the printing medium; a ribbon conveying roller for conveying the ink ribbon that has been used for printing; a ribbon take-up reel that takes up the ink ribbon that is conveyed by said ribbon conveying roller; a motor that drives said platen roller; a rotary drive mechanism that transmits a drive power of said motor to said ribbon conveying roller via at least a first belt and transmits a drive power of said motor to said ribbon take-up reel via at least the first belt and a second belt; and a tension unit comprising a plurality of pulleys that are in contact at least with said first belt and second belt and rotate following the movement thereof, a plurality of elastic members that adjust positions of said plurality of pulleys so as to apply tension at least to said first belt and second belt and a plurality of fixing members that fix the positions of said plurality of pulleys.