Patent ID: 7973812

Claim:
A thermal printer comprising: thermal paper, which has a thermosensitive layer on both sides, and is fed in a predetermined direction; a first thermal head which prints one side of the thermal paper; a second thermal head which prints the other side of the thermal paper; a first platen, which is provided at a position opposite to the first thermal head through a thermal paper feeding path, movable to or away from the first thermal head, and presses the thermal paper to the first thermal head by moving to the first thermal head; a second platen, which is provided at a position opposite to the second thermal head through the thermal paper feeding path, movable to or away from the second thermal head, and presses the thermal paper to the second thermal head by moving to the second thermal head; a first control section, which starts movement of the first platen at the time of printing with the first thermal head, so that the movement of the first platen is completed at the time when the thermal paper reaches the first thermal head; and a second control section, which starts movement of the second platen at the time of printing with the second thermal head, so that the movement of the second platen is completed at the time when the thermal paper reaches the second thermal head.