Abstract: A body structure for a printer comprises a front cover and a rear cover and is capable of accommodating a platen roller a typing device and advance means for advancing and feeding individual or continuous forms. A hinge element fixed to a pillar of the body structure permits pivotal movement of the covers and such that the front cover can rotate from a first operating position in which it is parallel to and supported on the body structure to a second operating position in which it is substantially turned over onto the rear cover to permit access to the platen roller and the typing device. In addition the hinge element permits the rear cover to rotate from a first operating position in which it is substantially parallel to and supported on the body structure to a second operating position in which it is substantially inclined with respect to the body structure. The forms can be supported and guided by the outside surface of the rear cover in both operating positions.

Abstract: Two rollers with lobes for feeding a sheet are disposed below the plane feed surface. The two rollers are rotatable on axes perpendicular to one another and move the sheet or the document to be printed in a direction perpendicular and parallel, respectively, to the printing direction of the head to align the sheet against retractable stop elements movable parallel to the printing direction and against a lateral guide perpendicular to the printing direction. Suitable optical sensors detect a possible misalignment of the sheet and cause a further rotation of the rollers to complete the alignment of the sheet against the guides; in case a document such as an accounting book is to be fed, a testing device detects the thickness of the document for positioning the head at a prefixed distance from the printing surface of the document itself.