A mechanism for actuating a platen of a printer in which a cooperating pin and lever are provided to permit a plurality of printing rings with the desired characters thereon to be printed to be placed into a printing position, to move a platen into abutting engagement with the printing rings and hold them engaged for printing, all during a first period of time, and to remove the platen from the printing rings during a second period of time, and in which the first time period is about two to three times longer than the second time period so that the speed of the printer for each printing operation is increased.