| 摘要 |
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the following problem: in a maintenance mechanism mounted in a conventional image forming system, cap portions are fixed to a foldable base plate formed of a flexible sheet made of an elastic member, and during image formation, the maintenance mechanism is folded on a paper feeding mechanism and stores the caps by being abutted on each other, whereas it is extended when maintenance is carried out. SOLUTION: There is provided a new image forming system having a built-in maintenance mechanism. The maintenance mechanism is divided into a plurality of tray-shaped ink pans 801, 802 each having a size sufficient for covering a recording head group 17, and a plurality of caps 31 for sealing nozzle surfaces of recording heads, are fixed onto bottom surfaces of the ink pans, respectively. When stored, the ink pans are folded in a V shape such that the caps face each other at a location under a carrying passage by a guide rail 23. On the other hand when the maintenance is carried out, they are horizontally drawn to an area under the recording head groups 17 along the guide rail 23, and the caps 31 are put on the nozzle surfaces 100 of the recording heads by elevation/lowering of a belt carrying unit 7. COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT |
