Ink jet recording apparatus with head washing device

摘要

An ink jet recording apparatus has an ink jet unit from which tiny independent ink droplets, suspended by a flow of air, are made to fly towards a recording medium, thereby recording information on the medium. The apparatus has a heat washing unit disposed at a position beyond one end of a recording medium mounting portion, so that the ink jet unit which has been moved to this position after completion of the recording operation is washed by the head washing unit which is movable towards and away from the ink jet unit at this position, whereby a high stability and reliability of the ink jet recording are ensured for a long period of time without suffering from clogging of nozzles or contamination of the recording medium. The stability and reliability are further enhanced by the simultaneous use of an ink mist suction unit which sucks ink mist around the ink jet unit and an anti-clogging unit which prevents clogging of the nozzles.