Patent ID: 9381744
Filing Date: 2016-07-05
CPC Classification: B41J

Claim Text:
1. An image forming apparatus comprising: a droplet discharge head including a nozzle formation face and one or more rows of nozzles on said nozzle formation face; and a recovery device for recovering the droplet discharge head, the recovery device including a droplet absorber to oppose the nozzle formation face of the droplet discharge head; and a suction unit to contain the droplet absorber and move along a nozzle row of the droplet discharge head to suction liquid from the nozzle formation face, the droplet absorber including an opposing face to oppose the nozzle formation face, the opposing face including a first portion to oppose the nozzles of the nozzle formation face, and a second portion to oppose an area of the nozzle formation face outside the nozzles, the second portion being disposed to have a space between the second portion and the nozzle formation face during a suction operation of the suction unit, and the first portion being disposed relatively farther from the nozzle formation face than the second portion, and inner corners formed between the first portion and the second portion and disposed close to but not in contact with the nozzle row to contact droplets on the nozzle row during a suction operation of the suction unit.