Patent ID: 7517048

Claim:
An ink-jet recording apparatus comprising: a first carriage that is reciprocally movable only along a single axis in parallel with an ink ejection face of an ink-jet head; a second carriage that is separate from the first carriage and reciprocally movable only along a single axis in the same direction as a movement direction of the first carriage; and carriage-moving mechanism that selectively moves the first carriage and the second carriage, the carriage-moving mechanism including a connection/disconnection mechanism that selectively connects the first carriage to the second carriage, and disconnects the first carriage and from the second carriage, wherein: the first carriage is mounted with at least one of a wiper that wipes off ink adhering to the ink ejection face, a sheet that receives ink ejected from the ink-jet head, a cap that seals the ink ejection face, and a shutter that is disposed to confront and protect the ink ejection face; and the second carriage is mounted with at least one of the wiper, the sheet, the carriage, and the shutter except the one(s) mounted on the first carriage.