Patent ID: 7740335

Claim:
A liquid ejection apparatus, comprising: a plurality of liquid ejection heads each of which ejects a liquid droplet from a nozzle; a plurality of elastic wiper blades each of which contacts a nozzle formed surface of the corresponding liquid ejection head and moves in substantially parallel and relatively to the nozzle formed surface of the liquid ejection head so as to rub the nozzle formed surface; a blade cleaner for removing liquid adhered to the wiper blades; a cleaning unit for removing liquid adhered to the wiper blades by relatively moving the wiper blades and blade cleaner to be rubbed with each other; a wiper blade moving unit for respectively and independently moving the plurality of wiper blades between a rubbing position where the wiper blades can rub the nozzle formed surfaces of the respective liquid ejection heads and a retreating position where the wiper blades do not contact the respective liquid ejection heads; and a control unit that controls the wiper blade moving unit such that, after the control unit has moved a wiper blade selecting from the plurality of wiper blades to the rubbing position and rubbed the nozzle formed surface of the corresponding liquid ejection head with the wiper blade, the control unit moves at least one other wiper blade in addition to the selected wiper blade, to the rubbing position so that the cleaning unit can make the blade cleaner and the moved wiper blades rub with each other.