Patent ID: 8414105

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a first carriage movable in a main scanning direction and having a first recording head configured to eject a recording liquid and a first lifting/lowering unit that moves the first recording head upward and downward in a direction perpendicular to a surface of a recording medium; a second carriage movable in the main scanning direction and having a second recording head configured to eject another recording liquid and a second lifting/lowering unit that moves the second recording head upward and downward in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the recording medium; a drive source that drives the first and second lifting/lowering units by using a driving force generated by the drive source to move the first and second recording heads upward and downward; a drive coupling unit coupled to the drive source; a first coupling unit provided on the first carriage; a second coupling unit provided on the second carriage, wherein a first end of the second coupling unit is coupled to the drive coupling unit to transmit the driving force from the drive source to the second lifting/lowering unit to move the second recording head upward and downward, and a second end of the second coupling unit opposite he first end of the second coupling unit is coupled to the first coupling unit to allow the driving force to be transmitted via the first coupling unit to the first lifting/lowering unit to move the first recording head upward and downward; a docking/separation unit that docks and separates the first and second carriages with and from each other; and an accommodation/coupling unit that couples the first coupling unit to the second end of the second coupling unit to allow the driving force to be transmitted via the first coupling unit to the first lifting/lowering unit and accommodates the first coupling unit within the first carriage to uncouple the first coupling unit from the second end of the second coupling unit, wherein accommodation and coupling of the first coupling unit by the accommodation/coupling unit are performed in conjunction with docking and separation of the first and second carriages by the docking/separation unit.