Patent ID: 8622511

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an apparatus body; a carriage movable in a main scanning direction; a first recording head having nozzles in a nozzle face thereof to eject liquid droplets; a second recording head, having nozzles in a nozzle face thereof to eject liquid droplets, the second recording head displaced from the first recording head in a sub scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction; and a maintenance assembly to maintain and recover the first recording head and the second recording head, the maintenance assembly including (i) a first maintenance device held by the apparatus body and (ii) a second maintenance device reciprocally movable in the sub-scanning direction between a first position to oppose the first recording head and a second position to oppose the second recording head, wherein the first maintenance device is disposed adjacent to the second maintenance device in the main scanning direction, and when the second maintenance device is at the first position, the second maintenance device is displaced from the first maintenance device in the sub-scanning direction, and when the second maintenance device is at the second position, the second maintenance device is disposed at same position as the first maintenance device in the sub-scanning direction.